To serve its purpose, a pavement must have adequate load-carrying capability, good ride ability and allow safe operation of vehicles on roads and aircraft on air traffic areas. (Stet, 2006). The two most common types of pavements are concrete and asphalt.
As with any physical structure after certain usage over time, pavements begin to wear and their physical properties alter. This alteration is normally caused by mechanical impacts, e.g. a combination of environmental conditions, vehicle/aircraft loadings, mix design, materials and construction workmanship (Civil Aviation, 2005).
One major alteration of its physical properties is the reduction in roughness leading to reduced skid resistance. Regular and thorough maintenance of pavements leads to a sustainability of adequate frictional values and is therefore safer for the user. The TrackJet ultra-high water-pressure blasting machine developed by Bernd Weigel in Germany utilises a nozzle system that is truck mounted, applying very little water at very high pressure through a unique computer-controlled system. Friction values are improved after TrackJet usage by up to 0.18.
Cost savings result because the maintenance interval is increased (twice a year as opposed to five times a year) without damaging or destroying the grooves and aggregates on the pavement surface result in an increased pavement life (Coates, 2005).
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