Episode 68: Friction: The holy grail of successful winter maintenance

For over 40 years we have sought after a measure of friction during winter events to determine if additional treatments were required.  Over the decades the science, sensors, and computing power have advanced to the point that friction or grip is making its way into winter operations.  On this episode we explore some cutting edge work in world of winter road friction.  Lead Statewide Snow & Ice Engineer for the MassDOT Mark Goldstein and from the Research Applications Lab at the National Center for Atmospheric Research,  Senior Software Engineer Gerry Wiener and Software Engineer Seth Linden discuss projects they are involved with and the finer points associated with using friction/grip in winter maintenance.Follow this link for more information on the Aurora Road Friction Project https://aurora-program.org/research/completed/roadway-friction-modeling-improving-the-use-of-friction-measurements-in-state-dots/ You can reach out to our guests directly for more information on their work with wintertime friction and grip by emailing them directly through the links above.Chapter marks:0:00 Intro1:54 when did you start thinking about friction and wintertime operations4:03 how does friction play onto the highway environment7:23 what are some of the grip measuring devices out there12:31 how do friction sensors work, what are they measuring17:05 The Aurora Roadway Friction Modeling study discussion25:41 MassDOT friction project38:04 What’s the future of friction/grip look like44:04 Last minute thoughts - autonomous vehicles46:4 2 sign off  Sign up for email notifications on future episodes and other communications associated with winter maintenance and winter weather management by clicking on subscribe on the Talkin' Winter Ops website at TalkinWinterOps.comThanks for listening in and stay safe out there!