The effect of grinding and grooving on the noise generation of Portland Cement Concrete pavement

In this investigation, studies were done to understand the effects of various grinding and grooving parameters to investigate their effect on noise generation at the tire-pavement interface. Grinding uses diamond-infused blades that are closely-spaced such that the fins between the blade tracks break off exposing an entirely new surface. For grooving, the blades are more widely spaced such that the fins do not break off and the surface texture remains largely unchanged except for grooves that are used for water drainage control. Both procedures, used independently or in combination, have an effect on the noise produced by the tire-pavement interaction. Variation of grinding parameters was shown to have as much as a 3 dB effect on noise generation. Variation in grooving parameters has a secondary effect, which allows grooves to be added to texture without overall effect on overall noise. In this paper the effects on noise of the different parameters, such as grinding depth, blade width, and blade spacing, for grinding and grooving will be illustrated.