USE OF BLANK AND RIBBED TEST TIRES FOR EVALUATING WET-PAVEMENT FRICTION

Abstract

Skid-resistance data are compared by the ASTM E274 locked-wheel test method that uses blank E524 and ribbed E501 test tires on 59 pavements. The ribbed E501 tire is shown to be a poor discriminator of the drainage capability from the tire-pavement interface produced by pavement macrotexture. The blank E 524 test tire is shown to produce data sensitive to both macrotexture and microtexture. The pavements included in the study range from well-polished and worn dense-graded asphalt and portland cement concrete to open-graded asphalt grooved portland cement concrete; they ranged in SN40 from 24 to 69 with the ribbed tire. It is also noted that the ribbed E501 tire provides better drainage than do most passenger car tires during the latter third of their usable life. (Author)