Laboratory and field evaluation of asphalt pavement surface friction resistance

Abstract

Pavement surface friction is a significant factor for driving safety and plays a critical role in reducing wet-pavement crashes. However, the current asphalt mixture design procedure does not directly consider friction as a requirement. The objective of this study was to develop a surface friction prediction model that can be used during a wearing course mixture design. To achieve the objective, an experimental study was conducted on the frictional characteristics of typical wearing course mixtures in Louisiana. Twelve wearing course mixtures including dense-graded and open-graded mixes with different combinations of aggregate sources were evaluated in laboratory using an accelerated polishing and testing procedure considering both micro- and macro texture properties. In addition, the surface frictional properties of asphalt mixtures were measured on twenty-two selected asphalt pavement sections using different in situ devices including Dynamic Friction Tester (DFT), Circular Texture Meter (CTM), and Lock-Wheel Skid Trailer (LWST). The results have led to develop a procedure for predicting pavement end-of-life skid resistance based on the aggregate blend polish stone value, gradation parameters, and traffic, which is suited in checking whether the selected aggregates in a wearing course mix design would meet field friction requirements under a certain design traffic polishing.

Keywords

friction skid resistance / polishing / PSV / LWST / micro-texture / macro-texture

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Louisiana Transportation Research Center (LTRC) and the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LADOTD). The authors would like to express thanks to all those who provided valuable help in this study.

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2018 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature