The Runway Roughness Index: A Pavement Index for Human Discomfort and Runway Serviceability
Publication: Airfield and Highway Pavements 2023
ABSTRACT
To assist airports in the assessment of the surface profile roughness of in-service runways the FAA has developed a new Runway Roughness Index (RRI). This index was established under research conducted by the FAA Airport Research and Technology Branch. The RRI was developed based on the Boeing Bump Index (BBI), pilot ratings to simulator testing, International Organization for Standardization (ISO) human vibration discomfort standards, and ProFAA’s aircraft simulation. Two types of the RRI were developed to categorize airport pavement roughness. The first as an average, total length, root mean square (RMS) RRI, and the second is a single event Transient RRI, which is based on moving RMS. Threshold values were validated for the proposed ranges for acceptance, monitoring, and excessive levels of roughness needing immediate remediation. The RRI is shown to compliment the BBI and give a useful total pavement ride quality metric. Roughness events that would not have been identified using the BBI can be located using the RRI application in ProFAA. This paper describes the development of the RRI.
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Published In
Airfield and Highway Pavements 2023
Pages: 45 - 54
History
Published online: Jun 13, 2023
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Air transportation
- Airport and airfield pavements
- Airports and airfields
- Architectural engineering
- Building management
- Business management
- Construction engineering
- Construction management
- Design (by type)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Gravels
- Highway and road design
- Human and behavioral factors
- Infrastructure
- Management methods
- Pavement condition
- Pavement design
- Pavement surface roughness
- Pavements
- Practice and Profession
- Ratings
- Serviceability
- Sight distances
- Standards and codes
- Transportation engineering
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