SCRIM® / SCRIMTEX
The SCRIM® road survey vehicle helps reduce crash rates by measuring the wet skidding resistance of a road surface. It is ideal for network skid resistance surveys, with a daily operational capacity of 125 to 185 miles, depending on road type.
W.D.M. Limited is the sole licensed manufacturer worldwide of the SCRIM® road survey vehicle, working under licenses for Highway bodies in the US and UK. The SCRIM® machine is manufactured in full compliance with the current British Standard BS 7941-1:2006.
A SCRIM® survey in the US can be undertaken at target test speeds of 30 to 50 miles per hour. The permitted range covering these target speeds is 15 to 53 mph. Skidding resistance data recorded at speeds within this range can be speed corrected to give equivalent values at 31 mph.
The higher target speed should only be used where the posted speed limit is greater than 31 mph and where it is considered safe by the driver of the SCRIM® vehicle. The SCRIM® vehicle requires an operator and a driver.
The SCRIM® machine records skid resistance data continuously and stored as an average for each 5, 10 and 20-feet section of road. The operator controls the survey and adds location markers to the data stream.
All data is stored on USB flash drives for ease of processing. During periods of testing, the SCRIM® machine is calibrated before and on completion of each day’s testing. The measurements can be used to identify lengths of road that are at or below investigatory levels defined for particular road categories.
Test wheels are mounted mid-vehicle, in both the nearside and offside wheel paths, at an angle of 20 degrees to the direction of travel. The test wheel, which is fitted with a smooth pneumatic tyre of standardised hardness, freely rotates and is applied to the road surface under a known load.
A controlled flow of water wets the road surface immediately in front of the test wheel and when the vehicle moves forward, the test wheel slides in a forward direction on the road surface. The force generated by this action is related to the wet skid resistance of the road surface.
Measurement of this force allows the sideway-force coefficient to be calculated as an average for each continuous 5, 10 and 20-feet section.
SCRIMTEX is a development of the SCRIM® machine and supplements the wet road skidding resistance by measuring the surface macro-texture in front of the test wheel. This can be achieved in both wheel tracks of a double-sided SCRIM® vehicle and provides, in conjunction with air and surface temperature, the ultimate requirement for the assessment of road surface condition monitoring for network surveys.
Processing is undertaken using a suite of computer programs. The SCRIM® Readings (SR) recorded by the SCRIM® vehicle are corrected for speed where necessary and are rejected if the test speed is outside of the range 15-53mph. Speed-corrected SCRIM® readings are converted to SCRIM® coefficients, which in turn are compared with a range of investigatory levels for different road categories to identify deficient lengths of road.
* Registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office
