Generating Road Vibration Test Schedules from Pavement Profiles for Packaging Optimization

This paper describes the further development of a novel and practical method to generate vibration simulation schedules for road transport vehicles using pavement profile data. This paper explores and discusses both the advantages and the limitations Of current methods used for packaging development and validation, which include the simulation of random vibrations from 'standard' frequency spectra as well as from measured vibration data. An overview of the methods used to measure and analyse pavement profile data is included. The method introduced herein is based on research that introduced statistical models for the predicted vibratory response of various transport vehicle types, and travel speeds using measured longitudinal pavement profile data. The paper explains how these statistical parameters can be used to create vibration simulation schedules specific to vehicle type and route. The paper shows how the statistical models can be used - in conjunction with standard random vibration controllers - to afford a practical yet enhanced method for producing more realistic simulations of road-related vibrations for package performance evaluation in the laboratory. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.