Citation

Harwood DW, Blackburn RR, Kibler DF, Kulakowski BT. Transp. Res. Rec. 1988; 1172: 32-41.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1988, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The estimation of wet pavement exposure is critical to the effective management of programs aimed at reducing wet pavement accidents. Without a measure of wet pavement exposure, highway safety engineers cannot tell whether differences in wet pavement accident frequencies between sites or over time represent actual safety problems or merely result from site-to-site or year-to-year variations in rainfall frequency. Laboratory and field tests were conducted to investigate two key aspects of wet pavement exposure estimation: (a) the conditions under which pavement wetness reduces pavement surface friction and (b) the time required for pavements to dry after rainfall. The results of these tests were used to develop an improved method of estimating wet pavement exposure from available weather records. This method has been incorporated into a computer model, known as the WETTIME model, for application by highway agencies. The model estimates the number of hours with wet pavement conditions on monthly and annual bases.

Record URL:
http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1988/1172/1172-004.pdf

Language: en

Keywords

Friction; Pavements; Surfaces; Roads and Streets; Highway Accidents--United States; Rain and Rainfall