FEASIBILITY STUDY ON FRICTION MAPPING

摘要

Northern Japan has cold winters with snowfall heavier than that typically seen at itsrnlatitudes. Since winter weather creates hazardous road conditions for road users, winterrnroad maintenance is essential in these regions. To carry out winter road maintenancernworks appropriately, it is necessary for road managers to identify road sections whererntreatment is required. To this end, thermal mapping has been widely used. Thermalrnmapping is based on the fact that the pattern of road surface temperatures is reproduciblernunder similar weather conditions. Thermal mapping develops a unique surfacerntemperature pattern for each route (a “thermal fingerprint”). Another technique to clarifyrnroad surface conditions involves determining the slipperiness of the road surface. Althoughrnthe recent development of a practical device that allows continuous measurement of roadrnsurface friction has expanded the application of slip indicators in winter road maintenance,rnit is impossible to constantly measure changing road surface friction. If, like road surfacerntemperature, the distribution of road surface friction is reproducible, road managers canrnreduce the need to conduct road surface friction measurement. This study aimed to verifyrnthe reproducibility of friction data by using an expressway as a case study route.