Synchronisation of road profile data and the assessment of road roughness using waveband analysis

A series of new road roughness profile indices and associated design charts have been developed to better identify road pavements that contain abnormal concentrations of long wavelength roughness. Subsequently, roughness progression rates were calculated based on these new profile indices and revealed pavement deterioration to be non-uniform across such individual wavebands. In particular, roughness progression was found to be dominated by the longer wavelengths in geological areas known to contain expansive clay deposits. In the future, these findings should provide Engineers with a better understanding of pavement deterioration and lead to more effective maintenance strategies.