New Laboratory Design Tools and Field Performance Monitoring Equipment for Permeable Friction Courses

Permeable Friction Course (PFC) mixes have proven to be excellent mixes that exhibit a number of desirable characteristics: rut resistance, crack resistance, reduced wet weather splash spray, reduced tire noise, and increased visibility of pavement markers during heavy rain. The Texas Department of Transportation pays a premium price for these benefits, which are sometimes short-lived, and several districts have restricted their use because of premature raveling problems. This study was initiated to address these performance issues. It focused on the following three topics: 1. Developing new laboratory test protocols to be used at the design stage to potentially eliminate mixes with stripping susceptibility. 2. Monitoring the performance on sections constructed with new specifications with changes aimed at minimizing performance problems such asthe new coarse graded asphalt rubber PFC. 3. Construct an automated splash spray monitoring system to measure how existing PFC pavements are performing, thereby helping to optimize future designs.