what creates corragations

Submitted: Monday, May 31, 2010 at 20:25
ThreadID: 78945 Views:3707 Replies:9 FollowUps:4
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Hi all I'm sitting at a C/P in geralton and we are talking about road conditions on the Gibb river rd ,and are worried about the corrugations,which is what brought up this question of what creates them and how do you best deal with them ,I'm still not sure if I want to tow my Windsor rapid. yet I'm not sure if I want to leave it parked up somewhere,but that's a whole other thread.
I'm going to sit by the laptop and wait for some info so please drop us a line .

Cheers.
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Reply By: The Explorer - Monday, May 31, 2010 at 20:28

Monday, May 31, 2010 at 20:28
Hi

Been discussed before, several times I think. Do a forum search (while youre waiting for "new" posts on the subject:)

Cheers
Greg
I sent one final shout after him to stick to the track, to which he replied “All right,” That was the last ever seen of Gibson - E Giles 23 April 1874

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Reply By: Member - Mark G Gulmarrad - Monday, May 31, 2010 at 20:44

Monday, May 31, 2010 at 20:44
John

came across this on google...........ripples in the road
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Follow Up By: ExplorOz - David & Michelle - Monday, May 31, 2010 at 21:40

Monday, May 31, 2010 at 21:40
good article.
mm
David (DM) & Michelle (MM)
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Follow Up By: Member - Vince B (NSW) - Tuesday, Jun 01, 2010 at 15:37

Tuesday, Jun 01, 2010 at 15:37
Mark.
"Ripples in the road".
I hope you don't mean the section of Pacific Highway between Tweed & Brunswick Heads.
Cheers.
Vince
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Reply By: Member - John and Val - Monday, May 31, 2010 at 21:03

Monday, May 31, 2010 at 21:03
As to how to best deal with corrugations - reduce tyre pressure (say 20-25% below bitumen pressure) and drop your speed by at least the same amount. Its a matter of trial and error until you find what suits you and the road conditions.

Have you observed that different road surfaces will have different corrugations in terms of height and distance between crests.

Enjoy the GRR

Cheers

J and V
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Follow Up By: farouk - Monday, May 31, 2010 at 21:26

Monday, May 31, 2010 at 21:26
hi, you asked what causes corrugations, from my observatoins it is generally being tyres .far too tight and driving too fast Farouk
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Reply By: Member - Royce- Monday, May 31, 2010 at 22:01

Monday, May 31, 2010 at 22:01
An then there are potholes....

I have found that riding a mountain bike along a corrugated road it seems to be better on the right hand side.... not necessarily safer, but more comfortable.

Every so often on a long stretch of rippled road I have tried this out with a car 4wd... makes not much difference!

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Follow Up By: Fatso - Tuesday, Jun 01, 2010 at 20:43

Tuesday, Jun 01, 2010 at 20:43
I don't doubt what you are saying actually feels better Royce.
But I once had a bloke telling me that he grew up on dirt roads & the only way to drive on corrugations was to drive against the flow of traffic on the other side of the road.
He also added that everyone out where he came from did that.
After that intelligent discussion I figured he had no idea what he was talking about.
He was possibly driving in the same direction as every one else.
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Reply By: Peter_n_Margaret - Tuesday, Jun 01, 2010 at 10:54

Tuesday, Jun 01, 2010 at 10:54
BAD IDEAS.
4x4s driving in 2WD.
Tyre pressures too high.
Speed too high.
Low profile tyres.

Cheers,
Peter
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Reply By: Rob! - Tuesday, Jun 01, 2010 at 11:38

Tuesday, Jun 01, 2010 at 11:38
There are no straight lines in nature. The natural state of a road is to have corrugations. So your question should be:
"What doesn't cause corrugations?"
A: The grader.
AnswerID: 419083

Reply By: Member - Barnesy SA - Tuesday, Jun 01, 2010 at 12:04

Tuesday, Jun 01, 2010 at 12:04
There are links on the internet about this.
Basically the theory is that it begins with natural small indents in the dirt road and as the wheel drops into it it deepens the corrugation. As the wheel then rebounds it creates the rise. As the wheel drops again it creates the next indent. This continues on and on.

They're worsened by high tyre pressures, 2wd and high speeds creating wheel spin when the drive wheel is momentarily in the air and ripping into the crest of the corrugation when the drive wheel lands again.

Ways to make driving better:
reduce tyre pressure about 20%
use high range 4wd, NOT 2wd
slow down a bit, it's not a race
do your slowing down before a corner and slowly accelerate through corners allowing the front wheels to pull you in the right direction
make sure you have good shockers and take a spare for front and rear
AnswerID: 419088

Reply By: Matt M - Tuesday, Jun 01, 2010 at 14:56

Tuesday, Jun 01, 2010 at 14:56
Corregations are the natural state of the road....flat is not natural and all road surfaces are on a constant evolution back to corregations.

Look at desert sands...corregated...look at the ocean floor...corregated.

Drive on the Hume Hwy into Sydney...the concrete sections are corregated just at a lowert fequency of dirt. Ie the harder the surface the lower the Freq of the waves and the longer it takes to form them.

Dr Karl has written a few articles on the subject...Google him.

Matt.
AnswerID: 419109

Reply By: Tonyfish#58 - Tuesday, Jun 01, 2010 at 17:44

Tuesday, Jun 01, 2010 at 17:44
Any road surface without sufficient binder will corrugate. Vehicle speed, Tyre pressures, driver styles all combine to determine the severity.

Roads that are never maintained, do not have binder material occurring naturally and a wet season to aid in compaction are corrugations mine fields :-)

We have tried to repair sandy sections of road in the cape (that always corrugated) by mixing with imported gravel, failure was always a matter of time once the binder was worn from the surface.

The only way to fix these roads is to form from local material and sheet in a good roadbase.

;-) Now the locals way to beat it is to be the fastest on the road so your ride on top of the corrugations :-) The tourist way is as slow as you need to go to not shake your teeth out.

Cheers Tony
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