Analysis of Effectiveness of Longitudinal Grooving against Hydroplaning

Abstract

Longitudinal pavement grooving has been applied in highways to reduce the occurrence of hydroplaning at accident-prone locations. However, to date there has not been a systematic study of its effectiveness against hydroplaning. This lack can be attributed to the difficulty in conducting such experiments and the extreme complexity of the theoretical analysis involved. A numerical model was developed to simulate the hydroplaning phenomenon. Then a systematic study was conducted on the effectiveness of various designs of longitudinal grooving against hydroplaning. The analysis covers groove widths of 2 to 10 mm, groove depths of 1 to 10 mm, and groove center-to-center spacing of 5 to 25 mm. Groove dimensions were found to have significant effects on the effectiveness of a grooving design against hydroplaning. The results show quantitatively how the use of larger groove width and depth and smaller groove spacing reduces hydroplaning risk, by computation of the changes in the expected hydroplaning speed. For the range of groove dimensions studied, the expected hydroplaning speed for a typical passenger car increased by approximately 2.8 km/h for every mm increase of groove depth, by approximately 3.5 km/h for every mm increase of groove width, and by approximately 1.0 km/h for every mm decrease of groove spacing. The model also was applied to evaluate the hydroplaning potential of different grooving designs used in practice and past studies and to explain the conflicting findings of past studies on whether longitudinal pavement grooving does improve traction and reduce hydroplaning risk.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Horne

W. B.

, and Dreher

R. C.

. Phenomena of Pneumatic Tire Hydroplaning. NASA TN D-2056. NASA, Washington, D.C., 1963.

Horne

W. B.

, and Joyner

U. T.

. Pneumatic Tire Hydroplaning and Some Effects on Vehicle Performance. In SAE International Automotive Engineering Congress, January 11–15, Detroit, Mich., 1965.

Horne

W. B.

Results from Studies of Highway Grooving and Texturing at NASA Wallops Station. In Pavement Grooving and Traction Studies, NASA SP-5073. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington D.C., 1969, pp. 425–464.

Federal Highway Administration. Pavement Macro-Texture Review. FHWA RD80–505, Final Report. FHWA, U.S. Department of Transportation, 1980.

American Concrete Institute.

Texturing Concrete Pavement. Reported by ACI Committee 325, Detroit, Mich., 1988.

NCHRP Synthesis of Highway Practice, No. 14: Skid Resistance. HRB, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 1972.

Skid Resistance Manual. Submitted to FHWA, Contract No. DTFH-61–88–C-00058. Pennsylvania Transportation Institute, University Park, Pa., 1988.

Special Report: Concrete Pavement Technology and Research. SR-902P. American Concrete Pavement Association, Skokie, Ill., 2000.

Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 69th Ed. Chemical Rubber Company Press, Cleveland, Ohio, 1988.

10.

Blevins

R. D.

Applied Fluid Dynamics Handbook. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. Inc., New York, 1984.

11.

American Concrete Paving Association (ACPA). Concrete Pavement Fundamentals—Surface Texture. http://www.pavement.com/PavTech/Tech/Fundamentals/fundtexture.html. Accessed July 2005.

12.

State of California Department of Transportation.

Section 42: Groove and Grind Pavement. In

Standard Specifications, State of California Business, Transportation, and Housing Agency, Department of Transportation, Sacramento, 1999.

13.

International Groove and Grinding Association.

State DOT Specifications. http://www.igga.net/specs.html. Accessed April 2005.

14.

Ong

G. P.

, Fwa

T. F.

, and Guo

. Modeling Hydroplaning and the Effects of Pavement Microtexture. In Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 1905, Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, Washington D.C., 2005, pp. 166–176.

15.

Fluent 6.0 User Guide. Fluent Inc., Lebanon, N.H., 2000.

16.

Farnsworth

E. E.

Pavement Grooving on Highways. In Pavement Grooving and Traction Studies. NASA SP-5073. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington D.C., 1969, pp. 411–424.

17.

Mosher

L. G.

Results from Studies of Highway Grooving and Texturing by Several State Highway Departments. In Pavement Grooving and Traction Studies. NASA SP-5073. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington D.C., 1969, pp. 465–504.

18.

Sugg

R. W.

Joint NASA-British Ministry of Technology Skid Correlation Study—Results from British Vehicles. In Pavement Grooving and Traction Studies. NASA SP-5073. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington D.C., 1969, pp. 361–410.