A Novel Safety Assessment Framework for Pavement Friction Evolution Due to Traffic on Horizontal Curves

Guilong Xu, Jinliang Xu (), Chao Gao, Rishuang Sun, Huagang Shan, Yongji Ma and Jinsong Ran
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Guilong Xu: School of Highway, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China
Jinliang Xu: School of Highway, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China
Chao Gao: School of Highway, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China
Rishuang Sun: Shandong Transportation Planning and Design Institute Group Co., Ltd., Jinan 250061, China
Huagang Shan: Shaoxing Transportation Investment Group Co., Ltd., Shaoxing 312000, China
Yongji Ma: School of Highway, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China
Jinsong Ran: School of Highway, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 17, 1-14

Abstract: The friction coefficient is one of the dominant parameters affecting vehicle driving stability on horizontal curves. However, there is no comprehensive framework to assess the traffic safety on the horizontal curve with the evolution of the friction coefficient caused by the traffic flow. In light of this, this paper developed an integrated risk-assessment framework to evaluate the safety on the horizontal curve with the friction coefficient evolving under different traffic characteristics. The speed distribution on the horizontal curve of the freeway is obtained through field experiments that serve as the basic parameters of the model. A new multi-vehicle risk index (MRI) is introduced to assess the traffic safety risk for the horizontal curve by coupling the reliability theory and negative binomial. Three traffic characteristics are considered in the analysis: cumulative traffic volume (CTV), annual average daily traffic (AADT), and average daily traffic of heavy goods vehicles (AADT HGV ). The results show that the AADT and AADT HGV have a considerable impact on the road risk level. When the truck traffic volume is less than 1000 veh/d, the risk of horizontal curves changes less as road operational time goes. The research results can provide a reference for the road maintenance department to determine the timing of road maintenance.

Keywords: traffic safety; horizontal curve; reliability theory; pavement friction evolution; traffic flow (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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