Comparison of pavement surface texture determination by sand patch test and 3D laser scanning

Abstract

A modern highway must be capable of proving traffic safety, comfort to passengers as well as efficient and economical transportation. In view of the increase in the number of traffic accidents due to the developments in automotive industry, the traffic safety has gathered too much consideration in recent years. Skid resistance, on which road safety depends, is closely related to the pavement surface texture. The deterioration due to the traffic loads, especially polishing effect, involves a change in surface texture. In recent years, efforts are needed to develop more advanced technologies for evaluating pavement surface texture. In this study, the 3D laser scanner was utilized to quantify the mean profile depth (MPD) of a pavement at a static location. The surface texture of asphalt concrete pavements was scanned at 31 different locations and the results have been compared with the results of sand patch test. It was found that there is a good correlation between MPD as measured by 3D laser scanning and the mean texture depth (MTD) as measured by volumetric method (sand patch test). © Periodica Polytechnica 2012.