Methodology to incorporate frictional performance in the pavement management system of Sri Lankan expressways

Abstract

In Sri Lankan context, renovations or reconstruction of road overlays are carried out mainly based on visual measurements of the pavement condition such as settlements, potholes and other prominent signs of deterioration. Though the above practice may be acceptable in the point of view of low volume roads, expressways with higher design speed require frequent monitoring rather than unplanned, immediate rehabilitations. Pavement Management System (PMS) becomes important to recommend necessary conservative measures for effective management of the pavement with the use of various decision making/supportive tools and mechanisms. Identification of the critical friction related pavement characteristics and introducing methodologies to interpret such, is a must in order to formulate a method to incorporate Friction Management Programme (FMP) in the PMS. The paper suggests basic threshold values (investigatory and intervention) of friction and texture for Sri Lankan expressways, through an analysis of the deterioration rates of pavement friction. Analysis is carried out comparing the reference graph of pavement friction deterioration curve derived through laboratory experiments involving Accelerated Polishing Machine and the British Pendulum Tester, together with the graph obtained from the survey data of the Southern Expressway.