Frictional Evaluation

• Pavement surface condition is evaluated in terms of

• Skid resistance as a safety measure
• Surface texture characterisation under wet condition as performance indicator
• Main objectives is to determine safe braking distance under different
operating conditions related to surface, climate, speed and tyre tread
conditions
• Different types of NDT equipment and methods are available to measure
surface frictional characteristics in terms of skid resistance
• Such data can be analysed for determining the skid hazard sections of
pavements, monitoring skid resistances in order to maintain vehicle
control, stopping distance in breaking situations and pavement
maintenance activities
Pavement Surface Friction
• Skid resistance of pavement surface is essentially a resistive force that
develops opposite to the direction of motion
• In contact plane between tyre and the surface of the pavement under a
locked or non rotating wheel
• Skidding occurs when the available frictional resistance is less than the
frictional demand at the interface between the tyre and surface of the
pavement
• Resistive force can be quantified as co efficient of friction (f) and is
expressed as the ratio between the tangential ( frictional) force acting
between the contact planes of rubber tyre and pavement surface ( Fs) to
the normal force or load applied by the wheel(Fn)
• f= Fs( horizontal force) / Fn( Vertical force)
• Frictional force Fs= f x Fn
• Co efficient of friction specifies the intensity of friction, adhesion and
interaction between the pneumatic tyre ad pavement surface
Friction Indices
• ASTM E 274 proposed the use of skid number (SN) as an alternative
to coefficient of friction
• AASHTO adopted the test method of ASTM E274 and designated SN
as friction number ( FN)
• PIARC ( Permanent International Association of Road Congresses)
conducted studies extensively on different friction measuring devices
and texture of pavement surfaces and developed a common friction
scale called International Friction Index (IFI)
• IFI model further refined by Penn State University ( Rado 1994) called
Rado model
Friction Number or Skid Number
• Co efficient of friction, f is also called the friction factor
• According to ASTM E 274 friction measurements are carried out using locked
wheels with smooth or ribbed standard tyre.
• Skid resistance is simply described as skid number (SN) or friction number (FN)
given by
SN = FN= fx100
SN value is represented as SN ( test speed) S or SN ( test speed) R
S stands for smooth tyre ( ASTM E 524)
R stands for ribbed tyre ( ASTM E501)
• For Eg. SN(65)R = 51 indicates locked wheel ( with ribbed tyre) test being
conducted at a standard speed of 65 kmph to obain SN value of 51
• The value can also be represented as ‘FN (65) R= 51’
• SN value will be relatively greater for dry pavements than wet pavements
• Higher SN values are preferred for better skid resistance
• Generally observed that the number of accidents on wet pavements is
twice as much as on dry pavements excluding consideration of geometric
and other factors
• Study on skid number conducted on HMA pavements in USA
recommended that an SN value of 35 and above is acceptable for heavy
traffic roads
• A value less than 30 needs corrective measures
• SN value greater than 30 is acceptable for low volume roads
• SN value 30-34 calls for frequent monitoring of skid resistance (
Jayawickrama et.al 1996)
Types of Frictions – longitudinal friction
• Longitudinal frictional resistance or skid resistance is developed when
• Pneumatic wheels rolls freely over a pavement surface without any type of breaking
• Break is applied constantly to the rolling tyre ( Meyer 1982)
• In case of free rolling ( no breaking mode), relative speed between the tyre and the
travelled surface at middle of the contact area of the tyre ( referred to as slip speed)
is zero
• When slip speed value is equal to zero, vehicle speed and average peripheral speed
of its tyre are equal
• In case of locked wheel mode, value of slip speed increases from zero to a maximum
of the speed of the vehicle
• Skid resistance as a safety measure is characterised by co efficient of friction
developed at the complete slippage of a locked vehicle under standard test
conditions
• The slip speed may be determined from the following relation ( Meyer,
1982, Andresen and Wambold, 1992)
• Slip sped = V slip = V test – V per
• V test = test ( travel / operating ) speed of vehicle
• V per = mean peripheral speed of the tyre in the contact patch
= angular velocity of tyre x mean radius of the tyre
radius may be calculated as C/2Π , C is the tyre circumference measured in standard inflation
pressure and normal speed
• In case of locked wheel , value of pheriperal speed of tyre becomes zero
and slip speed will be equal to operating speed of the vehicle
• This fully locked wheel state is referred to as 100% slip ratio and freely
rolling state of the wheel is referred to as 0 % slip ratio
• Following relation may be used to calculate the value of slip ratio
Slip ratio , % =( (V test – V per) / ( Vtest)) *100 = (Vslip/ Vtest)* 100
• As the slip speed becomes zero, slip ratio also becomes zero
• In wheel –locked state , slip speed will be equal to vehicle operating
speed and SR value increases to 100%
• As slip value changes from 0 to 100%, value of ‘f’ co efficient of
friction between tyre and surface pavement varies
• It increases rapidly to a peak value with increasing slip of tyre, usually
in a range of 10 to 20%, slip value is referred to as critical slip
• As the wheel is fully locked , ‘f’ value decreases to a certain value at
100% slip, referred as co efficient of sliding friction
• The value of co efficient of sliding friction in the longitudinal friction is
considered as minimum required friction factor with regard to skid
safety
• Numerical difference between peak co efficient of friction and sliding
co efficient of friction may be equal to up to 50% of the slip value. The
difference is greater for wet pavements
Lateral or side force friction

• To compensate for the sliding out of a vehicle when tranversing a

horizontal curve, a side force friction is developed between the tyre
and pavement surface on a transverse / super elevated slope.
• Relationship between Fs side force friction, e, super elevation, R,
radius of the curve v, speed of the vehicle and g, acceleration due to
gravity is as follows
• Fs = (v2/gR)- e
Mechanisms of friction between tyre and
pavement
• Adhesion, shear and hysteresis are the principal component forces
inter playng at the contact surface between rolling tyre and pavement
surface ( Kummer, 1966)
• Adhesive frictional force occurs at the interface of tyre and surface of
the pavement
• The rubber tyre contact over the aggregate surface particularly at
micro level is responsible bonding or interlocking effect
• Magnitude of frictional force component of adhesion is proportional
to the tyre contact area on the pavement surface properties and inter
surface shear strength, which is proportional to area of shear
developed
• Wetness of the surface is a condition crucial for safety analysis of
pavements, on wet pavements, adhesion is reduced drastically with
increase in speed
• Hysteresis of the frictional force component develops due to bulk
deformation of the rubber tyre due to rolling, which causes resistance to
forward motion
• Under compression a part of rubber tyre against the pavement surface
deforms elastically as it relaxes , the energy stored in the form of heat in
the rubber is relived to the next contact part of the tyre
• Difference in energy stored in the rubber tyre induces internal frictional
resistance in the rubber and thereby it retards free forward motion
• Visco elastic deformation of rubber tyres depends largely on the
macro texture , speed, temperature and finished texture of the
pavement surface
• This hysteresis increases with speed, in case of ice and snow surfaces
the shear strength depends on the contaminants
• Major components of friction are largely dependent on micro and
macro texture characteristics, visco elastic properties of rubber tyre,
type of tyre tread, temperature, speed
Factors Affecting Surface Friction / Skid
resistance ( Wilson and Dunn, 2005)
• Factors related to test wheel and tyre
• Test tyres measure different friction values on the same surface of pavement
because of difference tyre properties
• Properties related to test tyre are
• Inflated air pressure, pressure applied on tyres, material composition of tyre relating to tyre
elasticity and tyre geometry such as tread pattern, outer diameter, contact area and tread
depth
• Occurrence of critical slip ratio is greatly influenced by the hardness or elastic
property of tyre
• Therefore creep recovery and elastic properties of the tyre material are important
• Due to this reason skid resistance testers operating at low slip ratio particularly fixed
slip ratio less than 17% or slip speed less than 17km/h should strictly specify the test
tyre chracteristics ( Rado 2000)
• Skid resistance data obtained by the smooth tyre test evaluates safety better
than the data obtained from ribbed tyre test
• Smooth tyre surface is sensitive to micro texture as well as the macro texture,
since its smooth surface does not provide any channels ( Like ribbed tyres) to
let water escape from tyre pavement interface
• In case of ribbed tyre, surface water will be allowed to flow out between the
tread gaps of the tyre and therefore it is insensitive to micro texture
• In both cases skid resistance will be predominantly influenced by micro
texture ( Henry and Saito 1983)
• Factors related to pavement characteristics and materials
• Factors which affect friction in this regard are micro and macro texture of pavement
surface, mineral composition of aggregates, aggregate gradation, shape of aggregate,
bitumen content, type of bituminous mix, tinning pattern and tinning depth and tining
pattern of concrete pavement and road curvature in horizontal and vertical planes
• Mineral composition is an important factor as soft mineral get polished off by the traffic
flow and surface becomes smooth
• In case of hard minerals aggregates have high resistance to polishing and maintain skid
resistance
• Lime stone is soft mineral Sand stone is hard material , Sedimentary rocks provide better
skid resistance than igneous and metamorphic rocks
• In sand stone small particles get worn off exposing layers of sharp crystals to the tyres
• In case of igneous rocks as stones get polished , their smoothened surface present poor
skid resistance
• It is revealed that Skid number determined using smooth tyre is lower than that using
ribbed tyre when tested on finer mixtures in which nominal maximum size of aggregates
is less than 9.5 mm ( Mischelle 2001)
Fig.10.4
• Factors related to driving dynamics
• Factors related to climate
• The intensity of moisture level or wetness of pavement surface or dryness of surface,
presence of precipitation effect the co efficient of friction
• Frictional resistance between the tyre and pavement surface will be drastically
reduced when the surface is wet, increasing the risk of skidding
• Pavement surface is made wet while testing for skid resistance
• Nominal water film thickness is defined as the average depth above a smooth
texture and its value ranges from 0.25 mm to 1.0mm
• As wetness increases, thin film of water acts like a lubricant and decreases the skid
resistance and is called wet skidding
• As film of water becomes sufficiently thick, it acts as separation film between the
pavement surface and the tyre.
• This condition facilitates the rolling of wheels at high speeds, causing slips. At this
state the pavement no longer plays a role in the friction process. This phenomenon is
known as hydroplaning or aqua planning
• The state of hydroplaning is inimical to steering stability and can
cause serious accidents
• Other factors: presence of dirt, mud, debris, grease, oil, spillage
influence surface friction.