Friction Testing Method for Open-Grated Steel Bridge Decks

For more than four decades, most of the testing methods and studies for the determination or quantification of friction and texture properties have been concerned primarily with concrete and asphalt paved roadways. However, since the focus of such methods has been mainly on paved roads, other traveled surface types, although part of roadway systems, have been overlooked or simply not addressed directly. As travel safety and efficiency are gaining importance to state agencies, it is imperative to include the atypical travel surfaces, such as bridges with open-grated steel decks, in an appropriate measurement program. To this end, the current study was initiated to identify an appropriate method for measuring the friction characteristics on steel bridge decks. An appropriate standardized test method would provide information that can be effectively used in state road safety and management programs. This method would also provide a tool to ensure that all travel surfaces are constructed and maintained with appropriate friction properties. All the results obtained during this investigation indicated that ASTM E-274 can be appropriately used to assess friction characteristics on both paved surfaces and open-grated steel bridge decks. Such information is critical to support informed highway planning and policy and decision making. In addition, the study findings can be used as a basis to revise the current ASTM standard to include open-grated steel bridge decks.