Full-Scale Aircraft Tire Pressure Tests

This paper describes an outdoor full-scale test led by Airbus S.A.S in partnership with the French authorities DGAC-STAC, LCPC, LRPC-T, MICHELIN and VANCOUVER² to improve experimental and theoretical knowledge related to the effects of aircraft internal tire inflation pressure on the behavior of and damage to flexible pavement. Since some modern aircraft have tire pressures exceeding 15 bar, the tests focus on pressures from 15 bar to 17.5 bar. The experimental pavement located on the Toulouse-Blagnac airport in France includes up to seven different test sections, representative of current airfield flexible pavement worldwide. Variant parameters from one section to another are thickness of AC surface layer and its performance in respect of rutting, and surface treatment as grooving. The aircraft simulation vehicle drives four dual-wheel gears sufficiently spaced enough in order to prevent from any interaction between them, making it possible to test two different tire pressures (15 and 17.5 bar) and two weights per wheel (ultimate weights, 28.5 and 33.2 tons) simultaneously. The seven test sections are instrumented to measure resilient strains, and resilient and permanent displacements (rutting). The structure has been initially designed according to the French airport pavement design method, for 10,000 passes of B747-400 gear. Tests will continue until the simulator runs are no longer possible due to the high rut depth level.

• Record URL:
  http://www.airporttech.tc.faa.gov/Airport-R-D/Conference-and-Workshop/Airport-RD-Conference-Detail/dt/Detail/ItemID/269/Full-Scale-Aircraft-Tire-Pressure-Tests
• Corporate Authors:

  Federal Aviation Administration

  800 Independence Avenue, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20591
• Authors:
  • Fabre, C
  • Balay, J M
  • Lerat, P
• Conference:
  • 2010 FAA Worldwide Airport Technology Transfer Conference
  • Location: Atlantic City New Jersey, United States
  • Date: 2010-4-20 to 2010-4-22
• Publication Date: 2010

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 19p
• Monograph Title: 2010 FAA Worldwide Airport Technology Transfer Conference: Next Generation of Airport Technology

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Airport runways; Deformation; Flexible pavements; Pavement performance; Prototype tests; Rutting; Simulation; Surface course (Pavements); Tire pressure
• Geographic Terms: France
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Pavements; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01608482
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Aug 29 2016 11:09AM