Investigation Methologies and Design for Runway Pavement Rehabilitation at Churchill Falls Airport

Churchill Falls Airport is located in Churchill Falls, Labrador and is owned and operated by Nalcor Energy Company. The case study presented in this paper discusses the investigation and design methodologies that were used for the rehabilitation of the runway pavement. It includes the innovative testing tools and designs that can be utilized to investigate and address challenging geotechnical and climatic conditions in remote areas in the North. The pavement at Churchill Falls airport was significantly distressed including numerous areas of frost heaving and extensive cracking. The field investigation included a detailed pavement distress inspection, test pit investigation and a geophysical survey using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR). It was determined from previous investigation and our own limited geotechnical investigation that the bedrock at the airport site was undulating and very shallow at some locations. The frost heaving of the runway pavement was due to frost susceptible subgrade soils (glacial till) and shallow undulating bedrock trapping groundwater. In order to develop a suitable rehabilitation strategy to the severity of frost heaving it was necessary to obtain a detailed map of the depth to bedrock. This mapping and continuous profile was obtained by carrying out a GPR survey. The results from the field investigations, in particular the GPR survey were used to develop pavement rehabilitation design alternatives and life cycle cost analysis to identify the most economically feasible alternative. One of the design alternatives developed included installation of polystyrene insulation to minimize frost penetration into the glacial till soils. For the covering abstract of this conference see ITRD record number 201310RT334E.

• Record URL:
  http://www.tac-atc.ca/english/annualconference/tac2013/session20/uzarowski.pdf
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Association of Canada (TAC)

  401-1111 Prince of Wales Drive
  Ottawa, Ontario  Canada 
• Authors:
  • Uzarowski, L
  • RIZVI, R
  • Maher, M
  • KRZEWINSKI, TG
• Conference:
  • 2013 CONFERENCE AND EXHIBITION OF THE TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION OF CANADA - TRANSPORTATION: BETTER - FASTER - SAFER
• Publication Date: 2013

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: 13 p.
• Monograph Title: 2013 Conference and Exhibition of the Transportation Association of Canada - Transportation: Better - Faster - Safer

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Airport runways; Bituminous mixtures; Conferences; Depth; Foundations; Frost damage; Ground penetrating radar; Repairing; Rocks; Subgrade (Pavements); Subsoil; Swelling soils
• Geographic Terms: Canada
• ITRD Terms: 4967: Bituminous mixture; 8018: Canada; 8525: Conference; 6499: Depth; 3377: Foundation; 5278: Frost damage; 6118: Ground penetrating radar; 3635: Repair; 4154: Rock; 1038: Runway; 2950: Subgrade; 2930: Subsoil; 5203: Swelling (soil)
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Pavements; I22: Design of Pavements, Railways and Guideways; I42: Soil Mechanics;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01518010
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transportation Association of Canada (TAC)
• Files: ITRD, TAC
• Created Date: Mar 11 2014 10:58AM