Hosseini F, Hossain S M K, Fu L. (2017). Bio-based Materials for Improving Winter Pavement Friction. Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjce-2016-0460

Abstract:

Over five million tons of salt (NaCl) is applied in Canada every winter to improve pavement friction in the winter season. While effective for improving pavement surface condition, salts at high concentrations are detrimental to the environment and corrosive to vehicles and infrastructure. New alternative salts (bio-based products), are increasingly available in the market as an alternative to regular salt; however, limited information on the performance of these alternatives is available for transportation agencies to make informed decisions for their usage. In this study, a set of bio-based products were selected and their performances were compared using pavement friction improvement as a measure. A multivariate linear regression analysis was conducted to identify the factors influencing pavement friction by utilizing these new materials. The analysis has indicated that using bio-based materials resulted in 10%–40% improvement in the friction level. However, these materials did not significantly outperform each other. The study also concluded that an application rate as low as 3 L/1000 ft2 should be applied for parking lots or low volume roads, which is 25% less than the current application rates that are used in general for parking lot pavement maintenance.

Contributors: Hosseini F, Hossain S M K, Fu L.

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