Runway Groove Identification and Evaluation Using 1 mm 3D Image Data

Abstract

Tire and pavement interaction is a critical focus for studying pavement functional performance and safety. For airplane landing or take-off, pavement grooving is increasingly used to prevent hydroplaning during wet weather. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Advisory Circular (AC) No. 150/5320-12C has specific requirements for pavement grooving dimensions and performance. Typically, the depth, width, and spacing of pavement surface grooves are a set of parameters to estimate the potential safety risks in the pavement and tire interaction. The groove geometric dimensions would vary over time due to traffic loading. Therefore, the evaluation of groove performance becomes a critical process for pavement safety study. Traditionally point laser ranger based profiling system is used to measure pavement grooves. The groove identification and evaluation are conducted on one line-of-sight profile with this technique; however, this method cannot reflect the entire runway groove information due to the limited quantity of profiles that can be analyzed. This study presents the application of the newly developed 3D laser imaging system called PaveVision3D at the National Airport Pavement Test Facility (NAPTF) of the FAA Tech Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey. In this research, a new groove identification methodology is proposed based on the 3D texture measured at 1mm resolution. Any or all profiles on a runway can be used as input data to identify and evaluate grooves. A comparison study is made between the recommended groove configuration and the estimated groove dimensions from field data.

Automatic Groove Measurement and Evaluation with High Resolution Laser Profiling Data

“…Past studies indicate that groove dimensions can be automatically measured using point laser ranger-based profiling equipment and 3D laser imaging sensor-based instruments [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ]. For the collected grooving data, the identification can be implemented in three phases, namely the potential dip identification, the determination of two endpoints of the identified dip, and true groove determination.…”

“…Currently there are four methods for the potential dip identification [ 11 , 12 , 14 , 16 ]. One method is the cluster-based technique, whose identification results are inconsistent at the different field test sites.…”

“…This method has been embedded into FAA ProGroove software [ 12 ] for groove identification. The third method is the gradient-based method [ 11 ]. A dip and spike pair can be obtained when the gradient of each groove is calculated, and the forward and backward traversal technique are used to determine the two endpoint points of each groove.…”

“…The determination of the two endpoint positions of grooves is critical for the computation of groove dimension. Previous studies indicate there are three methods for the determination of two endpoints of grooves [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]. One is the cluster-based approach, in which the two endpoints of the groove depend on the number of points inside grooves [ 14 ].…”

Research on Grooved Concrete Pavement Based on the Durability of Its Anti-Skid Performance

“…In many countries in which the grooving of concrete pavement is the most commonly used anti-skid durability technology, groove dimensions, design, and evaluation are the primary research areas [13][14][15]. In the United States, skid resistance force is recognized as the critical indicator of grooved concrete pavement performance by the Portland Cement Association (PCA) and American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) [16].…”