Skidding Characteristics of Pavement Surfaces Incorporating Steel Slag Aggregates

Abstract

Steel slag, a by-product of the steel industry, has been used in road construction in South Yorkshire and its environs for the past 60 years. Local highway engineers have anecdotal evidence of good long-term antiskid performance from road surfacings that incorporate steel slag aggregate, and these materials have remained popular with users. In view of the move toward performance measurements for paving materials, a systematic study of the performance of paving materials incorporating slag has been set up as a combined industry-university project with the assistance of the Teaching Company Directorate. The evaluation of the skid resistance characteristics of steel slag aggregates and the skidding characteristics of pavement surfaces incorporating steel slag aggregate are reported. The research program developed a modified specimen preparation procedure that significantly reduced the scatter in polished stone value (PSV) results. The field data showed that all steel slag surfaces provided good long-term skid resistance and that the 14-mm chippings exceed the performance expectations of rock chippings with similar PSVs.