HARMONIZATION AND STANDARDIZATION OF TEST METHODS FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF PAVEMENT SURFACE CHARACTERISTICS IN EUROPE

The paper reviews the ongoing efforts devoted in Europe to harmonize and standardize test methods for assessing the surface characteristics or pavement surfaces. As part of the activities of the European Committee for Standardization, the group of experts WG5 Surface Characteristics of technical committee TC227 Road Materials has been mandated to draft European standards on test methods for pavement surface characteristics. Several draft standards (prENs in the public inquiry stage) are already available for static tests: sand patch test and surface drainability test for macrotexture, SRT pendulum test to measure friction (an indirect measure of microtexture), and three-metre straightedge test to measure the amplitudes of longitudinal and transverse surface irregularities. The drafts under preparation relate to dynamic test methods. The ISO standard 13473-1 has been evaluated and suggested as a prEN on a profilometric method to measure macrotexture. On the other hand, for the measurements of friction (skid resistance) and longitudinal and transverse evenness ( and transverse profile) it appears to be difficult, in the short or medium term, to agree on the standardization of a single method, because of the number and variety of equipment and methods of assessment in use in Europe. That is why the course of harmonization has been taken, by suggesting methods to convert the various existing scales to a common scale for the quantification of each pavement condition parameter. However, this conversion requires a thorough knowledge of the characteristics and performance of the various measuring methods, and the availability of results of comparative tests under actual field conditions. (A) For the covering abstract see IRRD E100847.