PERFORMANCE OF FLEXIBLE AIRFIELD PAVEMENTS SUBJECTED TO HIGH TRAFFIC VOLUMES. SIXTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE, STRUCTURAL DESIGN OF ASPHALT PAVEMENTS, VOLUME I, PROCEEDINGS, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, JULY 13-17, 1987, ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN

Presently, the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA's) pavement design and evaluation procedure is based on the Corps of Engineers' CBR procedure. The Corps' procedure is based on accelerated traffic testing of pavement test sections. The highest traffic levels in the testing program were approximately 5,000 coverages of a given gear configuration for flexible pavements. Thus, the design curves in the current advisory circular (AC 150/6320-6C) have been drawn to include pass levels of 25,000 annual departures. However, the traffic levels at many of the major hub airports are receiving traffic in excess of this level. In order to accomodate the thickness design for these pavements, the design curves have been extrapolated to include pass levels of 200,000 annual departures. Since adaptation of this extrapolation procedure, some concern has arisen concerning the adequacy of the design procedure. In response to this concern the FAA initiated a study to determine the adequacy of this design procedure. The study included evaluation of in-service pavements currently receiving more than 25,000 annual departures. Flexible pavement sections at two major hub airports were surveyed and included in this study. This paper will summarize the findings of the field survey of these pavements. Included in the field survey was a visual condition survey using the "pavement condition index" (PCI) procedure and a nondestructive evaluation using the Waterways Experiment Station's (WES's) 16-kip vibratory testing device. Data from the condition surveys and nondestructive testing (NDT) will be presented.

• Corporate Authors:

  University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

  Department of Civil Engineering
  Ann Arbor, MI  United States  48109
• Authors:
  • Kohn, S D
  • Bentsen, R A
• Publication Date: 1987

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 638-654
• Serial:
  • Publication of: Michigan University, Ann Arbor
  • Publisher: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Airport runways; Airports; Asphalt pavements; Condition surveys; Conferences; Design methods; Field studies; Flexible pavements; Nondestructive tests; Pavement performance; Thickness; Traffic volume
• Old TRIS Terms: Field investigations; Thickness design
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Design; Highways; Pavements; Terminals and Facilities; I22: Design of Pavements, Railways and Guideways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00485631
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 31 1989 12:00AM