Development of a Waterjet Pavement Removal System. Phase 2. Construction and Testing

摘要

A program was sponsored by the Gas Research Institute (GRI) to construct and test an abrasive-waterjet pavement removal system capable of cutting a 36-in. access hole through 8-in. pavement in less than 20 minutes. The system developed consisted of a trailer-mounted power unit, an abrasive feed hopper, traverse mechanism and abrasive-waterjet cutting head. Equipment power requirements were established according to GRI performance specifications, and testing was accomplished accordingly. All cutting tests were performed with a 0.027-in. diameter waterjet nozzle operating at 35,000 psi with a flow rate of 2.6 gpm. Nozzle length, traverse rate and speed, and number of cutting passes were varied to optimize performance. In a 10-in. thick concrete test pad over 68 cores were cut at the rate of 2.5 in./min. While this was slower than the cutting rate specified by GRI, the reduction may have been partly due to the increased depth of cut. Equipment modifications during the field testing phase are expected to significantly improve performance.