Conceptual development of an integrated system for quality control of skid resistance measurements

Abstract

Safety is one of the main issues that must be considered when evaluating the quality of service provided by a road. Therefore, skid resistance measurement procedures are quite important components of a road management system. Currently, many equipments and procedures are used to measure skid resistance in pavement surfaces, like British Pendulum, GripTester, SCRIM, among others. Skid resistance data collected with such devices is afterwards processed and compared against minimum threshold values, predefined for the road management procedures. However, to ensure an acceptable reliability and quality level of such results, continuous monitoring of measurement procedures and also revision and calibration of devices must be performed. In this paper, a general methodology is proposed, to be used as a quality control system for devices and skid resistance measurements. Such methodology has been designed by using checklists, and applying statistical concepts of repeatability and reproducibility. The methodology was therefore applied to evaluate the quality level achieved by skid resistance devices and measurement procedures used in Chile, with good results. The quality of the evaluation procedures included in the methodology were also verified applying Six-Sigma statistical analysis techniques, which contributed significatively to improve the proposed quality control system.