TehranA model predicts road roughness with 4.2% average error.
The study’s authors say empirical models miss nonlinear pavement deterioration, especially in data-scarce local networks.
Researchers tested 6 algorithms on 2,313 road segments covering 462.6 km, and LightGBM scored best with an R² of 0.83.
Air voids in the asphalt had the strongest effect on roughness, the study’s interpretability analysis found.
The paper is an accepted early version and will be replaced by a final version of record.
Sources: Nature