INTRODUCTION TO AIRPORT DESIGN

STRUCTURAL DESIGN OF AIRPORT PAVEMENTS

 INTRODUCTION
• The term structural design of pavements refers to
the determination of the thickness of the pavement
and its components.
• Airport pavements are designed to provide adequate
support for the loads imposed by aircraft using the
airport; to provide a firm, stable, durable, and
smooth all-year, all weather surface free from dust
or particles .
• The pavement must be of adequate thickness and
have sufficient stability so that it will not fail under
the imposed traffic loader and shall withstand the
aversive action of traffic adverse weather conditions
and other deteriorating influences
 Introduction Cont……..
The pavement consists of one or more layers of
processed materials. An airport pavement also
may either be flexible or rigid.
A flexible pavement may consist of one or more
of the following layers material.
• Surface course
• Base course
• Sub-base Course
 Introduction Cont….
The choice of the type of pavement (rigid or
flexible and the provision of one or more of the
above mentioned layers depends upon the
following factors;
• Safety of aircraft operation
• Nature and density of anticipated air traffic
• The climatic conditions of the area, such as
humidity, rainfall and temperature
• The magnitude of wheel loads
• The availability of construction materials
• Maintenance Cost
 Load Distributions for Airport Pavement
• Airport pavements are subject to dynamic and
static loads.
• A parked aircraft with its propellers not
rotating transmits to the pavement a static
load equal to the gross weight of the aircraft.
• The load transmitted to the pavement
decreases as the aircraft begin to taxi and
continues to degrease as the taxing speed
increases, equalizing zero when the aircraft
becomes airborne. The reverse is true in
landing operations
 Load Distributions for Airport Pavement
• Due to these facts, the impact loads at the time of
landing and the high speed moving loads are less
critical than the static loads so that the pavements
designed for the static loads provide adequately for
other conditions of loading also.
• The runways are the most critical area from the
stand point of aircraft use since it is these places that
the aircraft speed is the lowest and maximum loads
are transmitted to the pavement.
 Equivalent Single Wheel Load (E.S.W.L)
• For purposes of pavement design, the wheel
load to be considered shall be that of the
heaviest plane which will utilize the airport.
• Since each of the main gears cause about 45%
of the gross weight, the pavement thickness
shall be determined on the basis of the
characteristics of the main gear, i.e; the
number of wheels in the assembly, the tyre
pressure and the contact area, if there is only
one wheel in the main gear, the entire 45%
load is transferred through that and the
pavement design is done for that single wheel
 Design Factors Affecting Airport
Pavement
1. Traffic. Load and tyre pressure, repetitions,
speed and axle configuration.
2. Soil. The natural moisture content, texture,
structure , rate of load application and degree
of confinement etc.
3. Climate. Rainfall, frost, shrinkage and
swelling, freezing and thawing.
4. Geometry of the pavement and distribution
of traffic across the pavement
5. Position of the pavement, being in cut or fill;
depth of water table e.t.c
 Airport Areas
Usually, the airports are divided into two areas:
airside and landside. Airside includes
• runways, taxiways, aprons, aircraft service
areas, air control facilities, and all controlled
access zones.
• On the airport landside are public access areas
such as the passenger terminal (before
security check), parking lots and other public
service facilities.
The Figure shows a generic draft of an airport.
Generic Air Craft
 Airport Pavement Design
• most of the airport pavements design
methods apply to the runway, which is the
region with the highest pavement demand.
• The function of a pavement is to protect the
lower layers of the load, as it should provide a
good surface for its users.
• The pavement has a structural and functional
function, elements that must be considered
during design.
Comparison of aircraft pavements and road pavements
Characteristic Aircraft Pavement Road Pavement
Load repetitions Low. Often 100,000 or High. Often 1,000,000
less. or more.
Traffic wander High. Wide spread of Low. Very channelized
aircraft traffic in
across pavement width. designated lanes.

Wheel load High. Up to 25 tons per Low. Generally only up

wheel. to 3 tons
per wheel.

Tire pressure High. Typically up to 1.7 Moderate. Generally

MPa not more
and sometimes up to than 0.8 MPa
2.5 MPa
 Comparison of aircraft pavements and road pavements Cont……

Characteristic Aircraft Pavement Road Pavement

Water High. Especially for High. Especially for
tightness granular granular
pavements pavements
Surface Moderate. Low traffic High. Especially for
texture volumes do not generally maintaining
flush seals. skid resistance.
Resistance to Low. With low traffic High. Especially for high-
polishing volumes, speed
even aggregates prone to roads, especially at
polishing do not typically corners and
polish. intersections.
Comparison of aircraft pavements and road pavements Cont….
Characteristic Aircraft Pavement Road Pavement
Loose aggregate Extreme. Loose Low. Constituting
aggregate can only an
cause catastrophic inconvenience to
failure of road users
aircraft engines.

Durability High. Especially in Moderate.

the Particularly at turns
touchdown zones and intersections,
where tire ‘run- less so on
up’ occurs. straight runs.
Comparison of aircraft pavements and road pavements Cont……

Therefore, based on the data presented, among

the main factors that influence the design of
airport pavements, one of the most critical
specifications is how the load is applied by the
aircraft on the pavements.
Aircraft Dimensions
Three basic configurations of the landing gear