The historical development of concrete pavement textures is reviewed and provides the background for the development of improved future textures. To accomplish this, the Purdue Tire Pavement Test Apparatus (TPTA) was used to evaluate potential textures for existing pavements and also for new construction. The TPTA results for texturing existing concrete pavement surfaces resulted in the development of what is now call the Next GenerationConcrete Surface (NGCS). To date, seven NGCS test sections have been constructed in five states with two more test sections scheduled for 2010. The results of both the onboard sound intensity (OBSI) noise testing and locked wheel skid trailer are presented and discussed. The NGCS surface hasprovided the low noise surface indicated by TPTA research and is currently in the field evaluation stage. Research on new construction textures consisted of evaluating selected geometric imprinted patterns including spherical, circular, diamond shaped, waffle shaped, random waffle shaped and comparing the results to standard textures such as the uniformly transverse tined texture. Although not as quiet as the NGCS surface, the circular, sphere, and diamond geometric shapes demonstrate potential as low noise surfaces.
Abstract