This part of ISO 13473 describes a test method to determine the average depth of pavement surface macrotexture (see clause 3, Definitions) by measuring the profile curve of a surface and calculating the texture depth from this profile. The technique is designed to provide an average depth value of only the pavement macrotexture and is considered insensitive to pavement microtexture and unevenness characteristics.

The objective of this part of ISO 13473 is to make available an internationally accepted procedure for determination of pavement surface texture depth which is an alternative to the traditionally used volumetric patch technique (generally using sand or glass spheres), giving comparable texture values.

This ISO 13473 series has been prepared as a result of a need identified when specifying a test surface for vehicle noise measurement (ISO 10844). Macrotexture depth measurements according to this International Standard are not generally adequate for specifying test conditions of vehicle or traffic noise measurements, but have limited applications as a supplement in conjunction with other ways of specifying a surfacing.

This test method is suitable for determining the Mean Profile Depth of a pavement surface. This Mean Profile Depth can be transformed to a quantity which estimates the macrotexture depth according to the volumetric patch method. It is applicable to field tests as well as laboratory tests on pavement samples. When used in conjunction with other physical tests, the macrotexture depth values derived from this test method are applicable to estimation of pavement skid resistance characteristics (see e.g. reference [1]), estimation of noise chacteristics (see e.g. ISO 10844), and assessment of the suitability of paving materials or pavement finishing techniques.

The method, together with other measurements (where applicable) such as porosity or microtexture can be used to assess the quality of pavements.

Pavement aggregate particle shape, size, and distribution are surface texture features not addressed in this procedure. The method is not meant to provide a complete assessment of pavement surface texture characteristics. In particular, care should be exercised in interpreting the result if the method is applied to porous surfaces or to grooved surfaces (see annex B).