Braking of an Aircraft Tire on Grooved and Porous Asphaltic Concrete

Runway grooving is an effective surface treatment that reduces the danger of hydroplaning to an aircraft landing on a water covered runway. Grooves are usually cut by diamond-tipped rotatory blades; square grooves of l/4-inch size are widely used.
Other surface treatments include grooving by a reflex-percussive cutting process, Grooving while the concrete is in plastic state, and the porous friction overlays. Grooving in plastic state is limited to portland cement concrete runways only while the other treatments can be applied to both the portland cement concrete and the asphaltic concrete surfaces. The effectiveness of some of these treatments has not been evaluated on asphaltic concrete surfaces prior to the initiation of this study.

DOT/FAA/CT-82/147
Author: Satish K. Agrawal