SKID RESISTANCE MEASUREMENTS OF VIRGINIA PAVEMENTS, WITH DISCUSSION AND CLOSURE

MORE THAN 1000 MEASUREMENTS OF FORWARD SKIDDING DISTANCES ON 32 PAVEMENT SURFACES BOTH IN A DRY AND IN A WET CONDITION ARE REPORTED. THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY WAS TO OBTAIN DATA ON SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS THAT COULD BE USED AS A GUIDE FOR ESTABLISHING FUTURE DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION, AND MAINTENANCE POLICIES. BOTH GOOD AND WORN TREAD SYNTHETIC AND NATURAL RUBBER TIRES WERE EMPLOYED. SKID RESISTANCE MEASUREMENTS WERE MADE BY THE STOPPING DISTANCE METHOD. A LIGHT-WEIGHT AUTOMOBILE EQUIPPED WITH 6.00 BY 16 IN. 4-PLY TIRES WAS USED THROUGHOUT THE STUDY. THE TEST CAR WAS A FREE-MOVING VEHICLE AND NOT INFLUENCED BY THE SAME FORCES AS A TOWED VEHICLE. TESTS WERE CONDUCTED PRINCIPALLY ON HIGH-TYPE PAVEMENTS ON PRIMARY ROADS, INCLUDING BITUMINOUS CONCRETE, SAND ASPHALT, SPECIAL PLANT-MIX, ROCK ASPHALT, SAND AND SLAG SEAL TREATMENTS, BROOM DRAG TREATMENT, PORTLAND CEMENT CONCRETE, AND GLAZED BITUMINOUS SURFACES. TEST SECTIONS WERE SELECTED TO PERMIT AN EVALUATION OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF MATERIALS AND METHODS OF FINISHING. FORWARD SKIDDING DISTANCES INCREASED WITH SPEED AND WERE MUCH LONGER ON WET THAN ON DRY SURFACES. AT 40 MPH, MEASUREMENTS RANGED FROM 63.6 TO 88.9 FT. ON DRY AND 72.0 TO 254.5 FT. ON WET SURFACES. THE DATA INDICATED THAT AT THIS MAXIMUM SPEED (40 MPH) FORWARD STOPPING DISTANCES ARE CRITICAL ONLY ON THE WET PAVEMENTS. IT WAS CONSIDERED UNSAFE TO CONDUCT TESTS ON A WET SURFACE AT GREATER SPEEDS. TWENTY-SEVEN OF THE 32 SURFACES WERE FOUND TO HAVE SATISFACTORY NON-SKID CHARACTERISTICS IN A WET CONDITION. THOSE SURFACES HAVING A ROUGH TEXTURE WERE FOUND TO HAVE SHORT STOPPING DISTANCES AND CORRESPONDINGLY HIGH COEFFICIENTS OF FRICTION. NON-SKID TREATMENTS WERE EFFECTIVE IN REDUCING FORWARD SKIDDING DISTANCES ON WET SURFACES. THE STOPPING DISTANCE METHOD WAS FOUND TO BE A RELATIVELY SIMPLE, INEXPENSIVE, QUICK MEANS OF MEASURING SKID RESISTANCE OF PAVEMENT SURFACES. CLOSE CHECK RESULTS WERE OBTAINED. /AUTHOR/

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/hrbresearchrpts/1948/5B48.pdf
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Res Rpt No 5B, 27 PP, 16 FIG, 2 TAB, 4 REF Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Shelburne, Tilton E
  • Sheppe, R L
  • Moyer, R A
• Publication Date: 1948

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Tables;
• Pagination: 66p
• Serial:
  • Highway Research Board Research Reports
  • Issue Number: 5B
  • Publisher: Highway Research Board

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Distance; Moisture content; Pavements; Skid resistance tests; Skidding; Skidmarks; Stopping distances; Surface course (Pavements); Texture
• Uncontrolled Terms: Wet conditions
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00207401
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: May 22 1972 12:00AM