Poster 17-19

Critical Assessment of High-Friction Surface Treatment (HFST)?s Long-term Performance in Georgia under Different Roadway Conditions

PI: James (Yichang) Tsai

Co-PI(s): 

Institution(s): Georgia Institute of Technology

Abstract

GDOT has an active curve safety program that applies HFST on specific curves and Georgia is number one state in the nation for HFST usage by volume (more than 400 curve sites installed with HFST). Based on National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) observations, the significant concern over HFST is that its friction would drop suddenly at the HFST?s end of life even for the HFST with normal and good performance and the there is no clear friction trend to predict this friction drop. Continuously monitoring the friction of the HFST sites on a regular basis is the ideal way to determine HFST end of life. However, it is not practical to regularly monitor more than 400 HFST curves located across the Georgia in 5 GDOT Working Districts with limited testing resources. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to critically assess and understand the long-term performance deterioration of different friction improvement surface treatments including calcined bauxite HFST, and local bauxite (Feldspar) epoxy overlay closely in Georgia?s different real-world conditions. Also, this research aims to recommend the modules and guidance on data collection items including locations, frequencies, performance measures and metrics to support the optimized, network-level HFST long-term performance monitoring and maintenance program based on the critical assessment results from the performance monitoring.

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