SEDL / STP / STP881-EB / STP32918S

Pavement Friction Measurements and Vehicle Control Reparations for Nontangent Road Sections

Balmer, GG
Highway research engineer, Federal Highway Administration, Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center, McLean, VA

Zimmer, RA
Research instrumentation specialist and assistant research engineer, Texas Transportation Institute, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX

Tonda, RD
Research instrumentation specialist and assistant research engineer, Texas Transportation Institute, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX

Pages: 18    Published: Jan 1985

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Abstract

Several measurement systems were evaluated to determine their applicability for measuring wet-pavement friction on transitional roadway sections. It was found that the two-wheel trailer is capable of such measurements if it is instrumented to measure the vertical dynamic test-wheel load as well as the longitudinal drag force during locked-wheel braking. A less desirable approach is to use accelerometers to measure the lateral and vertical accelerations on the trailer and compute the wheel load from these measurements.

There is greater friction deterioration on curves, ramps, intersections, and other transitional roadway areas from traffic wear and the environment than on tangent sections. When these roadway sections become slick or have marginal skid resistance, they can be milled, grooved, resurfaced, or overlaid applying a sprinkle treatment to restore adequate friction characteristics. This paper addresses both the measurement and the restoration aspects of this problem.