Evaluation of Trapezoidal Shaped Grooves

Figure 34. Evidence of Damage to Edges of Standard (Left) and Trapezoidal-Shaped (Right) Grooves

Performance. As part of this evaluation, researchers also determined if there was a difference in the ability of the trapezoidal-shaped grooves to evacuate water from the surface of the runway. To investigate this further, researchers coordinated a special evaluation with the airport manager at MCAF Quantico in which an airport fire truck would dump a significant amount of water on the runway over both the trapezoidal-shaped and standard groove test areas. This evaluation was conducted on July 19, 2007. Researchers outlined one standard groove test section with orange traffic cones, as shown in figure 35. An airport fire truck slowly traveled through the test area, along the runway centerline, and dumped a large amount of water on the pavement (figure 36). Within a few seconds after the water was dumped on the pavement, researchers noticed that the pavement areas with the trapezoidal-shaped grooves evacuated the water significantly faster than the areas with the standard grooves. In figure 37, note the area just before the orange cone. The water in this area is higher on the runway than in the areas before and after the cone, which are the trapezoidal-shaped grooved areas. The flood line for the standard grooves, which is the point at which the grooves are completely filled with water, can be observed to lag behind the flood line for the trapezoidal-shaped grooves.

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