Laboratory test to evaluate the effect of contaminants on road skid resistance
DO ; CEREZO ; ZAHOUANI
Type de document
COMMUNICATION PAR AFFICHE (AFF)
Langue
anglais
Auteur
DO ; CEREZO ; ZAHOUANI
Résumé / Abstract
The effect of contaminants has been overlooked and yet plays a significant
role in driver safety and road maintenance. A laboratory test method is
developed to reproduce the deposit of contaminant particles on the road
surface and measure the friction coefficient on dry and wet contaminated
surfaces. It simulates in this way the variation of skid resistance of road
surface due to the contaminants during a dry period-precipitation event
and the washoff effect of the rain. Protocols are described with respect to
the contaminant collection on site and the subsequent preparation in
laboratory, the spreading of contaminant particles on the road specimen
and their compaction to simulate the effect of the traffic, the wetting of the
test surface to simulate precipitations, and the friction measurement.
Values of the friction coefficient on clean and dirty dry surfaces as well as
during the surface wetting (simulation of precipitations) are plotted.
Comparison with the literature shows that the developed test method
reproduces remarkably well qualitative graphs used to highlight the loss of
skid resistance with time during a rain preceded by a long dry period. The
effect of contaminant concentrations and traffic is shown. Explanations are
given in terms of the masking of the road surface microtexture; they are
supported by visual observation of the road surface before and after the
contaminant deposit.
