Evaluation of Temperature Influence on Friction Measurements
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 137, Issue 9
Abstract
Many aspects influence the skid resistance of a pavement surface including surface texture, tire characteristics, vehicle operations, and environmental factors. The objective of this paper is to quantify the temperature influence on the skid number of asphalt pavement surfaces when measured by the locked-wheel friction tester. Specifically, this study aims to determine an adjustment factor for friction readings to a standard reference temperature, removing the seasonal temperature variations influencing measurements. This allows agencies to improve the comparison of pavement sections and to provide a more objective assessment of pavement conditions for safety. The friction database employed is from the National Center for Asphalt Technology Test Track facility. The data includes friction measurements with a locked-wheel trailer on sections from the 2000 and 2003 research cycles. The approach calculates the temperature adjustment factor, , from a grouping of the data by temperature values at the time of the measurements. The results show that it is possible to define a reference temperature to adjust friction measured at any other temperature value. The reference temperature identified is between 19.5°C (67.1°F) and 20.2°C (68.4°F). The study concludes that when testing, if the air temperature is greater than the reference temperature, the friction reading is biased by a positive quantity. Therefore the adjustment factor, , reduces the measured friction, whereas for measurements performed at temperatures lower than the reference temperature, increases the measured friction.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Ahammed, M. A., and Tighe, S. L. (2009). “Early life, long term and seasonal variation of flexible and rigid pavement skid resistance.” Proc., Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting CD-ROM, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
Anderson, D. A., Meyer, W. E., and Rosenberger, J. L. (1986). “Development of a procedure for correcting skid resistance measurements to a standard end-of-season value.” Transportation Research Record 1084, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 40–48.
Bazlamit, S. M., and Reza, F. (2005). “Changes in asphalt pavement friction components and adjustment of skid number for temperature.” J. Transp. Eng., 131(6), 470–476.
Brown, E. R., et al. (2002). “NCAT test track design, construction, and performance.” Rep. 02-12, National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT), Auburn, AL.
Federal Highway Administration (FHwA). (2003). “Distress identification manual for the long-term pavement performance program.” Rep. No. FHWA-RD-03-031, Washington, DC.
Flintsch, G. W., Luo, Y., and Al-Qadi, I. L. (2005). “Analysis of the effect of pavement temperature on the frictional properties of flexible pavement surfaces.” Proc., Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, CD-ROM, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
Kissoff, N. V. (1988). “Investigation of regional differences in Ohio pavement skid resistance through simulation modeling.” Univ. of Toledo, Toledo, OH.
National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP). (2009). “Guide for pavement friction.” Final Rep. 1–43, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). (2009). “Fatality analysis reporting system (FARS).” 〈www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov〉 (Apr. 15, 2009).
Permanent International Association of Road Congresses (PIARC). (1987). “Rep. of the committee on surface characteristics.” Proc., 18th World Road Congress, Association Mondiale de la Route/World Road Association, La Defense Cedex, France.
Saito, K., and Henry, J. J. (1983). “Mechanical model for predicting season variations in skid resistance.” Transportation Research Record 1084, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 29–38.
Shahin, M. (1994). Pavement management for airports, roads, and parking lots, Kluwer Academic, Boston.
Song, W., Chen, X., Smith, T., and Hedfi, A. (2006). “Investigation of hot mix asphalt surfaced pavements skid resistance in Maryland state highway network system.” Proc., Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting, CD-ROM, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC.
Timm, D., et al. (2006). “Phase II NCAT test track results.” Rep. 06-05, National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT), Auburn, AL.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 12, 2010
Accepted: Feb 17, 2011
Published online: Feb 19, 2011
Published in print: Sep 1, 2011
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.