The concept of pavement skid resistance state

Abstract

The Concept of Skid Resistance State for highway pavements is introduced in this paper. The Concept states that at a given point in time, each unit length of a pavement has a fixed deterministic skid resistance value under a given set of pavement, environmental and vehicle operating conditions. A set of the operating conditions is defined by the following parameters: Vehicle tyre geometric and structural properties, wheel load, tyre pressure, vehicle speed, tyre slip ratio, tyre slip angle, pavement microtexture and macrotexture properties, ambient temperature, and pavement surface water film thickness. It is demonstrated in this study that, according to the proposed Concept, the skid resistance characteristics of a pavement can be fully described by a computer simulation model that analyses tyre–pavement–fluid interaction based on solid mechanics and fluid dynamics theories. Once the computer skid resistance model of a pavement section has been established, its skid resistance value under any vehicle–pavement–environmental operating condition can be calculated. Currently, there are already a number of computer skid resistance models developed by pavement researchers. Using one of these models for illustration, this paper explains how the Concept of Skid Resistance State is applied. The rationale, calibration process of the model, and input parameters are described; followed by a numerical demonstration of the establishment of the Skid Resistance State of an example pavement section. The significance and potential applications of the Concept on functional pavement mix design, pavement friction maintenance management, and harmonising of skid resistance measurements by different devices are also described.

Keywords:

• Skid resistance state
• skid resistance simulation model
• pavement microtexture
• pavement macrotexture
• vehicle speed
• water film thickness