Safety Enhancement of the INDOT Network Pavement Friction Testing Prgram: Macrotexture and Microtexture Testing Using Laser Sensors

Abstract

The contents of this report reflect the views of the author who is responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the data presented herein. The contents do not necessarily reflect the official views or policies of the Indiana Department of Transportation or the Federal Highway Administration at the time of publication. This report does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation.

Quality Assurance Procedures for Chip Seal Operations Using Macrotexture Metrics

“…INDOT conducts pavement friction testing in accordance with ASTM E274 (ASTM, 2015). However, safety concerns may arise during field testing on highway facilities (Li, Noureldin, & Zhu, 2010). This is because when conducting friction testing on roadways, it requires intermittent acceleration or braking to adjust the speed of test vehicle, which may impose significant impact on the traffic flow conditions.…”

“…Notice that during testing, the kHz point laser yields a single continuous texture profile that defined the MPD for each pavement surface. The 1 kHz laser texture laser that has been validated elsewhere (Li et al, 2010), however, scans a surface area of approximately 4.250 6 2.8350 that is used to calculate the MPD. Presented in Table 3.1 are the average MPD values for these four different surfaces.…”

High-Definition Field Texture Measurements for Predicting Pavement Friction

“…Currently, there are no standard methods for measuring microtexture. Research on the measurement of microtexture is mainly based on the use of laser scanners ( 9 – 11 ) or image analysis techniques such as the Aggregate Imaging System (AIMS) ( 16 ). Although, issues with field measurement of microtexture and its high correlation with low-speed friction result in low-speed friction test measures being commonly used as a surrogate for quantifying microtexture ( 8 ).…”

“…The root mean square (RMS) value is used in Mechanical Engineering when a more accurate measurement of surface texture is required. Some researchers implemented RMS in highway texture description ( 9 , 10 , 17 , 19 ) because it can be used along with the MPD to identify surfaces with positive or negative texture, which cannot be deduced from measurements of only MPD or MTD. In addition, values of skewness (R sk ) and Kurtosis (R ku ), offer a good description of the surfaces regarding the height distribution.…”

“…Some researchers have attempted to incorporate microtexture to the skid resistance prediction using non-contact technologies to characterize microtexture. For example, Li et al ( 9 ), Serigos et al ( 10 ), and Alhasan et al ( 11 ) used laser scanners to obtain a surface profile that included microtexture wavelengths. However, the main challenge remains in the surface characterization.…”