The Traffic Accident Reconstruction Origin -ARnews-

Re: Drag Factor of Freshly Laid Asphalt

Ed Livesay (elivesay@alltel.net)
Thu, 26 Jun 1997 10:33:26 -0400 (EDT)

Chuck:

I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to conduct a test skid employing a
VC-2000 accelerometer in my Dodge Caravan equipped with typical "A" traction
rated tires. The accelerometer was used with its default g-force initiation
and other settings. I could literally see the asphalt being laid about a
mile further up the road. Two test skids and a drag device analysis later
resulted in a 76% average drag factor. I was surprised after hearing for
years that I should expect much higher values for "new asphalt." Certainly
this is too limited a test to make final conclusions, but so-far, I can't find
that much difference between new and older asphalt. I suspect that the other
posters have a good idea when they claim that asphalt is simply not asphalt but
in fact comes in grades, etc. Maybe that explains the range of values that
we are all discussing. Seems that (as is almost always the case) we should
test at each and every site regardless of "knowns."
Ed Livesay
elivesay@alltel.net

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