Critical Rut Depth for Pavement Maintenance Based on Vehicle Skidding and Hydroplaning Consideration
Publication: Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 138, Issue 4
Abstract
Rutting is a major form of pavement distress in asphalt pavements. The main concern with rutting has been related to driving safety. Many highway agencies and researchers suggested that pavement rutting could lead to vehicle hydroplaning and loss of skid resistance in wet weather. However, to date no theoretical basis has been established for an analytical assessment of the severity of rutting for the purpose of pavement maintenance and rehabilitation. Most highway agencies classify rut severity on the basis of engineering judgment or field experience. This paper presents an analytical procedure to assess the severity of rutting based on vehicle skidding and hydroplaning analysis. It considers the worst-case scenario where a rut is filled with water and analyzes (1) if a car will hydroplane at a given speed; and (2) the length of braking distance required for the car traveling at the given speed. A finite-element simulation model is adopted to perform the analysis. For a given rut depth filled with water, the computer model computes the hydroplaning speed for a typical passenger car, and the required braking distance for the car traveling at a known speed. It was found that depending on the rut depth and the surface frictional property of a pavement, the severity classification of a rut may be governed by either hydroplaning risk or safety requirement of braking distance. The traditional method of using the same set of critical rut depths for all pavement sections in a road network is not ideal for effective handling of rutting maintenance.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). (1989). AASHTO report of the AASHTO joint task force on rutting, AASHTO, Washington, DC.
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). (2004). A policy on geometric design of highways and streets, 5th Ed., AASHTO, Washington, DC.
ASTM. (2008). “Standard specification for standard rib tire for pavement skid-resistance tests.” E 501-8, (CD-ROM), Philadelphia.
Barksdale, R. D. (1972). “Laboratory evaluation of rutting in base course materials.” Proc., 3rd Int. Conf. on the Structural Design of Asphalt Pavements, Vol. 1, Int. Society for Asphalt Pavements, Lino Lakes, MN, 161–174.
Blythe, William, and Seguin, Debra E. (2006). “Commentary: Legal minimum tread depth for passenger car tires in the, U. S. A.- Survey.” Traffic Injury PreventionTIPRCL, 7(2), 107–110.
Brilon, W., and Ponzlet, M. (1996). “Variability of speed-flow relationships on german autobahns.” Transportation Research Record 1555, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 91–98.
British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (BC MTI). (2009). Pavement surface condition rating manual, 3rd Ed., BC MTI, Victoria, BC.
Bullas, John C. (2004). “Tires, road surfaces and reducing accidents: A review.” The AA Foundation for Road Safety Research/County Surveyor’s Society, UK. 〈http://www.roadsafetyfoundation.org/media/11323/aa_foundation_fdn34.pdf〉 (December 15, 2010), 45–50.
California Dept. of Transportation (Caltrans). (2006). “Maintenance manual, Volume 1.” Caltrans, 〈http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/maint/manual/maintman.htm〉 (March 12, 2010).
Central Massachusetts Metropolitan Planning Organization (CMPRC). (2006). “Pavement management field guide to road surface distresses.” 〈http://www.cmrpc.org/sites/default/files/fieldguide.pdf〉 (March 24, 2010.)
Christensen, P., and Ragnoy, A. (2006). “The condition of the road surface and safety.” TOI Report 840/2006, Transportokonomisk Institutt, Oslo, Norway.
Fwa, T. F., and Ong, G. P. (2007). “Wet-pavement hydroplaning risk and skid resistance: Analysis.” J. Transp. Eng.JTPEDI, 134(5), 184–190.
Fwa, T. F., Santosh, S. K., Anupam, K., and Ong, G. P. (2009). “Effectiveness of tire-tread patterns in reducing the risk of hydroplaning.” Transportation Research Record 2094, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 91–102.
Fwa, T. F., Santosh, S. K., Ong, G. P., and Huang, C. J. H. (2008). “Analytical modeling of effects of rib tires on hydroplaning.” Transportation Research Record 2068, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 109–118.
Hayes, G. G., Ivey, D. L., and Gallaway, B. M. (1983). “Hydroplaning, hydrodynamic drag and vehicle stability.” Frictional Interaction of Tire and Pavement, ASTM STP 793, Meyer, W. E., and Walter, J. D., eds., ASTM, West Conshohocken, PA, 151–166.
Hicks, R. G., Seeds, S., and Peshkin, D. G. (2000). “Selecting a preventive maintenance treatment for flexible pavements.” Report No. FHWA-IF-00-027, Federal Highway Administration, Washington, DC.
Horne, W. B. (1969). “Results from studies of highway grooving and texturing at NASA Wallops station, pavement grooving and traction studies.” NASA SP-5073, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC, 425–464.
Horne, W. B., and Dreher, R. C. (1963). “Phenomena of pneumatic tire hydroplaning.” NASA, T. N.D-2056, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA.
Horne, W. B., and Joyner, U. T. (1965). “Pneumatic tire hydroplaning and some effects on vehicle performance.” SAE Tech. Paper 650145, SAE World Headquarters, Warrendale, PA.
Huebner, R. S., Reed, J. R., and Henry, J. J. (1986). “Criteria for predicting hydroplaning potential.” J. Transp. Eng.JTPEDI, 112(5), 549–553.
Ibrahim, A. T., and Hall, F. L. (1994). “Effect of adverse weather conditions on speedflow—Occupancy relationships.” Transportation Research Record 1457, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 184–191.
Ihs, A., Velin, H., and Wiklund, M. (2002). “Vägytans inverkan påtrafiksäkerheten. Data från 1992–1998.” VTI meddelande 909–2002, Statens vägoch transportforskningsinstitut, Linköping, Sweden (in Swedish).
Kyte, M., Khatib, Z., Shannon, P., and Kitchener, F. (2001). “Effect of weather on free-flow speed.” Transportation Research Record 1776, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 60–68.
Lister, N. W., and Addis, R. R. (1977). “Field observations of rutting and practical implications.” Transportation Research Record 640, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 28–34.
Ohio State Dept. of Transportation (ODOT). (2006). Pavement condition rating system, Columbus, OH.
Ong, G. P., and Fwa, T. F. (2007a). “Wet-pavement hydroplaning risk and skid resistance: Modeling.” J. Transp. Eng.JTPEDI, 133(10), 590–598.
Ong, G. P., and Fwa, T. F. (2007b). “Prediction of wet-pavement skid resistance and hydroplaning potential.” Transportation Research Record 2005, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 160–171.
Ong, G. P., and Fwa, T. F. (2010). “Modeling skid resistance of commercial trucks on highways.” J. Transp. Eng.JTPEDI, 136(6), 510–517.
Shahin, M. Y. (1994). Pavement management for airports, roads and parking lots, Chapman and Hall, New York.
Sousa, J. B., Craus, J., and Monismith, C. L. (1991). “Summary report on permanent deformation in asphalt concrete.” SHRP-A/IR-91-104, Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP), Washington, DC.
Start, R. M., Joeng, K., and Berg, W. D. (1998). “Potential safety cost effectiveness of treating rutted pavements.” Transportation Research Record 1629, Transportation Research Board, Washington, DC, 208–213.
Walker, D. (2002). Pavement surface evaluation and rating (PASER): Asphalt roads. Entine, L., ed., Wisconsin Transportation Information Center, Madison, WI.
Washington State Dept. of Transportation (WSDOT). (1999). Pavement surface condition field rating manual for asphalt pavements, Olympia, WA.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Transportation Engineering
Volume 138 • Issue 4 • April 2012
Pages: 423 - 429
Copyright
© 2012. American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 20, 2010
Accepted: Aug 3, 2011
Published online: Aug 5, 2011
Published in print: Apr 1, 2012
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.