Airport Engineering (Runway Design) : BITS Pilani

AIRPORT ENGINEERING
(Runway Design)
BITS Pilani
Grass Runways vs. Paved runways
 Until the introduction of heavy monoplane aircraft in the latter part of the 1930s, civil air-
transport aircraft were able to operate from grass runways with takeoff distances of less
than 600 metres (2,000 feet).
 The length requirements for runways continued to increase into the mid-1970s, when
large civilian aircraft such as the Douglas DC-8 and some models of the Boeing 747
required almost 3,600 metres (12,000 feet) of runway at sea level.
 Since the 1970s, runway length requirements have actually decreased, and the takeoff and
climb performance of civilian aircraft has improved substantially.
 This has brought a dual benefit in reducing the area of land required by an airport and also
in reducing the area around the airport that is adversely affected by noise on takeoff.
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BITSPilani, Pilani Campus
FAARFIELD
 FAARFIELD stands for FAA Rigid and Flexible Iterative Elastic Layered
Design.
 FAARFIELD 1.42 incorporates full 3D finite element responses to aircraft loads

(for new rigid pavements and rigid overlays).
 The 3D finite element models used for rigid pavement designs are
computationally intensive and may result in long run times, depending on the
computer characteristics.
 Rollings introduced the concept of the Structural Condition Index (SCI) as a

measure of the performance of a rigid airport pavement.
 Rollings defined SCI as a modification of the Pavement Condition Index (PCI)

in which only the load-related distresses contribute to the deduct values.
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Factors affecting thickness of pavement
A number of factors contribute to finding the thickness of overall pavement as well as its
each component layer.
They include:
 Type and magnitude of airplane load

 Volume of the traffic
 Concentration of the traffic
 Quality of materials used and
 Strength of the subgrade
 There are two screens in FAARFIELD (Structure and Airplane) that takes input design
variables information.
 The screens display default values that can be modified within the range suggested
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Factors affecting thickness of pavement
a. Flexible Pavements For flexible pavement design, FAARFIELD uses the maximum
vertical strain at the top of the subgrade and the maximum horizontal strain at the
bottom of the asphalt layer for the predictors of pavement structural life.
b. FAARFIELD provides the required thickness for all individual layers of flexible
pavement (surface, base, and subgrade) needed to support a given airplanes traffic
over a particular subgrade (ICAO, 1999).
FAARFIELD is based on the cumulative damage factor (CDF) concept, in which the
contribution of each airplane in a given traffic mix to total damage is separately analyzed.
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Cumulative Damage Factor (CDF)
 Cumulative Damage Factor (CDF) is the amount of the structural fatigue life of a pavement
which has been used up. It is expressed as the ratio of applied load repetitions to allowable
load repetitions to failure.
 When CDF = 1, the pavement will have used up all of its fatigue life.
 When CDF < 1, the pavement will have some life remaining, and the value of the CDF will
give the fraction of the life used.
 When CDF > 1, all fatigue life will have been used up and the pavement will have failed
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Surface Characteristics
Beside the visual inspection, there are evaluated the following surface characteristics of the
pavement:
1. Friction coefficient
2. Longitudinal regularity
3. Transversal regularity
4. Depth of texture
The main function of a pavement is to create a free and plane surface, designed for aircraft
traffic in adequate safety, economy and comfort conditions.
Therefore, the pavement surface must have certain characteristics, such as geometrical
regularity, adherence and the capacity to drain surface waters.
These characteristics, that affect directly the user of the pavement, are called functional
characteristics.
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Pavement Condition Index:
 The determination of the Pavement Condition Index (PCI) is often a useful tool in the
evaluation of airport pavements.
 The PCI is a numerical rating of the surface condition of a pavement and is a measure of
functional performance with implications of structural performance.
 PCI values range from 100 for a pavement with no defects to 0 for a pavement with no
remaining functional life.
 The index is useful in describing distress and comparing pavements on an equal basis.
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Pavement performance Survey
Pavement condition
•Pavement condition index (PCI) based on pavement distress data surveyed by visual
Inspection or automatic equipment
Skid resistance
•Continuous Friction Measurement Equipment (CFME)
Roughness
•Laser Profiler
Structural bearing capacity evaluation

•Falling weight deflectometer (FWD)
•Taking core and lab testing
Structure thickness
•“As built” records
•Take core
•Ground penetrating radar (GPR)
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Traditionally, pavements are classified into two categories, namely flexible and rigid
pavements. The basis for classification is the way by which traffic loads are transmitted to
the subgrade soil through the pavement structure.
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Flexible pavement
 Provides sufficient thickness for load distribution through a multilayer structure so that the
stresses and strains in the subgrade soil layers are within the required limits.
 It is expected that the strength of subgrade soil would have a direct bearing on the total
thickness of the flexible pavement.
 The layered pavement structure is designed to take advantage of the decreasing magnitude
of stresses with depth.
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Rigid pavement
 A rigid pavement, by virtue of its rigidity, is able to effect a slab action to spread the
wheel load over the entire slab area.
 The structural capacity of the rigid pavement is largely provided by the slab itself. For the
common range of subgrade soil strength, the required rigidity for a Portland cement
concrete slab (the most common form of rigid pavement construction) can be achieved
without much variation in slab thickness.
 The effect of subgrade soil properties on the thickness of rigid pavement is therefore
much less important than in the case of flexible pavement.
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Layered Structure of Flexible Pavement
Surface Course [Wearing course and Binder course]:
 In a typical conventional flexible pavement, known as asphalt pavement, the surface

course usually consists of two bituminous layers — a wearing course and a binder course.
 To provide a durable, watertight, smooth-riding, and skid-resistant traveled surface, the

wearing course is often constructed of dense-graded hot mix asphalt with polish-resistant
aggregate.
 The binder course generally has larger aggregates and less asphalt.
 The composition of the bituminous mixtures and the nominal top size aggregates for the two
courses are determined by the intended use, desired surface texture (for the case of wearing
course), and layer thickness.
 A light application of tack coat of water-diluted asphalt emulsion may be used to enhance
bonding between the two courses.
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Layered Structure of Flexible Pavement
 Open-graded wearing courses, some with air void exceeding 20%, have also been used to
improve skid resistance and reduce splash during heavy rainfall by acting as a surface
drainage layer.
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Base Course
 Base and sub-base layers of the flexible pavement make up a large proportion of the total
pavement thickness needed to distribute the stresses imposed by traffic loading.
 Usually base course also serves as a drainage layer and provides protection against frost
action. Crushed stone is the traditional material used for base construction to form what is
commonly known as the macadam base course.
 In this construction, choking materials consisting of natural sand or the fine product
resulting from crushing coarse aggregates are added to produce a denser structure with
higher shearing resistance.
 Such base courses are called by different names, depending on the construction method
adopted.
 Dry-bound macadam is compacted by means of rolling and vibration that work the
choking materials into the voids of larger stones.
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Base Course
 For water-bound macadam, after spreading of the choking materials, water is applied
before the entire mass is rolled.
 Alternatively, a wet-mix macadam may be used by premixing crushed stone or slag with a
controlled amount of water.
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Sub-base Course
 The sub-base material is of lower quality than the base material in terms of strength,
plasticity, and gradation, but it is superior to the subgrade material in these properties.
 It may be compacted granular material or stabilized soil, thus allowing building up of

sufficient thickness for the pavement structure at relatively low cost.
 On a weak subgrade, it also serves as a useful working platform for constructing the base
course.
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Prepared Subgrade
 Most natural soils forming the roadbed for pavement construction require some form of
preparation or treatment.
 The top layer of a specified depth is usually compacted to achieve a desired density.
 The depth of compaction and the compacted density required depend on the type of soil
and magnitudes of wheel loads and tire pressures.
 Due to the higher wheel loads and tire pressures of aircraft, many stringent compaction
requirements are found in airport pavement construction.
 In some instances it may be economical to treat or stabilize poor subgrade materials and
reduce the total required pavement thickness. Portland cement, lime, and bitumen have all
been used successfully for this purpose.
 The choice of the method of stabilization depends on the soil properties, improvement
expected, and cost of construction.
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Rigid Pavement
 Rigid pavements constructed of Portland cement concrete are mostly found in

heavy-traffic highways and airport pavements.
 To allow for expansion, contraction, warping, or breaks in construction of the

concrete slabs, joints are provided in concrete pavements.
 The joint spacing, which determines the length of individual slab panels,
depends on the use of steel reinforcements in the slab.
 The jointed plain concrete pavement (JPCP), requiring no steel reinforcements

and thus the least expensive to construct, is a popular form of construction.
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Rigid Pavement
 Depending on the thickness of the slab, typical joint spacing for plain concrete pavements
are between 10 and 20 ft (3 and 6 m).
 For slabs with joint spacing greater than 6 m, steel reinforcements have to be provided for
crack control, giving rise to the use of jointed reinforced concrete pavements (JRCP) and
continuously reinforced concrete pavements (CRCP).
 Continuously reinforced concrete pavements usually contain higher than 0.6% steel
reinforcement to eliminate the need to provide joints other than construction and
expansion joints.
 The base course for rigid pavement, sometimes called sub-base, is often provided to
prevent pumping (ejection of foundation material through cracks or joints resulting from
vertical movement of slabs under traffic).
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Rigid Pavement
 The base course material must provide good drainage and be resistant to the erosive
action of water.
 When dowel bars are not provided in short jointed pavements, it is common practice to
construct cement-treated base to assist in load transfer across the joints.
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Considerations for Highway and Airport
Pavements
The choice of pavement type depends on the intended functional use of the pavement (such
as operating speed and safety requirements), types of traffic loading, cost of construction,
and maintenance consideration.
The main differences in design considerations for highway and airport pavements arise from
the characteristics of traffic using them.
Over the typical design life span of 10 to 20 years for flexible pavements, or 20 to 40 years
for rigid pavements, a highway pavement will be receiving highly channelized wheel load
applications in the millions.
Consideration of the effects of load repetitions — such as cumulative permanent

deformation, crack propagation, and fatigue failure — becomes important.
The total number of load applications in the entire design life of a highway pavement must
therefore be known for pavement structural design.
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Pavements
 In contrast, the frequency of aircraft loading on airport pavement is much less.
 There are also the so-called wander effect of aircraft landing and taking off and the large
variation in the wheel assembly configurations and layout of different aircraft.
 These make wheel loading on airport pavements less channelized than on highway
pavements.
 Identification of the most critical aircraft is therefore necessary for structural design of
airport pavements.
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Pavements
 Another important difference is in the magnitude of wheel loads. Airport pavements

receive loads far exceeding those applied on the highway.
 An airport pavement may have to be designed to withstand equivalent single wheel loads
of the order of 50 t (approximately 50 tons), whereas the maximum single wheel load
allowed on the road pavement by most highway authorities is about 10 t (approximately
10 tons).
 Furthermore, the wheel tire pressure of an aircraft of about 1200 kPa (175 psi) is nearly
twice the value of a normal truck tire.
 These differences greatly influence the material requirements for the pavements.
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Pavement Overlay Design
 As a pavement reaches the end of its service life, a new span of service life can be
provided by either a reconstruction or an application of overlay over the existing
pavement.
 There are three common forms of overlay construction — bituminous overlay on flexible
pavement, bituminous overlay on concrete pavement, and concrete overlay on concrete
pavement.
 The Portland Cement Association method of concrete overlay design for highway
pavement.
 The Federal Aviation Administration method of overlay design for airport pavement.
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Traffic Loading Analysis for Airport Pavements
The procedure of traffic loading analysis for airport pavements differs slightly from that for
highway pavements due to differences in traffic operations and functional uses of the
pavements.
The basic steps are:

1. Estimation of expected initial year traffic volume
2. Estimation of expected annual traffic growth rate
3. Estimation of traffic stream composition
4. Computation of traffic loading
5. Estimation of design traffic loading for different functional areas
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Traffic Stream Composition
 The weight of an aircraft is transmitted to the pavement through its nose gear and main
landing gears.
 Figure shows the wheel configurations commonly found on the main legs of landing gear
of civil aircraft.
 Since the gross weight and exact arrangement of wheels differ among different aircraft,
there is a need to identify the types of aircraft, landing gear details, and their respective
frequencies of arrival for the purpose of pavement design.
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Rough pavement
 Induce excess vibrations at aircrafts
 Affect pilots’ ability to read instruments accurately while taking off and landing
 Cause metal fatigue problems of aircraft
 Result in increasing pavement loading and accelerating pavement deterioration
 Airport operators are not usually aware of the impact of roughness on aircraft
 It takes more distance to stop an aircraft on a rough runway than on a smooth runway.
 The primary reason for maintaining a smooth airport pavement for day to day use is to minimize
the surface irregularities that influence aircraft response during taxi, takeoff and landing.
 Runways may become intolerably rough due to
o The onset of pavement structural failure (age)
o Adverse environmental conditions
o Improper repairs or non-standard temporary construction ramps

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Take-off and landing -
 The aircraft is at its heaviest during takeoff and is on a steeper part of the strut’s load-
stroke curve which will result in higher loads being transmitted into the aircraft
structure.
 Consequently, pilot and passenger complaints will be more likely during takeoff when
the aircraft is heavy.
 During landing, the aircraft has used up much of the fuel and is usually significantly
lighter.
 This will result in more strut stroke available to absorb the roughness caused by
changes in runway profile.
 Aircraft has vertical motion caused by roughness, the normal load on the main landing
gear (MLG) varies, and therefore the braking force varies.
 In addition, roughness can affect a pilot’s ability to maintain steady brake pressure.
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 Aircraft have specific load limits at the main landing gear (MLG) and nose landing gear
(NLG).
 It takes more distance to stop an aircraft on a rough runway than on a smooth runway.
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Aircraft Overruns
Around the world, there is an average of one overrun accident every 8.5
days.
 Over 50% result in the loss of the aircraft

 Over 10% result in fatalities
 In 2007, 50% of all aviation fatalities were due to aircraft overruns
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Runway Skid Resistance
 Resistance Force between Pavement and Tires
 Defined as Friction Coefficient
Factors Affecting Skid Resistance
 Pavement Type, Surface Texture
 Aircraft Type, Speed, Tire Pressure, Tire Texture
 Temperature, Rainfall
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Grooving Specification - FAA and ICAO Specification:
 Depth a : 6.0±1.6 mm
 Width b: 6.0 ～ 7.6 mm
 Spacing c: 35.0 ～ 38.0 mm
60% and above must have depth over 6.0 mm
•Timing for Grooving ：

•Rigid: After curing for 28 days
•Flexible: At least 30 days
•Grooving increases friction coefficient
 Periodic skid resistance measurement is essential for maintaining runway

safety.
 The Automatic Grooving Measuring Techniques can efficiently inspect the

grooving quality
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Pavement distresses
 Cracking
 Joint seal damage (rigid pavement)
 Distortion
 Disintegration
 Loss of skid resistance
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Mechanistic empirical softwares
 The thickness of virtually all modern aircraft pavements is determined using mechanistic
empirical softwares.
 These tools provide significant advantage over the chart-based and fully empirical
methods used in the past (Huang 1993).
 Key advantages include the ability to consider almost any pavement composition or
material, explicit accounting for all the aircraft in the design traffic spectrum and the
ability to rapidly change one or more of the design inputs to evaluate the sensitivity of the
determined thickness to the parameter being adjusted (White 2005).
 Different jurisdictions use different softwares for calculating airport pavement thicknesses.
 Many softwares are layered-elastic in nature, meaning the pavement is divided in layers
and sub-layers, usually representing the different courses of material, and each layer is
characterized by an elastic modulus and a Poisson’s ratio (Huang 1993).
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Mechanistic empirical softwares
 Regardless of the basis of the software, the different loads are applied one at a time and
the response of the pavement is calculated, usually in terms of stresses, strains and
deflections.
 The critical pavement responses to each different load are related to the allowable
number of repetitions, using a transform function, commonly known as a ‘failure
criterion’.
 The effects of the different aircraft loads are combined using the principles of
superposition and Miner’s Law (AAA 2017) and the pavement thickness is iteratively
increased or decreased until optimized, defined as the pavement being predicted to fail
at the end of nominated repetitions of each Airfield and Highway Pavements .
 Several approaches are available in the literature in order to assess the distribution of
strains and stresses in a multi-layer pavement structure subjected to loads on its surface
(Boussinesq, Westergaard, finite elements…).
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Different softwares - Different thicknesses
 Not surprisingly, different softwares will determine different pavement thicknesses,

even when the design aircraft traffic, materials and subgrade conditions are all nominally
identical.
 Different results stem from many factors including the characteristics of any default or
standard materials, how the pavement responses are calculated, how the load is
modelled to be applied to the pavement surface, how the effect of multiple wheels
within a single aircraft lading gear is determined and how the effects of different aircraft
are combined.
 For materials with automatic sub-layering and variable modulus assignment, such as
granular base and sub-base courses (Barker & Brabston 1975) the modulus assignment
protocol also effects the calculated flexible pavement thickness.
 Arguably, the single most important factor is the failure criterion used. Failure criteria
can take different forms, be based on different empirical datasets and design reliability,
or factors of safety, may be incorporated, all resulting in different pavement thicknesses,
even for the same magnitude of the calculated pavement response.
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Maximum edge stress and maximum interior slab stress
 Arguably, the most important change to rigid pavement design in v1.4.1 was the
introduction of a second potential critical stress location.
 In addition to 75% of the maximum edge stress, traditionally the critical stress for rigid
pavement thickness design, the maximum interior slab stress was also considered.
 That is, the calculation of concrete thickness was based on the greater of the maximum
internal stress and 75% of the maximum edge stress.
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Components of Pavement Analysis & Design
An airport pavement is a complex engineering structure. Pavement analysis and

design involves the interaction of four equally important components:
 The subgrade (naturally occurring soil),

 The paving materials (surface layer, base, and subbase),
 The characteristics of applied loads, and
 Climate.
 Airport pavements are designed and constructed to provide adequate support for
the loads imposed by airplanes and to produce a firm, stable, smooth, skid
resistant, year-round, all-weather surface free of debris or other particles that can
be blown or picked up by propeller wash or jet blast.
 To fulfill these requirements, the quality and thickness of the pavement must not fail
under the imposed loads.
 The pavement must also possess sufficient inherent stability to withstand, without
damage, the abrasive action of traffic, adverse weather conditions, and other
deteriorating influences.
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 This requires coordination of many design factors, construction, and inspection to

assure the best combination of available materials and workmanship.
 The pavement design guidance presented in this AC is based on layered elastic

theory for flexible pavement design and three-dimensional finite element theory for
rigid pavement design.
 These methodologies address the impact of landing gear configurations and

increased pavement load conditions on airport pavements without modifying the
underlying design procedures.
 The failure curves have been calibrated with full scale pavement tests at the FAA
National Airport Pavement Test Facility (NAPTF).
 The FAA has developed the computer program FAA Rigid and Flexible Iterative
Elastic Layer Design (FAARFIELD) to assist with pavement design
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 With proper design, materials, construction, and maintenance, any pavement type
can provide the desired pavement service life.
 The selection of a pavement section requires the evaluation of multiple factors

including cost and funding limitations, operational constraints, construction time-
frame, cost and frequency of anticipated maintenance, environmental constraints,
material availability, future airport expansion plans, and anticipated changes in
traffic.
 The engineer must document the rationale for the selected pavement section and
service life in the engineer’s report.
Cost Effectiveness Analysis.
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Staged Construction:
 It may be necessary to construct the airport pavement in stages to accommodate

changes in traffic, increases in aircraft weights, frequency of operation or to
address funding limitations.
 The stages may be vertical (i.e. successive layer strengthening) or lateral (i.e.
widening, lengthening, etc).
 When designing airport pavements, give consideration for planned runway/taxiway

extensions, widening, parallel taxiways, and other changes to ensure that each
stage provides an operational surface that can safely accommodate the current
traffic.
 Consider alignments of future development when selecting the longitudinal grades,

cross-slope grade, stub-taxiway grades, etc.
 Design each stage to safely accommodate the traffic using the pavement until the
next stage is constructed. Initial construction must consider the future structural
needs for the full service life of the pavement.
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Staged Construction:
 Design and construction of the underlying layers and drainage facilities must be to
the standards required for the final pavement cross-sections.
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Full- depth Asphalt Pavement
 Full-depth asphalt pavements that contain asphaltic cement in all components

above the prepared subgrade may be used for pavements less than 60,000
pounds (27215 kg).
 FAARFIELD has the ability to analyze full depth asphalt pavements by only
including HMA surface layer and a subgrade layer; however the program will
identify it as a nonstandard layer.
 The preferred method of analyzing a full-depth asphalt pavement is to use a 3-

layer structure consisting of a HMA surface layer on top of a HMA flexible
stabilized base.
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Flexible Pavements:
 For flexible pavement design, FAARFIELD uses the maximum vertical strain at the
top of the subgrade and the maximum horizontal strain at the bottom of all asphalt
layers as the predictors of pavement structural life.
 FAARFIELD provides the required thickness for all individual layers of flexible
pavement (surface, base, and subbase) required to support a given airplane traffic
mix for the structural design life over a given subgrade.
Rigid Pavements:
 For rigid pavement design, FAARFIELD uses the maximum horizontal stress at
the bottom of the PCC slab as the predictor of the pavement structural life.
 The maximum horizontal stress for design is determined considering both PCC
slab edge and interior loading conditions. FAARFIELD provides the required
thickness of the rigid pavement slab required to support a given airplane traffic mix
for the structural design life over a given base/subbase/subgrade.
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Use of Stabilized Base Course:
 If aircraft in the design traffic mix have gross loads of 100,000 pounds (45,359 kg)
or more, then use of a stabilized base is required.
 Crushed aggregates that can be proven to exhibit a remolded soaked CBR of 100
or greater may be substituted for a stabilized base course.
 In areas subject to frost penetration, the materials should meet permeability and
non-frost susceptibility tests in addition to the CBR requirements.
 Full scale performance tests have proven that pavements which include stabilized
bases have superior performance.
 Long term performance gains should be considered before making substitutions to

eliminate stabilized base.
 Exceptions to use of stabilized base may be considered when less than 5% of the
traffic is aircraft with gross loads of 100,000 pounds (45,359 kg) or more but all
aircraft gross loads are less than 110,000 pounds (49,895 kg).
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Base or Subbase Contamination:
 Contamination of subbase or base aggregates may occur during construction

and/or once pavement is in service.
 A loss of structural capacity can result from contamination of base and/or subbase
elements with fines from underlying subgrade soils.
 The contamination reduces the quality of the aggregate material, thereby reducing
its ability to protect the subgrade.
 Geosynthetic separation fabrics can be effectively used to reduce aggregate

contamination
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Drainage Layer:
 Pavements constructed in non-frost areas constructed on subgrade soils with a

3.8.2coefficient of permeability less than 20 ft/day (6 m/day) should include a
subsurface drainage layer.
 Pavements in frost areas constructed on FG2 or higher subgrade soils should

include a subsurface drainage layer.
 For rigid pavements the drainage layer is usually placed immediately beneath the
concrete slab.
 For flexible pavements the drainage layer is usually placed immediately above the
subgrade.
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Drainage Layer:
 An effective drainage layer will attain 85 percent drainage in 24 hours for runways
and taxiways, and 85 percent drainage in 10 days for aprons and other areas with
low speed traffic.
 In the structural design of the concrete slab the drainage layer along with the
granular separation layer is considered a base layer.
 In flexible pavement structures when the required thickness of the granular

subbase is equal to or greater than the thickness of the drainage layer plus the
thickness of the separation layer, the drainage layer is placed beneath the
aggregate base.
 Where the total thickness of the pavement structure is less than 12 inches (300
mm), the drainage layer may be placed directly beneath the surface layer and the
drainage layer used as a base.
 When the drainage layer is placed beneath an unbound aggregate base, limit the
material passing the No. 200 (0.075 mm) sieve in the aggregate base to less than
8 percent or less in accordance with AC 150/5370-10.
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Subgrade Compaction:
 FAARFIELD computes compaction requirements for the specific pavement design

and traffic mixture and generates tables of required minimum density requirements
for the subgrade.
 Since compaction requirements are computed in FAARFIELD after the thickness

design is completed, the computed compaction tables indicate recommended
depth of compaction as measured from both the pavement surface and the top of
finished subgrade.
 FAARFIELD determines whether densities are in accordance with ASTM D 698 or

ASTM D 1557 based on weight of aircraft. ASTM D 698 applies for aircraft less
than 60,000 pounds (27 200 kg) and ASTM D 1557 applies for aircraft 60,000
pounds (27 200 kg) and greater.
 The compaction requirements implemented in the FAARFIELD computer program

are based on the Compaction Index (CI) concept.
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Subgrade Compaction:
FAARFIELD generates two tables applicable to non-cohesive and cohesive soil types
3.9.3respectively. The appropriate compaction controls should be used for the actual
soil type.
The subgrade for new flexible and rigid pavements in cut areas should have natural
in-place densities equal to or greater than those computed by FAARFIELD for the
given soil type.
If the natural in-place densities of the subgrade are less than required, the subgrade
should be
(a) compacted to achieve the required densities
(b) removed and replaced with suitable material at the required densities, or
(c) covered with sufficient select or subbase material so the in-place densities of the
natural subgrade meet the design requirements.
It is a good practice to rework and re-compact at least the top 12 inches (300 mm) in
cut areas; however, depending upon the in-place densities, it may be necessary to
rework and re-compact additional subgrade material.
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Swelling Soils.
 Swelling soils are clayey soils that exhibit a significant volume change caused by
moisture variations.
 Airport pavements constructed on swelling soils are subject to differential

movements causing surface roughness and cracking.
 When swelling soils are present, the pavement design should incorporate methods
to prevent or reduce the effects of soil volume changes. Local experience and
judgment should be applied in dealing with swelling soils to achieve the best
results.
 The clay minerals that cause swelling, in descending order of swelling activity, are
smectite, illite, and kaolinite.
 These soils usually have liquid limits above 40 and plasticity indexes above 25.
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Swelling Soils:
Soils that exhibit a swell of greater than 3 percent when tested for the CBR, per
ASTM 3.10.3D 1883 Standard Test Method for California Bearing Ration (CBR) of
Laboratory-Compacted Soils, require treatment.
Treatment of swelling soils consists of removal and replacement, stabilization, and

compaction efforts in accordance with GUIDELINES.
Adequate drainage is important when dealing with swelling soils.
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Pavement Life:
 Design Life in FAARFIELD refers to structural life.
 Structural life for design is related to the total number of load cycles a pavement
structure will carry before it fails.
 Structural life is distinguished from functional life, which is the period of time that
the pavement is able to provide an acceptable level of service as measured by
performance indicators such as: foreign object debris (FOD), skid resistance, or
roughness.
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Pavement Life:
 Pavements on federally funded FAA projects are designed for a 20-year structural
life.
 Designs for longer periods may be appropriate at airfields where the configuration
of the airfield is not expected to change and where future traffic can be forecast
with relative confidence beyond 20 years.
 A longer design life may be appropriate for a runway at a large hub airport where
the future aircraft traffic can be forecast and where both the location and size of
the runway and taxiways is not anticipated to change.
 However, when designing a taxiway at a smaller airport, it may be more prudent

to design for no more than 20 years than to forecast the composition and
frequency of future activity.
 Similarly, a phased project may only require a temporary pavement for 1-2 years.
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Pavement Life:
 Many airports have significant changes planned, but whether these plans ultimately
become reality depends on local economic conditions (e.g., business upturns or
downturns at the fixed base operator (FBO), or the number and composition of
based aircraft).
 Typically a life cycle cost effectiveness analysis is utilized to support design periods
other than 20 years.
 However, fiscal constraints (i.e., funds available) may dictate which pavement
section(s) and design life are considered
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Structural Life vs. Functional Life
 To achieve intended design life all pavements require quality materials and
construction combined with routine and/or preventative maintenance.
 To maximize a pavement’s life, routine crack sealing and applications of pavement

seal coats will be required for flexible pavements, and crack sealing and joint
sealant repair/replacement will be required for rigid pavement.
 In addition, isolated slab replacement may be needed for some rigid pavements
as well as small patches for some flexible pavements.
 Due to deterioration from normal use and the environment, rehabilitation of

surface grades and renewal of skid-resistant properties may also be needed for
both flexible and rigid pavements.
 Functional life may be longer or shorter than structural life, but is generally much
longer when pavements are maintained properly.
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Pavement Design Using FAARFIELD:
 The FAA developed FAARFIELD using failure models based on full-scale tests
conducted from the 1940s through the present.
 FAARFIELD is based on layered elastic and three-dimensional finite element-

based structural analysis developed to calculate design thicknesses for airfield
flexible and rigid pavements respectively.
 The procedures and design software identified in this circular provide standard
pavement thickness designs meeting structural requirements for all airfield
pavements.
 FAARFIELD currently does not take into account provisions for frost protection and
permafrost
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Pavement Design Using FAARFIELD/Concept of CDF:
 It is the responsibility of the user to check these provisions separately from

FAARFIELD and to modify the thickness design if necessary to provide additional
frost and or permafrost resistant materials.
 Functional failures in pavements (e.g., excessive roughness, FOD, or surface

deformations) can often be traced to material or construction issues that are not
addressed directly by FAARFIELD.
 FAARFIELD is based on the cumulative damage factor (CDF) concept in which the
contribution of each aircraft type in a given traffic mix is summed to obtain the total
cumulative damage from all aircraft operations in the traffic mix.
 FAARFIELD does not designate a design aircraft; however, using the CDF
method, it identifies those aircraft in the design mix that contribute the greatest
amount of damage to the pavement.
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Pavement Design Using FAARFIELD/Concept of CDF:
 Thickness designs using FAARFIELD use the entire traffic mix. Using departures of
a single “design” aircraft to represent all traffic is not equivalent to designing with the
full traffic mix in the CDF method and will generally result in excessive thickness.
 Pavement Design with FAARFIELD is an iterative process for both flexible and rigid
design.
Step 1: From Startup, create a new job and add the basic sections to analyze.
Step 2: From Structure, modify the pavement structure to be analyzed.
Step 3: From Airplane, add Airplane Load and Traffic Data.
Step 4: Return to Structure and Design Pavement Structure.
Step 5: Adjust Layer Thicknesses, Change Layer Types. Repeat Step 4.
Step 6: Select Life/Compaction, print out design report.
Step 7: Return to Startup and view pavement design report.
Step 8: Print pavement design report to be included in engineer’s report.
Optional: Evaluate Life of Final Section to be Constructed. Disable automatic base

design in options screen, return to structure screen and adjust layer thickness to match
construction
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FAA Legacy Design Procedures vs. FAARFIELD
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FAARFIELD New Features
•Pavement thickness is now computed for constant tire contact area.
Changing the airplane gross weight causes the tire pressure to be adjusted to maintain the
contact area.
•External aircraft library in XML format.
•Displays CDF values graphically.
•Enhanced Airplane Data window now displays gear coordinates.
•Support for PCC over rubblized base.
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Aircraft Traffic Considerations.
Load:
 Pavements should be designed for the maximum anticipated takeoff weights of the
airplanes in the fleet regularly operating on the section of pavement being
designed.
 The design procedure generally assumes 95 percent of the gross weight is carried
by the main landing gears and 5 percent is carried by the nose gear. FAARFIELD
provides manufacturer-recommended gross operating weights and load
distribution, for many civil and military airplanes.
 Using the maximum anticipated takeoff weight provides a conservative design

allowing for changes in operational use and traffic, at airports where traffic regularly
operates at less than maximum load.
 Where arrivals constitute 85% or greater of that runway’s operations, and for high-
speed exit taxiways, the use of aircraft landing weights for design is permitted.
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Aircraft Traffic Considerations.
Landing Gear Type and Geometry:
Gear type and configuration dictate how airplane weight is distributed to a pavement
and how the pavement responds to airplane loadings.
Tire Pressure:
Tire pressure varies depending on gear configuration, gross weight, and tire size. In
FAARFIELD, the tire pressure is linked to the gross weight.
An increase in gross weight causes a proportional increase in tire pressure, such that
the tire contact area is maintained constant.
Tire pressure has a more significant influence on strains in the asphalt surface layer
than at the subgrade.
For flexible pavements constructed with a high stability asphalt, tire pressures up to
254 psi (1.75 MPa) may be accommodated. Tire pressure has a negligible impact on
rigid pavement design.
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Aircraft Traffic Considerations:
Aircraft Traffic Volume:
Forecasts of annual departures by airplane type are needed for pavement design.
In general, pavements should be designed to accommodate regularly using aircraft,

where regular use is defined as at least 250 annual departures (500 operations).
However, in some cases seasonal or other non-regular use aircraft may have
significant impact on the pavement structure required.
A sensitivity analysis is recommended to compare the structure needed to

accommodate all planes in the fleet to the structure needed for all planes that have at
least 250 annual departures.
On federally funded projects when occasional or seasonal use aircraft are included in
the traffic, documentation verifying actual activity (as opposed to planned) must be
submitted with the sensitivity analysis to the local FAA region/ADO office as part of
the engineer’s report
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Departure Traffic:
Airfield pavements are generally designed considering only aircraft departures.
This is because typically aircraft depart at a heavier weight than they arrive.
If the aircraft arrive and depart at essentially the same weight, then the number of
departures used for pavement design should be adjusted to reflect the number of
times the pavement is loaded with each aircraft operation in the FAARFIELD
pavement analysis.
Total Departures Over Design Life:
FAARFIELD evaluates the total number of departures over the design life period. For
example, FAARFIELD considers 250 annual departures for a 20-year design life to
be 5,000 total departures.
Similarly, FAARFIELD considers 225 annual departures at a 1% annual growth rate

to be 4,950 total departures.
12/11/2021 80
Airplane Traffic Mix:
Nearly any traffic mix can be developed from the airplanes in the program library. The
actual anticipated traffic mix must be used for the design analysis. Attempts to
substitute equivalent aircraft for actual aircraft can lead to erroneous results.
Total Cumulative Damage:
FAARFIELD analyzes the damage to the pavement for each airplane and determines
a final thickness for the total cumulative damage of all aircraft in the evaluation.
FAARFIELD calculates the damaging effects of each airplane in the traffic mix based
upon its gear spacing, load, and location of gear relative to the pavement centerline.
Then the effects of all airplanes are summed under Miner’s law.
Since FAARFIELD considers where each airplane loads the pavement, the pavement
damage associated with a particular airplane may be isolated from one or more of the
other airplanes in the traffic mix. When the cumulative damage factor (CDF) sums to a
value of 1.0, the structural design conditions have been satisfied.
12/11/2021 81
 In some situations, non-aircraft vehicles such as aircraft rescue and firefighting,

snow removal, or fueling equipment may place heavier wheel loads on the
pavement than aircraft.
 FAARFIELD allows these types of vehicles to be included in the traffic mix.
 The “Non-Airplane Vehicles” airplane group includes several types of truck axles
(single, dual, tandem, and dual-tandem) that may be used to represent common
truck types.
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Coverage:
 When an aircraft moves along a runway, it seldom travels in a perfectly straight line or over
the exact same wheel path as before.
 It will wander on the runway with a statistically normal distribution.
 One coverage occurs when a unit area of the runway has been traversed by a wheel of the
aircraft main gear.
 Due to wander, this unit area may not be covered by the wheel every time the aircraft is on
the runway.
 The number of passes required to statistically cover the unit area one time on the pavement
is expressed by the pass to coverage (P/C) ratio.
12/11/2021 84
THE P/C CONCEPT
 The FAARFIELD failure models relate a computed structural response to the number of
coverages a pavement structure can carry.
 In the case of flexible pavements, the primary structural response is vertical strain at the
top of the subgrade.
 For rigid pavements, the response is bending stress at the bottom of the concrete slab.
 Coverages can be defined as a measure of the number of repetitions of the maximum strain
(for flexible pavements) or stress (for rigid pavements) occurring at a particular location in
the pavement.
 In general, the number of coverages is different from the number of passes due to aircraft
wander, but passes and coverages can be related through the P/C ratio.
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TRAFFIC ANALYSIS EXAMPLES
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DRYLEAN CONCRETE (DLC)
DLC is a lean concrete with a low water content.
The minimum requirements for four types of DLC associated with rigid and flexible
pavements in this guide are:
Type R DLC - used as the base in rigid pavements.
 The maximum aggregate to cement ratio is 15 to 1 with natural aggregates.
 Mean compressive strength from 7 days laboratory cubes must be at least 15 N/mm 2.
 The minimum in situ density should be at least 95% of a Job Standard Density set by
trials.
12/11/2021 96
Dowels should be provided at construction, contraction and expansion joints in accordance
with the requirements
12/11/2021 97
Flexural Strength:
 The required concrete pavement thickness is related to the strength of the concrete.
 For pavement design, the strength of the concrete is characterized by the flexural
strength since the primary action and failure mode of a concrete pavement is in flexure.
 When establishing the flexural strength for the thickness design the designer should
consider the capability of the industry in a particular area to produce concrete at a
particular strength and the need to avoid high cement contents, which may have a
negative effect on concrete durability.
 In addition, high cement contents may lead to increased alkali content which may
exacerbate alkali-silica reactivity issues in the concrete mixture.
 A design flexural strength between 600 and 750 psi (4.14 to 5.17 MPa) is recommended
for most airfield applications.
12/11/2021 98
Flexural Strength:
 Design strengths outside of this range must be approved by the FAA.
 In general, design flexural strengths higher than 750 psi (5.17 MPa) should be avoided,
unless it can be shown that higher strength mixes are produced by normal methods using
local materials, i.e., without relying on excessive cement contents or additives likely to
negatively impact durability.
 Variations in temperature and moisture content can cause volume changes and slab
warping which may cause significant stresses.
 Use joints to divide the pavement into a series of slabs of predetermined dimension to
reduce the detrimental effects of these stresses and to minimize random cracking.
 Slabs should be as nearly square as possible when no embedded steel is used.
 Joint spacing is controlled by slab thickness; it is not intended to imply that you can
establish slab thickness based upon joint spacing.
12/11/2021 99
Flexural Strength/Pavement Joints:
 Joint Type Categories. Pavement joints are categorized according to the function that the
joint is intended to perform.
 The categories of joints are isolation, contraction, and construction joints.
 All joints should be finished in a manner that permits the joint to be sealed.
 Longitudinal joints should be designed to minimize pavement width changes.
 All longitudinal construction joints should be doweled joints, unless the joint also serves
as an isolation joint.
 For aprons, un-doweled construction joints are acceptable for intermediate longitudinal
joints unless the joint is within 20 feet (6 m) of a free edge.
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Pavement Joints:
 For narrow (75 ft (20 m) or less) taxiway pavements less than 9 inches (225 mm) thick on
unstabilized granular bases, it is acceptable to create a ‘tension ring’.
 This is done by using tied longitudinal contraction joints and tied transverse contraction
joints for the last three transverse joints from the end.,
 Dowels provide load transfer across the joint and prevent relative vertical displacement of
adjacent slab ends.
 If installed properly dowels permit relative movement of adjacent slabs.
 For all slab thicknesses, dowels must be provided for three transverse joints from a free
edge. FAA approval is required to use dowels at other transverse joints.
 Dowels are sized to resist the shearing and bending stresses produced by the loads on the
pavement. Dowel length and spacing should be sufficient to prevent failure of the concrete
slab due to the bearing stresses exerted on the concrete
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Pavement Joints:
The alignment and elevation of dowels is important to ensure the performance of a joint.
Sealants are used in all joints to prevent the ingress of water and foreign material into the
joint. In isolation joints pre-molded compressible filler is used to accommodate movement of
the slabs, and sealant is applied above the filler to prevent infiltration of water and foreign
material.
The depth (D) and width (W) of the joint sealant reservoir is a function of the type of sealant
material used.
For joint sealants to perform as intended, the joint sealant material and reservoir be must
constructed in accordance with the joint sealant manufacturer’s recommendations for that
type of sealant.
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Falling Weight Deflectometer
 The FWD is the most popular and versatile tool for measuring the deflection of airfield
pavements.
 However other devices are available to measure deflection, notably the Deflectograph
and the Benkleman Beam.
 Although it is possible to use these devices to record a form of deflection bowl, the
primary use of this equipment is to measure the peak deflection which can be used to
identify relatively weak and strong sections and to split the site into homogeneous
lengths.
 The devices are also limited because the relatively limited loads that they can apply make
it difficult to obtain realistically measurable deflections on strong airfield pavements.
 As a consequence of this, measurements will be feasible on many flexible pavements but

are unlikely to be usable on any but the thinnest rigid pavements.
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The Benkleman Beam
 The Benkleman Beam (or Deflection Beam) was developed in the 1950s as a method of
measuring flexible pavement deflections caused by vehicle loading.
 For road use, systems have been developed which use deflection as a measure of
pavement strength, condition and rehabilitation requirements.
 It is a simple, manually operated device.
 It consists of a reference beam and dial gauge, which is positioned between the twin
wheels of the rear axle of a loaded lorry.
 The transient deflection is measured as the lorry travels slowly along the line of the beam.

 The measurement is not an absolute value of surface deflection since the reference beam
is itself influenced by the load.
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The Deflectograph
 The Deflectograph is an automated deflection measuring system based on the Deflection

Beam principle.
 The Deflectograph is an automated deflection measuring system based on the Deflection

Beam principle.
 It is a fully self-contained lorry-mounted system capable of measuring deflection in the

two wheel paths of the lorry.
 Measurements are taken while the lorry is in motion (2.5km/hour) with measurements
approximately 4m apart.
 It is therefore considerably faster in operation than the Benkleman Beam but

measurements are less easily aligned to particular precise locations, which may be
important on jointed rigid pavements.
 As with the Benkleman Beam, this is an empirical measurement technique and it is

essential that the equipment used is regularly checked and calibrated.
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Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)
Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is a non-destructive tool that can be used to obtain
information about the construction and condition of pavements.
The primary role of GPR on airfield pavements is the determination of layer thicknesses and
changes in construction.
However, GPR can also provide additional information about defects and features within
pavements.
The primary recommended applications for GPR on airfield pavements are:

(i) Determination of layer thickness.
(ii) Detecting changes in construction.
In addition, GPR can be used for:

(i) Locating reinforcement in concrete slabs.
(ii) Detecting large voids below unreinforced slabs.
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Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)
 GPR surveys can be used to detect the presence of reinforcement, and other steel features
such as dowel bars, in rigid pavements.
 Low speed surveys can also provide further details about the reinforcement such as depth
and spacing.
 GPR surveys are unlikely to be able to detect the condition of the steel. However, if the
steel is badly corroded and damaged the surrounding concrete, the survey may detect the
damage.
 Debonding between different bound layers can sometimes be detected but it probably
requires water to be present in order to be detected.
 Special GPR systems have been developed which are designed to investigate cracks in
pavements. Crack-depth determination may be possible for surface cracks.
 Debonding between different bound layers can sometimes be detected but it probably
requires water to be present in order to be detected.
12/11/2021 115
Core testing:
 Cores shall normally be extracted to the full depth of the bound material present in the
pavement and shall generally be 150mm diameter.
 If cores are taken from concrete slabs, where the slab thickness is less than 150 mm, then
100mm diameter cores will be sufficient although they may not provide enough material
for laboratory testing.
12/11/2021 116
Destructive Testing
All cores should be logged to record the layer thickness, material type and condition. The
following should also be noted:
(i) Aggregate type (e.g. crushed rock, gravel, slag), nominal size and shape.
(ii) The presence and position of any reinforcement.
(iii) The relative quality/density/void content of the material.
(iv) The bond between layers.
(v) The presence of detritus where there is a lack of bond between layers.
(vi) The presence and depth of any cracking or loose material.
(vii) Any missing layers (i.e. not recovered by coring).
(viii) Any unusual features.
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Airport Engineering (Runway Design) : BITS Pilani

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AIRPORT ENGINEERING

 FAARFIELD 1.42 incorporates full 3D finite element responses to aircraft loads

 Rollings introduced the concept of the Structural Condition Index (SCI) as a

 Rollings defined SCI as a modification of the Pavement Condition Index (PCI)

 Type and magnitude of airplane load

Structural bearing capacity evaluation

Surface Course [Wearing course and Binder course]:

 In a typical conventional flexible pavement, known as asphalt pavement, the surface

 To provide a durable, watertight, smooth-riding, and skid-resistant traveled surface, the

 It may be compacted granular material or stabilized soil, thus allowing building up of

 Rigid pavements constructed of Portland cement concrete are mostly found in

 To allow for expansion, contraction, warping, or breaks in construction of the

 The jointed plain concrete pavement (JPCP), requiring no steel reinforcements

Consideration of the effects of load repetitions — such as cumulative permanent

 In contrast, the frequency of aircraft loading on airport pavement is much less.

 Another important difference is in the magnitude of wheel loads. Airport pavements

The basic steps are:

 Induce excess vibrations at aircrafts

 Cause metal fatigue problems of aircraft

 Result in increasing pavement loading and accelerating pavement deterioration

 Runways may become intolerably rough due to

o The onset of pavement structural failure (age)

o Adverse environmental conditions

o Improper repairs or non-standard temporary construction ramps

 Over 50% result in the loss of the aircraft

 Resistance Force between Pavement and Tires

 Defined as Friction Coefficient

Factors Affecting Skid Resistance

 Pavement Type, Surface Texture

 Aircraft Type, Speed, Tire Pressure, Tire Texture

60% and above must have depth over 6.0 mm

•Timing for Grooving ：

 Periodic skid resistance measurement is essential for maintaining runway

 The Automatic Grooving Measuring Techniques can efficiently inspect the

 Joint seal damage (rigid pavement)

 Loss of skid resistance

 Not surprisingly, different softwares will determine different pavement thicknesses,

An airport pavement is a complex engineering structure. Pavement analysis and

 The subgrade (naturally occurring soil),

 This requires coordination of many design factors, construction, and inspection to

 The pavement design guidance presented in this AC is based on layered elastic

 These methodologies address the impact of landing gear configurations and

 The selection of a pavement section requires the evaluation of multiple factors

Cost Effectiveness Analysis.

 It may be necessary to construct the airport pavement in stages to accommodate

 When designing airport pavements, give consideration for planned runway/taxiway

 Consider alignments of future development when selecting the longitudinal grades,

 Full-depth asphalt pavements that contain asphaltic cement in all components

 The preferred method of analyzing a full-depth asphalt pavement is to use a 3-

 Long term performance gains should be considered before making substitutions to

 Contamination of subbase or base aggregates may occur during construction

 Geosynthetic separation fabrics can be effectively used to reduce aggregate

 Pavements constructed in non-frost areas constructed on subgrade soils with a

 Pavements in frost areas constructed on FG2 or higher subgrade soils should

 In flexible pavement structures when the required thickness of the granular

 FAARFIELD computes compaction requirements for the specific pavement design

 Since compaction requirements are computed in FAARFIELD after the thickness

 FAARFIELD determines whether densities are in accordance with ASTM D 698 or

 The compaction requirements implemented in the FAARFIELD computer program

 Airport pavements constructed on swelling soils are subject to differential

Treatment of swelling soils consists of removal and replacement, stabilization, and

Adequate drainage is important when dealing with swelling soils.