Measurement and Analysis of the Effect of Various Road Surfaces on the Vibration Riding Comfort of Electric Scooters

Abstract

There are growing concerns about the safety and health implications of electric scooters, where the quality of road surfaces and speed are factors to be considered. The purpose of this study is to contribute to this research field by analyzing the effect of pavement types on vibration at various speeds.
This study was conducted in Győr, Hungary, where four types of road pavement were analyzed: concrete (bicycle lane), asphalt (shared use) and two types of brick pavers (bicycle lane and pedestrian walkway). Three speed categories, 10, 15, and 20 km/h, were considered. Peak and RMS acceleration data were gathered and analyzed using boxplots, cumulative distribution functions, and various statistical tests. Finally, ride comfort was investigated based on RMS acceleration.
Results show that both peak acceleration and RMS acceleration are affected by pavement type as well as riding speed. Concrete pavement yielded the lowest acceleration values followed by red brick pavers for bicycles and asphalt pavement, while gray brick pavers for pedestrians showed the worst results. The increase in speed resulted in higher peak and RMS acceleration values; however, the volume of this change depends on the type of pavement. Changing the type of pavement and the speed will result in statistically significant differences in vertical acceleration.
The study stresses the importance of considering the types of road pavement, their intended use as well as riding speed. With an increase in speed, pavement types with low level of quality contribute to a higher increase in acceleration values.