Collection and Examination of Lab Test and Field Performance Data on Friction and Polishing of Hot Mix Asphalt Surface

As serious concerns have risen about management of highway safety and decreasing vehicle accidents there is regular effort undertaken by most highway agencies including the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT). ODOT usually monitors frictional properties of the surface pavement by way of routine measuring of skid number (SN) by using Lock Wheel Skid Trailer (LWST). Through that effort they are able to monitor the polishing and friction behavior of the different types of aggregate and specific types of Hot Mix Asphalt design.

There is a desire to develop a new laboratory accelerated polishing machine to simulate the polishing and abrasion behavior of hot mix asphalt in the field. The abrasion that happened in the field by interaction vehicle tires and asphalt pavement is mimicked by rotating the rubber on HMA cylindrical specimens in the lab. The short term tests were conducted in the lab to monitor the realistic field abrasion. A long term field work study has been ongoing since 2008 to establish correlations between laboratory measured polishing and friction behavior and field measured friction properties that is including SN64 (kmph), BPN, DFT and MPD in the same spot in eight identified road pavement sections in the State of the Ohio. In the summary required criteria by using results obtained from the new device were recommended to screen aggregate sources and optimize HMA. The capability of HMA is intended to provide high polishing resistance and high friction value for the expected life duration of asphalt pavement surfaces.

The principal objective of the research is exploring time-dependent relationships between lab data and field data to develop of correlation between BPN in the lab and measured SN and BPN in the field for the monitored pavement sections and time series analysis techniques. Additionally, curve fitting techniques were examine to look for potential correlation between the time dependant polishing and friction behavior monitored in the accelerated polishing machine and field long-term measurement data.