Maintenance management of grooved runway pavement

Grooved pavements are commonly used in airport runways in many parts of the world. Grooves are installed in both rigid and flexible pavements. They are installed specifically for the purpose of maintaining sufficiently high tire-pavement skid resistance to ensure safe wet-weather landing and takeoff of aircrafts. The main function of grooves is to provide effective surface drainage and facilitate rapid discharge of surface water. Grooved pavements present additional maintenance management concerns for airport pavement engineers. These additional concerns are uniquely related to the presence of grooves in the pavements. Maintenance management concerns of grooved runway pavements can be grouped into two main categories: (i) Structural and material related distresses, and (ii) Service related functional effectiveness of grooved pavement. The first group covers all groove related pavement stresses such as closing up of grooves, distorted grooves, spalling or collapse of groove walls, etc. The second group is mainly drainage and safety related functional properties of the grooved pavement, including groove depth, drainage effectiveness, and skid resistance. This paper describes the pavement condition survey and assessment procedures developed at the Singapore Changi Airport for the maintenance management of grooved runway pavements. Currently there do not exist any standard distress rating methods for grooved runway pavements. The pavement condition survey and assessment procedures presented in this study are developed based on the actual experience at the Singapore Changi Airport. The rationale and basis of the various procedures are described in this paper.