Airport Pavements

Soil Investigations and

Evaluation

• Unified Soil Classification System (USCS)

(ASTM 2487)

GW CL
GP ML
GM OL
GC CH
SW MH
SP OH
SM Pt
SC
Soil Investigations and
Evaluation
Minimum subsurface boring recommendations

AREA Minimum spacing Minimum depth

RWY/TWY 200 ft interval 10 ft
Other areas 1 per 10,000 sq ft 10 ft
Borrow As necessary As necessary
areas
Soil Investigations and
Evaluation

Soil compaction requirements based upon

60,000 lb, gross weight of airplane
< 60,000 ASTM D 698 Standard Proctor
> 60,000 ASTM D 1557 Modified Proctor
Soil Investigations and
Evaluation

Soil Strength Parameter for FLEXIBLE pavement

CBR
• Design value
• Lowest practical value CBR = 3
Otherwise stabilize or replace
Soil Investigations and
Evaluation

Soil Strength Parameter for RIGID pavement

Resilient Modulus E (psi) or
Modulus of Subgrade Reaction – k-value (pci)
• Design value – “conservative selection”
• K-value can be estimated from CBR
1500 × CBR 
0.7788

k= 
(k in pci)

 26 
Pavement Design Methods
• Flexible Pavement Design
• FAA Method
• CBR Method
• Mcleod’s Method
• Burmster’s Method
• Rigid Pavement Design
• FAA Method
• Westergaard’s Method
• Portland Cement Association (PCA) Method.
Pavement Design

The aircraft is supported by the two landing gears

below the wings and the nose gear generally.
Each landing gear may consist of one, two, four
wheels and correspondingly the arrangement of
aircraft is known as Single Wheel, Dual-Wheel
and Dual-in-Tandem Assembly respectively.
These wheel arrangements are capable of being
converted into equivalent single wheel load for
the purpose of pavement design.
Concept of Design Aircraft

=
Must use the entire traffic mixture
No more “Design Aircraft”
Wheel Configurations
Traffic Model – Gear Naming Convention
Single Dual Triple Quadruple
S D T Q

2 Singles in Tandem 2 Duals in Tandem 2 Triples in Tandem 2 Quadruples in Tandem

2S 2D 2T 2Q

3 Singles in Tandem 3 Duals in Tandem 3 Triples in Tandem 3 Quadruples in Tandem

3S 3D 3T 3Q
Wheel Configurations

S D 2D
Single Wheel Dual Wheel Dual Tandem

3D 2D/D1 2D/2D1
B777 DC-10 A340-600
Wheel Configurations

2D/2D2 2D/3D2 C5
B747 A380 Lockheed C5
Pavement – Typical Sections

• Airport pavements are generally constructed

in uniform, full width sections

• Variable sections are permitted on runway

pavements
Designer should consider:
Practical feasibility – complex construction
operations
Economical feasibility – cost of complex
construction
FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT
Flexible Pavement
Typical Flexible Pavement

Hot-Mix Asphalt Surface

Progressively stronger layers

Base Course (Minimum CBR=80)

(May Require Stabilization)

Subbase (Minimum CBR=20)

(May Require Stabilization)

Frost Protection (As Appropriate)

Subgrade
RIGID PAVEMENT
Rigid Pavement

Typical Rigid Pavement

Portland Cement Concrete (PCC)

Subbase Course **
Subgrade

** Stabilization required when airplanes exceeding 100,000 lbs are in the traffic mixture.
AIRPORT PAVEMENT OVERLAYS AND
RECONSTRUCTION
Airport Pavement Overlays
OVERLAY TYPES
• Flexible
Hot Mix Asphalt over existing flexible pavement
Hot Mix Asphalt over existing rigid pavement
• Rigid
PCC over existing flexible pavement (whitetopping)
PCC bonded to existing PCC
PCC unbonded to existing PCC
 PAVEMENT FOR
AIRFIELD SHOULDERS
Pavement for Airfield Shoulders
• Shoulders are primarily intended to provide
• Protection from erosion and generation of debris from
jet blast
• Support for airplanes running off the primary
pavement
• Enhanced drainage
Pavement for Airfield Shoulders

Shoulder must provide sufficient support for

unintentional or emergency operation of any
airplane in the traffic mix.
Must also provide support for emergency and
maintenance vehicle operations
Pavement for Airfield Shoulders

• Expect considerable movement and possible

rutting with single operations
• Shoulder pavement should be inspected after
every operation.
Airport Management

• The effective management of the facilities that exist

on and around an airport’s airfield is vital to the
safety and efficiency of aircraft operations.
• Because of this, airport operations management
represent many of the defining issues concerning
airport planners and managers.
• That issues have been addressed by FAA in Federal
Aviation Regulations (FAR) Part 139.
• FAR Part 139 provides a listing of the specific areas
of airfield operations that must meet particular
standards.
Pavement Management

• Pavement is surface section of runway (concrete or

asphalt).
• To serve its purpose, a pavement must have
adequate load-carrying capability, good ride ability
and must allow safe operation of aircraft.
Pavement Management
• Strong, level, dry and well-maintained pavement are
required for the safe movement of aircraft.
• Inspection, maintenance, and repair of the runways,
taxiways and apron areas are of the utmost
importance to airport management
• Minimum quality standard for pavements, including:
• No holes
• No cracks and surface variations which could impair
directional control of an aircraft
• No contamination such as mud, dirt & foreign object.
* Foreign Objects : solid objects or materials on runway
surfaces which are capable of damaging aircraft.
Pavement Management

Pavement management including timely maintenance

& reconstruction. Actions in pavement maintenance
are:
1. Pavement repairing including sealing of small
surface cracks. Purpose to ensure pavement always
in good condition.
2. Adding an additional layer of asphalt to increase the
strength of pavement.
3. Replaced the pavement entirely. Expensive process.
pavement maintenance
Purpose of pavement maintenance are:
• To prevent further runway crack.
• To provide good runway surface friction.
• To increase safety by providing correct and clearly
visible runway marking

Crack Sealing