Washboarding
Overview
Road
A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places, which typically has been paved or otherwise improved to allow travel by some conveyance, including a horse, cart, or motor vehicle. Roads consist of one, or sometimes two, roadways each with one or more lanes and also any...
s developing a series of regular bumps with short spacing in the road surface. The result is called a washboard road, for its resemblance to the surface of an old-style washboard
Washboard
A washboard is a tool designed for hand washing clothing. With mechanized cleaning of clothing becoming more common by the end of the 20th century, the washboard has become better known for its originally subsidiary use as a musical instrument....
, or a corrugated road.
Washboarding is an instability that occurs when vehicle
Vehicle
A vehicle is a device that is designed or used to transport people or cargo. Most often vehicles are manufactured, such as bicycles, cars, motorcycles, trains, ships, boats, and aircraft....
s move above a critical speed
Critical speed
In solid mechanics, in the field of rotordynamics, the critical speed is the theoretical angular velocity which excites the natural frequency of a rotating object, such as a shaft, propeller, leadscrew, or gear. As the speed of rotation approaches the object's natural frequency, the object begins...
that depends on the properties of the vehicles and the road surface.
