materials

Article
Fiber-Reinforced Asphalt Mixture Design on Anti-Skid
Surfacing for Field Testing High-Speed Vehicles on Pavements
Hao Liu 1,2 , Yunyu Li 3 , Jixin Li 1 , Feng Wang 2, *, Longfan Peng 1,2, *, Chao Li 2 , Tianlei Wang 2 and Juntao Lin 4

1 China Construction Second Engineering Bureau Ltd., Beijing 100176, China

2 State Key Laboratory of Silicate Materials for Architectures, Wuhan University of Technology,
Wuhan 430070, China
3 School of Transportation and Logistics Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
4 Faculty of Engineering, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), Wuhan 430074, China
* Correspondence: wangfengfeng@whut.edu.cn (F.W.); penglongfan@cscec.com (L.P.);
Tel.: +86-131-0061-3240 (F.W.); +86-185-7155-6621 (L.P.)

Abstract: Fiber can absorb asphalt binder and therefore reinforce and stabilize the asphalt mixture
structure and also prevent the asphalt from the leaking, which occurs in the process of mixing
and transport. In this study, three kinds of fiber (polyester fiber, polypropylene fiber, and lignin
fiber) are used to evaluate the relationship between the fiber types and mechanic performance of
SMA-13 fiber asphalt mixture, which is specially designed for field tests of high-speed vehicles on
pavements. The micro-surface characteristics of fiber and aggregates were studied by SEM and image
analysis. Marshall stability and splitting strength were used to measure the properties of the asphalt
mixture. In addition, a field test, including measures for curve-section edge, curve-section center,
straight-section edge, and straight-section center, was conducted to evaluate the skid resistance of
the high-speed vehicles that test field pavement. The results show that the Marshall stabilities of
asphalt mixture with three kinds of fibers have been improved, whereas the stability of asphalt
mixture prepared by polypropylene fiber and polyester fiber particularly increased before immersion.
Among the three kinds of fiber asphalt mixtures, the polyester fiber asphalt mixture has enhanced
water susceptibility. Skid resistance in the field test indicated that high skid resistance and good
surface-texture depth were achieved.
Citation: Liu, H.; Li, Y.; Li, J.; Wang,
F.; Peng, L.; Li, C.; Wang, T.; Lin, J. Keywords: fiber; asphalt mixture; skid resistance; vehicles testing field pavement; surface texture
Fiber-Reinforced Asphalt Mixture
Design on Anti-Skid Surfacing for
Field Testing High-Speed Vehicles on
Pavements. Materials 2023, 16, 549. 1. Introduction
https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16020549 Asphalt pavement is widely used due to its good functional performance, including
Academic Editor: Karim Benzarti fast traffic opening, easy maintenance, and renewable utilization [1,2]. However, asphalt
in China is mainly derived from paraffin-based crude oil that is sensitive to temperature,
Received: 21 November 2022 resulting in the temperature sensitivity of asphalt pavement being high [3]. Additionally,
Revised: 14 December 2022
asphalt pavement tends to present various problems with the use of ordinary asphalt [4–7].
Accepted: 23 December 2022
For example, asphalt pavement is prone to oil, and soft and heavy loads easily form perma-
Published: 5 January 2023
nent deformations, such as rutting and pushing in summer, as well as brittle cracking in
winter. Consequent to these deformations, the stability of asphalt is regarded as particularly
important. In order to solve the above problems, a lot of experimental research has been
Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.
carried out at home and abroad [8,9]. To improve surface performance, fiber has been added
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. in many ways to enhance the stability of asphalt mixtures, which can effectively improve
This article is an open access article the comprehensive performance of asphalt slurry and its mixture, improve the quality of
distributed under the terms and asphalt pavement, prolong its service life, and reduce the amount of maintenance [10–13].
conditions of the Creative Commons The asphalt mixture is mainly composed of aggregate and asphalt slurry, which includes
Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// asphalt and mineral powder. Although the content of the asphalt slurry in asphalt mixture
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ is small, it plays a key role in the quality of the asphalt mixture [14–17]. Fiber asphalt slurry
4.0/). is a mixture of asphalt, fiber, and mineral powder. Fiber can absorb asphalt, which can

Materials 2023, 16, 549. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma16020549 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/materials

Materials 2023, 16, 549 2 of 13

reinforce and stabilize the asphalt mixture structure and also prevent the asphalt leaking,
which occurs in the process of mixing and transport [11,18–20].
Fiber has been used as a reinforcing material in road construction since the 20th
century, and it can be classified as organic, metallic, mineral, glass, or synthetic (polyester,
polypropylene, and aramid). In 1960, Davis from the University of Toronto conducted the
first systematic study on asbestos fiber for road use [21]. After that, studies on asbestos-
fiber-modified asphalt mixture continued to be carried out, while asbestos was banned due
to its huge harm to the environment and great impact on human health. In 1984, lignin fiber
replaced asbestos fiber as the stabilizer in SMA mixtures, and thus lignin-fiber-modified
asphalt mixture research was carried out. However, there are also certain limitations of
using lignin fiber, such as its characteristic of easy water absorption, and that it easily
decomposes coke, which pollutes asphalt [21]. The application of polymer fibers began in
the 1980s with a patent by DuPont in the United States, which applied a specially formulated
reinforcing fiber made of polyester material to an asphalt mixture. Additionally, the research
of Freeman showed that polyester fiber could significantly improve the road performance
of asphalt mixtures in 1989 [21]. Polyester fiber was added to the asphalt mixture after the
surface, along with an anti-aging treatment that can enhance the bonding strength between
the asphalt and aggregate to make the connection closer [22]. Meanwhile, the fiber can
not only improve the low-temperature stability and high-temperature stability but can
also optimize the mechanical properties of asphalt mixture, which increases the service life
of the pavement [23,24]. The application of fiber in asphalt mixture has been studied by
many scholars, and the influence of fiber on asphalt properties depends on the properties
of the fiber itself. Yu [25] compared the effects of basalt fiber, lignin fiber, and polyester
fiber on the performance of asphalt mixtures and found that basalt fiber can improve the
low-temperature performance of asphalt mixtures more than the other two kinds of fiber. It
has also been shown that the fiber can effectively prevent the formation and development
of asphalt slurry deformation and improve the ability to resist shear degeneration.
Fibers can be added to asphalt or directly to asphalt mixtures, and there are generally
two methods of adding fibers to asphalt mixtures, including the dry method and the wet
method [18,21,26]. The dry method is to mix the fiber and mineral evenly and then add
asphalt to the mix to form an asphalt mixture. The wet method can be divided into two
types according to the different stages of fiber addition. In the first method, the fiber is
added to the asphalt and stirred evenly through a high-speed shear mixer and then added
to the mineral material before being mixed to form the asphalt mixture. However, this
method requires a high-speed shear mixer, the mixing uniformity effect is not significant,
and the fiber oil absorption leads to errors in asphalt dosage calculations compared with
the dry method, and thus there are no advantages. In the second method, asphalt and
minerals are mixed before adding fibers. Among the three addition processes, the dry
method, where fiber agglomeration is the weakest, is relatively simple. Furthermore, the
dry method can better distribute the fiber in the mixture; therefore, the dry process is often
used in fieldwork using fiber asphalt mixtures.
Therefore, in this study, three kinds of fiber (polyester fiber, polypropylene fiber, and
lignin fiber) are used to design asphalt mixtures, and polyester fiber was used to design
anti-skid surfacing materials for field tests of high-speed vehicles on pavements, which
always need high-quality skid resistance, good surface texture, and strength capacity.
Firstly, the morphology and microstructure of the three kinds of fiber were characterized by
image analysis and SEM test. Secondly, fracture strength and melting point were studied to
observe the basic properties and high-temperature properties of fiber, and a dry method
was used to prepare the fiber asphalt mixture. Thirdly, based on the laboratory test, the
impact of fiber types on the enhancing effect of asphalt mixture was studied, and the effect
of fiber on the skid resistance of asphalt pavement was then evaluated in the field.
Materials 2023, 16, 549 3 of 13

2. Materials and Properties

2.1. Raw Materials
2.1.1. Asphalt
SK Speedway modified asphalt was used for high-speed vehicles testing for field
asphalt mixtures design. Table 1 shows the asphalt physical tests, for instance, penetration,
softening point, and ductility tests were conducted for determining basic performance.
It can be found from Table 1 that the penetration, ductility, and softening point of the used
modified asphalt binder all meet the specifications.

Table 1. Basic performance indicators of SK Speedway modified asphalt.

Properties Units Test Value Specification

Penetration at 25 ◦C 0.1 mm 58.6 50–60
Ductility at 5 ◦ C cm 23.8 ≥20
Softening point ◦C 79.1 ≥60
Flash point (COC) ◦C 365 ≥230
Kinematic viscosity at 135 ◦ C Pa.s 2.2 ≤3
Solubility (trichloroethylene) % 99.6 ≥99

2.1.2. Aggregate
Basalt was selected as aggregate in this study. In order to reduce the error caused by
aggregate size and enhance the repeatability of the following research test, the aggregate
was divided into different particle size groups; then, the performance test was carried
out. The basic performance indicators of coarse and fine basalt aggregate are shown
in Tables 2 and 3.

Table 2. Basic performance indicators of coarse basalt aggregate.

Size
11–18 mm 6–11 mm 3–6 mm Specification
Properties
Specific gravity (g/cm3 ) 2.953 2.961 2.934 ASTM C127
Silt content (%) 0.4 0.5 0.3 T0310-2005
Water absorption (%) 0.48 0.45 0.40 T0307-2005
Adhesion (grade) 5 5 - T0616-1993

Table 3. Basic performance indicators of fine basalt aggregate.

Properties Units 0–3 mm Requirements Specification

Specific gravity - 2.650 ≥2.5 T0328-2005
<0.075 mm content % 0.2 ≤1 T0314-2005
Sand equivalent % 64 ≥60 T0334-2005

2.1.3. Fibers
As an additive of the specially designed high-speed vehicles testing the field asphalt
mixture, the performance characteristics of fiber itself have a significant impact on its
mixture enhancement effect. The various performance indexes of fiber will have an obvious
influence on road performance. The various performance parameters of the three used
fibers are shown in Table 4.
Materials 2023, 16, 549 4 of 13

Table 4. General properties of the used fibers.

Properties Polyester Fiber Polypropylene Fiber Lignin Fiber

Length (mm) 4–40 3–19 0.5–20
Diameter (µm) 24 32 14
Fracture strength (Mpa) 508 450 298
Moisture content (%) 1 0.8 5
Melting point (◦ C) 260 172 210

It can be seen from the fracture strength in the table that polyester fiber has the highest
strength. Polyester fiber, lignin fiber, and polypropylene fiber rank from the largest to the
smallest in terms of length–diameter ratio. If the fiber length–diameter ratio is too small, it
cannot reinforce and toughen the properties of the final asphalt mixture, thus it is difficult to
improve the strength of asphalt mixture. While the length–diameter ratio is too large, fiber
is easy to cluster in the mixing process and difficult to disperse, resulting in the strength of
asphalt mixture not considerably increasing. Furthermore, the melting temperature of the
fibers should be higher than that of the mixing temperature of the asphalt mixture; thus,
the three kinds of fibers selected in this paper meet the requirements.

3. Research Methodologies
The dry method was used to add fiber into the asphalt mixture in this study. Firstly,
three kinds of fibers were mixed with coarse and fine aggregate. Then, asphalt binder and
filler were added successively. Figure 1 shows the mixture preparation process. According
to the specification requirements, the mixing and compaction temperature of the hot
mixture should be increased by 10 ◦ C after adding fiber. Thus, the heating temperature at
each stage of the mixture or pavement preparation is selected as follows: heat asphalt binder
to 160 ◦ C, heat aggregate to 170 ◦ C, heat fiber to 160 ◦ C, mixing at 160 ◦ C, and compacting
at 150 ◦ C. To make the fiber as evenly dispersed as possible and prevent agglomeration,
the total mixing time of the dry method should be longer than that of traditional mixing.
The actual operation is to mix coarse and fine aggregate evenly for 30 s, while the time for
mixing fiber is 60 s, asphalt is 90 s, and filler is 90 s. After the internal temperature of the
mixing drops to 150 ◦ C, the specimen is compacted 75 times on both sides to form Marshall
specimens of asphalt mixtures.

Figure 1. Research methodologies.

Marshall stability and splitting strength were used to measure the properties of the
asphalt mixture. The splitting test used three groups of specimens and each group had
three specimens. Meanwhile, the test temperature was maintained at 25 ◦ C, and the loading
displacement rate of 50 mm/min was used. The first group was used for comparison, while
the other two groups were treated at water conditions with 3500 cycles of hydrodynamic
pressures. All specimens were used for the measurement of splitting strength.
Materials 2023, 16, 549 5 of 13

In addition, four locations from the high-speed-vehicles testing field were selected
in this study to evaluate the skid resistance of the designed anti-skid surfacing mixture,
including curve-section edge (CE), curve-section center (CC), straight-section edge (SE),
and straight-section center (SC). The detection parameters include BPN (British pendulum
number) value, MTD (mean texture depth), and MPD (mean profile depth), and the three
involved equipment are shown in Figure 2. Figure 2a shows a portable pendulum tester,
which measures the BPN value to evaluate the skid resistance of asphalt pavement with
moisture. Figure 2b shows a circle enclosed by standard sand, where the sand patch test is
widely used to detect the MTD of asphalt pavement surface, and Figure 2c shows a LTS9400
(Laser Texture Scanner 9400, Ames Engineering, Iowa State, America), which can obtain the
MPD of a specific area. The skid resistance of the pavement was detected before opening to
traffic [27].

Figure 2. Portable pendulum tester (a), sand patch test (b), Laser Texture Scanner (c).

4. Results and Discussions

4.1. Fiber Micro-Characteristics
It can be seen from Figure 3a that polyester fiber is a synthetic fiber prepared by
spinning after the polycondensation of organic diacid and dialcohol, which is milky white
with mercerization, moderate elongation, high modulus, and good chemical stability.
To further identify the surface structure of polyester fiber and analyze its internal factors
that might affect the performance of asphalt mixture, SEM was used, and the corresponding
microstructure is shown in Figure 3b.

Figure 3. Polyester fiber (a), microstructure of polyester fiber (b).

Polypropylene fiber is polymerized from copolymer monomer and acrylonitrile to

produce polyacrylonitrile resin; then, it is dissolved in a solvent to form a spinning solution.
Finally, it is spun by the dry method or wet method; thus, fiber is obtained through a variety
of complex processes. The high thermal stability of polypropylene fiber can withstand
higher temperatures up to 190 ◦ C, with strong acid resistance, strong alkali resistance,
and weak thermal conductivity. It can play a significant role in the structural stability.
Meanwhile, it can effectively inhibit the shrinkage deformation induced by drying and
temperature differences and improve anti-cracking properties to a certain extent. The
morphology and microstructure of polypropylene fiber are shown in Figure 4.
Materials 2023, 16, 549 6 of 13

Figure 4. Polypropylene fiber (a), microstructure of polypropylene (b).

Lignin is an amorphous three-dimensional mesh aromatic polymer, which consists of

a carbon–carbon bond and an ether bond linked to the structure of phenylpropane. Each
polymer unit contains hydroxyl, methoxy, and carbonyl groups. Lignin fiber is a kind
of plant fiber that is processed chemically or mechanically from wood. It is widely used
because of its strong oil absorption ability, good chemical stability, and low price. Lignin
fiber has a large and rough surface area, as well as high heat resistance, and is widely used
in asphalt mixtures to absorb and stabilize asphalt. As shown in Figure 5a, the lignin fiber
is gray flocculent without dispersing in clusters, clumped into fragments by hand, and is
uniform in length and thickness. Figure 5b shows that multiple lignin fibers have uniform
diameters and interweave with each other, and they are also not easy to disperse.

Figure 5. Lignin fiber (a), microstructure of lignin fiber (b).

4.2. Anti-Skid Mixture Design

4.2.1. Aggregate Gradation Design
SMA-13 gradation is adopted in this study to compare the effects of polyester fiber,
polypropylene fiber, and lignin fiber on the field-test performance of asphalt mixtures using
high-speed vehicles. Firstly, three gradations (gradation A, gradation B, and gradation C) of
fiber-modified SMA-13 were determined, and the passing rates of the 4.75 mm sieve were
23.9%, 26.8%, and 29.8%, respectively. The compositions of the three aggregate gradations
are shown in Table 5.

Table 5. The mass percentage of three gradations of mixture through the sieve.

Percentage of Mass Passing through the Following Screen (mm) (%)

Gradation Types
16.0 13.2 9.5 4.75 2.36 1.18 0.6 0.3 0.15 0.075
Gradation A 100.0 98.1 61.9 27.4 19.2 15.2 13.2 12.4 11.4 10.0
Gradation B 100.0 97.2 62.0 29.2 20.3 15.8 13.5 12.7 11.5 10.2
Gradation C 100.0 97.3 64.0 32.1 22.3 17.5 14.9 14.0 12.7 11.2
Materials 2023, 16, 549 7 of 13

Voids in coarse aggregate under the dry-rodded condition (VCADRC ) of the three
gradations were measured. The initial test specimens were made with the ratio of asphalt
aggregate at 6.4%, with 50 times compaction on both sides. Voids in the coarse aggregate of
a compacted mix (VCAmix ), as well as voids in mineral aggregate (VMA), were measured.
The gradings were then determined based on the condition that VCAmix was less than
VCADRC , and that VMA was not less than 17%. The results are shown in Tables 6 and 7.

Table 6. The results of VCADRC .

Voids in Coarse Aggregate

Grain Pounding Passing Ratio by Gross
under Dry Rodded
Grading Density (t/m3 ) 4.75 mm Sieve (%) Density (g/cm3 )
Condition VCADRC (%)
A 1.726 23.9 2.933 41.2
B 1.695 26.8 2.933 42.2
C 1.657 29.8 2.933 43.5

Table 7. Gradation volume analysis.

Voids in Coarse
Bitumen Specimen Maximum Voids Filled
Grain Air Voids Mineral Aggregate Skeleton
Aggregate Gross Density Theoretical Relative with Asphalt
Grading (%) Aggregate Clearance Rate
Ratio (%) (g/cm3 ) Density (g/cm3 ) VFA (%)
VMA (%) VCAmix (%)
A 6.4 2.472 2.585 4.4 18.9 76.8 40.8
B 6.4 2.470 2.579 4.2 18.7 77.5 40.9
C 6.4 2.479 2.572 3.6 18.2 80.1 40.7
requirements - - - 3–4 ≥17.0 75-85 ≤VCADRC

It can be seen from Tables 6 and 7 that the volume indexes of gradation C meet
the requirements, while the air voids of gradation A and B are not satisfied. Therefore,
gradation C was chosen as the design grade in the following research. Figure 6 shows the
grading curve.

Figure 6. Grading curves of the SMA-13 mixtures.

4.2.2. Optimal Asphalt Content Design

After the aggregate gradation was fixed, the Marshall compaction test of the designed
gradation was carried out with three asphalt contents of 6.1%, 6.4%, and 6.7%, and the
optimum asphalt content (OAC) was determined based on the performance of mixture with
these three different asphalt contents. With asphalt content as the horizontal coordinate
and various indexes of the Marshall test as the vertical coordinate, the relationship of the
Marshall test results is drawn, and the results are shown in Figure 7.
Materials 2023, 16, 549 8 of 13

Figure 7. Marshall test results with different asphalt content.

On the relation curve, the asphalt content a1 = 6.7% corresponding to the maxi-
mum density was taken. The asphalt content relative to the maximum Marshall stability
a2 = 6.36%, asphalt content corresponding to design air voids ratio a3 = 6.52%, and the
median voids filled with asphalt (VFA)-relative asphalt content a4 = 6.42%. OACmin = 6.73
was obtained when the lower limit of the design air voids was 3%. OACmax = 6.85 was
obtained when the design saturation reached 85%. Then, the optimal asphalt content can
be calculated according to the following formulas, where OAC is 6.7%.

OAC1 = (a 1 + a2 + a3 + a4 )/4 (1)

OAC2 = (OAC min + OACmax )/2 (2)

OAC = (OAC 1 + OAC2 )/2 (3)

4.3. Fiber Influence Mechanism

4.3.1. Marshall Stability
Figure 8 shows the results of the Marshall stability of the asphalt mixtures. It can
be seen that the Marshall stabilities of the asphalt mixtures with three kinds of fibers
are improved, whereas, the stability of the asphalt mixture prepared by polypropylene
fiber and polyester fiber particularly increased before immersion. This is attributed to
polypropylene fibers and polyester fibers being less dense than lignin fibers; thus, more
fiber with the same adding mass ratio can form a denser fiber network in an asphalt mixture,
resulting in a greater ability to transfer and disperse loads.
Materials 2023, 16, 549 9 of 13

Figure 8. The results of Marshall stability.

4.3.2. Moisture Susceptibility

The effect of fiber on the moisture susceptibility of asphalt mixture was evaluated
by the splitting test and immersion Marshall test. The purpose of the splitting test is to
evaluate the ability of fiber asphalt mixture to resist water damage after dynamic scouring.
The splitting test conducts an analysis of the dynamic water scour effect on asphalt mixture
under specified conditions to determine the strength ratio of the splitting failure of asphalt
mixture before and after water damage. The splitting strength ratio is calculated using the
following formula:
RT2
TSR = × 100% (4)
RT1
where:
TSR is the splitting strength ratio (%);
RT1 is the splitting strength of specimens without dynamic water scour;
RT2 is the splitting strength of specimens with dynamic water scour.
The purpose of the immersion Marshall test is to evaluate the ability of the fiber
asphalt mixture to resist aggregate spalling with water damage. We used an asphalt mixture
Marshall test instrument for the immersion Marshall test, and the following formula was
used for residual stability:
MS1
MS0 = × 100% (5)
MS
where:
MS0 is the residual stability of the specimen in water (%);
MS is the Marshall stability before immersion (kN);
MS1 is the Marshallian stability after being immersed in water for 48 h (kN).
The results of the residual stability and splitting strength ratio tests of asphalt mixtures
with three different fibers and without fiber are shown in Table 8. According to the data
in the table, the connection between the susceptibility to asphalt mixture and fiber types
can be obtained. It can be seen from Figure 9 that the splitting strength of asphalt mixture
decreases with the increase in dynamic scouring pressure, among which the splitting
strength of polypropylene fiber asphalt mixture is the largest. Additionally, a variation
in the splitting strength of polypropylene fiber asphalt mixture is the largest when the
dynamic scouring pressure increases from 30psi to 50psi, while the change in polyester
fiber is the least considerable. However, only the residual stability of polyester fiber
increases, which meets the requirements of the specification by no less than 85%, while
the residual stability of the asphalt mixture prepared by lignin fiber and polypropylene
fiber decreases. Therefore, considering the residual stability and the splitting strength ratio
after hydrodynamic scouring, only the polyester fiber asphalt mixture has enhanced water
susceptibility among the three kinds of fiber asphalt mixtures.
Materials 2023, 16, 549 10 of 13

Table 8. General moisture resistance properties of the used fibers.

Fiber Types TSR-30psi (%) TSR-50psi (%) Residual Stability (%)

No fiber 89.22 86.33 85.2
Polyester fiber 104.31 103.45 87.1
Lignin fiber 94.70 88.64 79.1
Polypropylene fiber 118.52 109.26 84.1

Figure 9. The relationship between the water susceptibility and fiber types.

4.4. Skid Resistance of Testing Field

4.4.1. BPN and MTD
According to the above results of the moisture susceptibility to the fiber asphalt
mixture, the field-test section of the polyester fiber pavement was then studied. In this
paper, the traditional test method of skid resistance, including the portable pendulum tester
and sand patch test, were conducted. Five points were selected for each test location, and
the BPN20 of the final standard temperature of 20 ◦ C of each point was measured. The
texture depth of the asphalt mixture was calculated according to the formula below, which
is accurate to 0.01 mm, where TD is the texture depth of asphalt mixture (mm), V is the
volume of sand (25 cm3 ), D is the diameter of flattened sand (mm), and the final average
value of the five points is MTD.

1000 × V 31831
TD = 2
= (6)
π × D /4 D2
The results of BPN value and MTD are shown in Figure 10, which shows that the BPN
value of CE is the same as that of CC, and is similar to SE, while the BPN value of the SC is
significantly higher than that of other areas. The MTD all meet the specified requirements,
which range from 0.7 mm to 1.1 mm. The MTD of the SC was the largest, and the MTD of
the curve was obviously smaller than that of the straight road, which may be because the
driver is prone to abnormal acceleration when the vehicle drives on straight sections for
a long time; therefore, high skid-resistance requirements are needed for straight-section
pavement [28]. Furthermore, the transverse slope was added to the design process of the
curve-section pavement, which can counteract the centrifugal force on the vehicle.
Materials 2023, 16, 549 11 of 13

Figure 10. The results of BPN value and MTD.

4.4.2. Mean Profile Depth

The LTS9400 has a scanning distance of 0.01784 mm between two laser spots, a
maximum resolution of 0.02469 mm in width, a range of 0–2835 scanned lines, and a
maximum scanning area of 100 mm × 70 mm. Ten scan lines were used for four different
areas several times to obtain mean profile depth, and 600 lines scanned the CC and SC
to obtain 3D models since the center of the pavement is where vehicles often drive. The
results of the MPD are shown in Figure 11, which shows that the MPD at the straight area
is obviously larger than that at the curve, while the MPD at the SC is the largest, which has
the best skid-resistance performance [29].

Figure 11. The results of MPD.

Figure 12 shows the 3D model of the pavement surface obtained by laser scanning,
Figure 12a is the curve section, and Figure 12b is the straight section. The red area represents
the positive texture, while the blue part represents the negative texture. The darker the red
color is, the greater the MPD will be. It can be seen from Figure 12a that the blue areas in
the curve area are significantly more than those in the straight pavement, which are also
concentrated while appearing in straight pavement as islands. Additionally, the red area in
the straight area is obviously more than that in the curve area. This indicates that there are
more negative textures in curve pavement than in the straight, and the amount of positive
textures in the straight is significantly greater than that in the curves. Furthermore, it has
been proved that the contribution of positive textures to anti-skid performance is greater
Materials 2023, 16, 549 12 of 13

than that of negative textures [30]. Therefore, it can be concluded that the original skid
resistance of straight pavement is better than that of curved pavement, which is consistent
with the conclusion reached by the conventional skid-test method.

Figure 12. The 3D models of pavement: (a) CC, (b) SC.

5. Conclusions
This study used three kinds of fibers to design asphalt-mixture-based anti-skid surfac-
ing for field testing high-speed vehicles on pavements. Materials characteristics, anti-skid
surfacing mixture design, and field pavement verification were conducted and discussed.
Based on the discussed experimental results, the following conclusions are drawn:
1. Fiber can be used to improve the Marshall stabilities of asphalt mixture for field testing
with high-speed vehicles, while polypropylene fiber and polyester fiber particularly
provided the best modification results in terms of Marshall stability;
2. According to the study regarding hydrodynamic treatment, polyester fiber can be used
to improve the water susceptibility of asphalt mixture in terms of residual stability
and splitting strength ratio;
3. The results of field tests show that the maximum mean profile depth can reach up to
1.361 mm, while the maximum BPN reaches 70;
4. Field verification indicates that there are more negative textures in curve sections
than in straight sections, and the amount of positive textures in straight sections is
significantly greater than that in curve sections. The original anti-skid performance in
straight sections is better than that in curve sections.

Author Contributions: Conceptualization, F.W. and H.L.; methodology, C.L. and T.W.; validation,
Y.L., J.L. (Jixin Li), and L.P.; formal analysis, Y.L.; writing—original draft preparation, H.L.; writing—
review and editing, F.W. and J.L. (Juntao Lin). All authors have read and agreed to the published
version of the manuscript.
Funding: This work is financially supported by open funding from the China Construction Second
Engineering Bureau LTD (Founding No. CSCEC—2019—Z—29) and National Natural Science
Foundation of China (No. 51908522).
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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