AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON VISUAL COMFORT OF TUNNEL PORTALS IN VIRTUAL REALITY ENVIRONMENTS

19th WORLD CONFERENCE OF THE ASSOCIATED RESEARCH CENTRES FOR THE URBAN UNDERGROUND SPACE, Belgrade, Serbia, November 4-7, 2025. (Paper No: 4.11.83,  pp. 756-764)

 

АУТОР(И) / AUTHOR(S): Weihao Zhao, Fang Liu, Weijun Kong

 

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DOI:  10.46793/ACUUS2025.4.11.83

САЖЕТАК / ABSTRACT:

An appropriately-designed tunnel portal can provide drivers with a smooth visual transition and enhance driving comfort. However, with the increasing complexity of landscape elements, overly refined designs may distract drivers, potentially compromising driving safety. Despite this concern, research on the impact of different types of tunnel portal landscapes on drivers’ visual comfort remains inadequate. It is worth exploring for identifying tunnel portal landscapes which distract drivers’ attention and increase accident risk. A virtual experimental system based on VR (Virtual Reality) was configured to examine landscaping portals characterized by different styles. Electrodermal activity data, eye movement data, driving performance and subject data were collected for further analysis. The results showed that i) the distraction of landscaping portals to drivers varied under low and high-speed driving conditions, with distractions caused by refined type landscape being particularly noticeable, and drivers tend to more concentrate on driving with the increase of speed; ii) landscaping the portals will improve driving comfort, but the improving effect is less prominent in high-speed roads than low-speed roads; iii) driving safety and comfort decreased with the increase of speed under all three styles of tunnel portals, landscape design for tunnel portals should adapt to the design speed. The results of this investigation provide new insights into measures for improving the visual comfort of road tunnel portals.

КЉУЧНЕ РЕЧИ / KEYWORDS:

tunnel portal landscape; virtual reality (VR); visual comfort; safety

ПРОЈЕКАТ / ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

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