Analysis of skid resistance in airport epoxy asphalt pavement based on surface texture and friction features

Epoxy asphalt mixture, characterized by its exceptionally high dynamic stability at elevated temperatures and superior moisture resistance, serves as an ideal paving material for airport runways. This study employs a laser texture scanner combined with Gaussian filtering for noise reduction to acquire macro texture and micro texture data of two gradations of epoxy asphalt mixtures. Correlation and regression analysis are conducted to establish relationships between texture parameters (such as Mean Profile Depth MPD, Arithmetic Mean Roughness R a , and Root Mean Square Roughness R q etc.) and the Texture Depth (TD) as well as the British Pendulum Number (BPN 20 ). Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling is performed to evaluate the differences between the two gradations. Furthermore, this study also investigates the skid resistance durability of the epoxy asphalt mixture under repeated wheel loading. The results indicate strong linear correlations between TD and MPD ( r = 0.952 for EAC-10 and r = 0.887 for EAC-13), and between R a and R q ( r = 0.999 for EAC-10 and r = 0.994 for EAC-13). The BPN 20 exhibits correlations with both macro texture and micro texture. The differential analysis further reveals distinct variations in macro texture, micro texture, and friction coefficients between the two nominal maximum aggregate size gradations (the 90% confidence ellipses show essentially no overlap). The durability analysis demonstrates that the epoxy asphalt mixture (the BPN 20 decreased by 8.7%) possesses superior skid resistance durability compared to SBS modified asphalt mixture (the BPN 20 decreased by 18.0%). In conclusion, a comprehensive evaluation of the epoxy asphalt mixture's skid resistance from the three dimensions (macro texture, micro texture, and friction coefficient) coupled with an assessment of its skid resistance durability, provides valuable insights for promoting its application in airport pavement engineering.