Beginning this month, researchers at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI) will use a Volvo VHD 430 vocational model outfitted with highly specialized instrumentation to help evaluate the safety of highway surfaces in several U.S states. The project, funded by the Federal Highway Administration, will analyze continuous stretches of pavement to determine whether improving highway materials or design could reduce crashes and save lives.
“We are proud that VTTI and its partners selected a Volvo truck for this safety research,” said Gӧran Nyberg, president of Volvo Trucks North America. “Volvo is committed to safety as a core value. The Volvo VHD model is an appropriate choice because it is easily upfit with specialized bodies such as this one.”
Both Volvo and VTTI are located in Virginia. Volvo was recommended for the project by WDM Limited, a U.K.-based supplier of highway measurement technology.
WDM purchased the Volvo VHD 430 model in 2014 and shipped it to the UK for the necessary instrumentation, which required several months and included interior cab modifications as well as a special truck body. The VHD 430 model used for the VTTI project features an integrated powertrain with a Volvo D13 engine and a Volvo I-Shift automated manual transmission.
The data collection phase of the research project begins in July in Florida and will include testing of highways in Washington, Indiana and Texas. Researchers with VTTI’s Center for Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure will use the specially equipped VHD 430 model to measure pavements for friction and related safety characteristics, such as cross-slope, macro-texture, grade, temperature and curvature.
The SCRIM includes a 2,000-gallon tank that feeds a 0.5 mm film of water for testing the friction of wet pavement surfaces while driving at speeds up to 50 mph. The vehicle can test 150 miles of highway on a single tank of water. Current vehicles used for such testing in the U.S. rely on smaller tanks that would less distance and need to be refilled more frequently.
Continuous testing and more sophisticated instrumentation will provide more data on factors that are believed to be linked to the frictional properties of the pavement-tire interface, which should lead to improved highway safety, said Edgar de León Izeppi, senior research associate for VTTI’s Center for Sustainable Transportation Infrastructure.
“If we can detect the problems we can find a way to solve them,” de León Izeppi said. “Most state highway agencies already maintain comprehensive databases on the types and locations of crashes, so by cross-referencing those databases with the detailed road assessments, we hope to be able to identify measures that could reduce crashes and save lives at locations that have a higher risk characterization.”
