CONCRETE PAVEMENT PROGRESS 12 WWW.ACPA.ORG DIAMOND GRINDING “Diamond Grinding: A Safe, Sustainable, Quiet and Cost-Effective Solution to Better Roadways”: Part One Diamond Grinding Offers Solutions to Many Pavement Challenges Highways have come a long way over the last 100 years. In generations past, the goal of roads was to keep people and goods moving to market and prevent vehicles from getting stuck in the mud of country roads. In the 21st century, the expectations and capabilities of highways have shifted. Today, users expect long-lasting, efficient, comfortable and safe passage from location to location. When evaluating pavements for surface characteristics, three of the most important considerations are sustainability, safety and comfort. There are many statistical realities that engineers can take advantage of when trying to achieve these goals. First implemented in the early 1960s, pavement diamond grinding is the process of stacking diamond saw blades next to each other on a machine-driven shaft. As this shaft spins, the diamond blades are lowered on to the surface of the pavement. They abrade the surface when they contact the pavement material, removing high spots in the road profile and leaving behind a superior surface texture. Diamond grinding is like using a belt sander to remove edges and knots from a wood plank. By making the surface smoother, the number of localized and continuous elevation changes in the pavement surface are reduced. Diamond grinding has many additional benefits, particularly related to carbon and cost savings, less vehicle wear and tear and increased safety. A Pavement that Lasts In a 2000 article by the FHWA, Enhancing Pavement Smoothness, data was evaluated showing that the smoother a pavement is, the longer it will last. This is the result of reduced frequency and severity of dynamic loads applied to the pavement surface. Highways typically are designed for 18-kip axel loads. When vehicles bounce due to a bump, the weight of the vehicle paired with the down force induced by gravity can result in an impact load more than 1.5 times the design capacity. When this increased loading continuously happens throughout the day, the structure of the pavement can experience significant fatigue. This premature breakdown of the pavement structure will cost owner agencies because they will not experience the expected lifespan of their investments. Similarly, the surface deterioration of these failing pavements will create cracks and potholes that pose a safety risk to the traveling public. The longer maintenance needs are left unattended, the more likely issues will expand—which can quickly increase the cost to repair. Surface damage that is fixed almost immediately may have negligible negative impact to users and modest repairs costs, but damage left for an extended period can propagate an area of structural damage, requiring a more expensive repair in the future. Transport Notes from the World Bank evaluated the relationship between maintenance timing and cost on South African highways. It was At World of Concrete 2024, the ACPA’s association partner, the International Grooving and Grinding Association (IGGA), launched a white paper titled “Diamond Grinding: A Safe, Sustainable, Quiet and Cost-Effective Solution to Better Roadways.” The paper is an important contribution to the industry’s knowledgebase because it highlights the gains to be made, both in terms of sustainability and cost savings, using proper pavement preservation and maintenance. It assembles research results, case studies and more demonstrating how agencies and engineers can achieve long-lasting, efficient, comfortable and safe travel on highways—while also meeting the challenges of sustainability, noise levels, urban head island effect and budget—through the use of pavement diamond grinding. Beginning with this issue of Pavement Progress, we bring you the entire white paper in a series of three installments.
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