Cardinal - Runway Groovers

Cardinal/International Grooving and Grinding is the world-recognized leader in the field of runway grooving. No other company in the world grooves more airport runways as quickly.

As air traffic increases year after year, airports find resources stretched to the limit as they try to maintain on-time performance and most importantly, passenger and aircraft safety. Airport runway grooving is the most effective and inexpensive method for increasing the coefficient of friction and reducing the likelihood of hydroplaning on both concrete and asphalt surfaces.

Large-scale runway groovers

Unlike most of our competitors, who use standard, off-the-shelf grooving equipment, all Cardinal groovers are designed and built in-house to our exacting specifications. At over 600hp and capable of cutting a swath 8ft (2.44m) wide in a single pass, our smallest groover dwarfs the industry standard 165hp 3ft (0.90m) machine.

Additionally, even though our equipment weighs approximately 56,000lb (25,400kg), its unique design means it has a lighter footprint than typical 3ft machines.

Blade-shaft grooving arbors

All of our equipment utilize hydraulically driven blade-shaft arbors, allowing us to fine-tune the blade rpm to the specific type of material being grooved, resulting in sharper, squarer, more uniform cuts than those typically produced by belt-driven, single-speed arbors.

Our largest piece of equipment has 673hp generating 1,725ft-lb of torque and can cut a 20ft (6.1m) concrete panel in only two passes. With hourly production rates of up to 1,500m² in asphalt and 1,000m² in Portland cement concrete, this means Cardinal can complete an airport grooving project faster and more efficiently than any other groover worldwide, ensuring a lower price and less interruption to airport operations.

Runway-slurry removal system

Cardinal is also a leader when it comes to returning the runway to its pre-grooving condition through slurry removal. Each Cardinal machine is equipped with an on-board slurry pick-up system, some of which utilize over 100hp in the vacuuming / slurry disposal process. This means a cleaner, more aesthetically appealing runway, free of foreign object debris (FOD) or excessive discoloration.

Experience in runway grooving

Working in conjunction with the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the late 1960s, Cardinal helped develop and formulate what is now the industry-accepted standard for airport runway grooving. By sawing grooves of ¼in wide (6mm) by ¼in deep (6mm) on 1½in centers (38mm) transverse to the direction of aircraft travel, hydroplaning has been virtually eliminated on runways that have been grooved.

Recent airplane skidding accidents in South America and South-East Asia highlight the dangers of landing on ungrooved runways in inclement weather. The cost of grooving a runway is a fraction of the expense associated with an airplane skidding off the runway, and grooving can be accomplished during regular airport closure hours so as not to affect airport operations.