A common issue on gravel-surfaced mine haul roads is loss of control or uncontrolled vehicle movements due to skidding or sliding on slick road surfaces.
The friction supply, or ‘skid resistance’ of a mine haul road wearing course is critical to the safe operation of the road, but the variation of friction supply with wearing course material engineering or indicator properties is very site-specific.
This paper outlines the development of improved and validated unpaved mine road friction supply estimates, based on wearing course material specification, leading to improved predictive models of friction supply.
Current skid resistance testing and protocols have been developed by RSTS (Tulloch and Stoker) who also conduct on-site testing, and equipment and software solutions from (Friction-Plus app) developed by ADE Australia, or Vericom (USA).