Investigation the Relation between Skid Resistance and Mean Texture Depth in Concrete Pavements

Pavement friction and skid resistance are some of the most important factors affecting road accidents frequency and severity. Texturing is using due to improve frictional properties of surface during the construction of concrete pavements. In this research, in order to create macrotexture on the concrete surface, techniques such as perpendicular and parallel brushing (according to traffic direction), turf and burlap dragging on fresh concrete, and grooving hardened concrete were used. Mean Texture Depth and Skid Resistance of concrete surface, were measured using Sand Patch and British Pendulum tests, respectively. The results showed that the pavement macrotexture affects skid resistance. For turf dragged, parallel brushed, and non-textured sample, R-squared of the obtained relation between British Pendulum Number and Mean Texture Depth was more than 0.8. According to the results, among the created textures, perpendicular brushing of fresh concrete, with the average British pendulum number of 103.5, reached the highest skid resistance and by increasing the Mean Texture Depth, the British Pendulum Number increases. The result also showed in non-textured samples increase/decrease in Mean Texture Depth result in high increasing/decreasing in British Pendulum Number.