Three-dimensional surface texture of Portland cement concrete pavements containing nanosilica

Abstract

Pavement surface texture is critical to tire/pavement interaction. Texture characteristics of concretecontaining nanosilica pavement surface has not yet been directly investigated, although researchers havefound that nanosilica improved pavement friction values and durability. Specimens with various nanosilicacontent are tested for three-dimensional (3D) texture height maps which are decomposed using discretewavelet transform for the calculation of 3D texture indices for macrotexture and microtexture. It is foundthat 3D texture indices increase correspondingly with the increment of nanosilica content. Significantrelationship with R2 values between 0.80 and 0.99 is found between various texture indices and nanosilicacontent. The increased texture amplitude indicates enhanced pavement friction and then safety. Theincrement of core material volume implies more texture in the core region, which indicates better longevityof texture. The findings of this research agree with the results of other studies that nanosilica increased theabrasion resistance and frictional property of concrete surface.