Operational Life of Airport Pavements

117 Pages·2005·6.73 MB·English

DOT/FAA/AR-04/46 Operational Life of Airport

Pavements
Office of Aviation Research
Washington, D.C. 20591

December 2004

Final Report

This document is available to the U.S. public
through the National Technical Information
Service (NTIS), Springfield, Virginia 22161.

U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Aviation Administration
NOTICE

This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S.
Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The
United States Government assumes no liability for the contents or use
thereof. The United States Government does not endorse products or
manufacturers. Trade or manufacturer's names appear herein solely
because they are considered essential to the objective of this report. This
document does not constitute FAA certification policy. Consult your local
FAA airports office as to its use.

This report is available at the Federal Aviation Administration William J.
Hughes Technical Center's Full-Text Technical Reports page:
actlibrary.tc.faa.gov in Adobe Acrobat portable document format (PDF).
Technical Report Documentation Page
1. Report No. 2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient's Catalog No.

DOT/FAA/AR-04/46
4. Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date

OPERATIONAL LIFE OF AIRPORT PAVEMENTS December 2004
6. Performing Organization Code

7. Author(s) 8. Performing Organization Report No.

Navneet Garg, Edward Guo, and Roy McQueen
9. Performing Organization Name and Address 10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS)

Galaxy Scientific Corporation

3120 Fire Road 11. Contract or Grant No.
Egg Harbor Township, NJ 08234
DTFA03-00-D-00011

12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address 13. Type of Report and Period Covered

U.S. Department of Transportation
Final Report
Federal Aviation Administration
Office of Aviation Research 14. Sponsoring Agency Code
Washington, DC 20591 AAS-100
15. Supplementary Notes
The FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center’s Technical Officer was Dr. S.K. Agrawal.
16. Abstract

The objective of the study was to determine whether the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) standards used to determine the
appropriate thickness for hot mix asphalt and concrete airfield pavements are in accordance with the FAA standard for a 20-year
life requirement.

FAA airport pavement design standards, Advisory Circular (AC) 150/5320-6D (1995), including changes 1, 2, and 3 (2004), and
related references, including some unpublished FAA technical reports and full-scale test results, were reviewed. The effects of
many parameters, directly used in the failure model and indirectly used through the pavement response model, on the pavement
structural life were analyzed. A sensitivity analysis of parameters on pavement structural life was used to quantitatively evaluate
the effects of the most important parameters in different airport pavement design procedures.

Some full-scale test results were used to support the findings in the analysis. Much of the airport pavement surveyed data
collected from previous FAA projects, including some unpublished ones, was also reviewed. A portion of that data was used in
this report for the analysis. Based on the surveyed data, it was found that the average Structural Condition Index of both hot mix
asphalt and Portland cement concrete pavements in all age groups is higher than 80.

Based on the definition adopted in this report, the airport pavements designed following AC 150/5320-6D have sufficient
thickness to provide a 20-year structural life.

17. Key Words 18. Distribution Statement
FAA standards, Pavement design procedures, 20-year life, This document is available to the public through the National
Full-scale test results, Structural Condition Index Technical Information Service (NTIS) Springfield, Virginia
22161.
19. Security Classif. (of this report) 20. Security Classif. (of this page) 21. No. of Pages 22. Price

Unclassified Unclassified 117
Form DOT F1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed page authorized
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The work described in this report was performed for the U.S. Department of Transportation,
Federal Aviation Administration, Airport Technology Research and Development Branch
(R&D), under Contract DTFA03-00-D-00011. Dr. Satish K. Agrawal is the manager of the
Airport Technology R&D Branch.

The contributions of the following individuals are acknowledged:

Dr. Gordon Hayhoe
Federal Aviation Administration

Mr. Chuck Teubert
Galaxy Scientific Corporation

Mr. James L. Lafrenz, P.E.
American Concrete Pavement Association

Mr. John I. Duval, P.E.
Asphalt Institute

David E. Newcomb, P.E., Ph.D.
National Asphalt Pavement Association

iii/iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY xiii
1. INTRODUCTION 1-1
1.1 Objective 1-1
1.2 Scope 1-1
1.3 Limitations 1-1
1.4 Approach 1-2
1.5 Overview 1-3
2. DEFINITIONS 2-1
2.1 Pavement Life and Failure 2-1
2.2 Pavement Distresses 2-1
2.3 Flexible Pavement Distresses 2-2

2.3.1 Alligator Cracking 2-2
2.3.2 Bleeding 2-2
2.3.3 Block Cracking 2-3
2.3.4 Corrugation 2-3
2.3.5 Depression 2-4
2.3.6 Jet-Blast Erosion 2-4
2.3.7 Joint Reflection Cracking From PCC 2-4
2.3.8 Longitudinal and Transverse Cracking (Non-PCC Joint Reflective) 2-5
2.3.9 Oil Spillage 2-5
2.3.10 Patching and Utility Cut Patch 2-5
2.3.11 Polished Aggregate 2-6
2.3.12 Raveling and Weathering 2-6
2.3.13 Rutting 2-7
2.3.14 Shoving 2-7
2.3.15 Slippage Cracking 2-8
2.3.16 Swell Distress 2-8

2.4 Rigid Pavement Distresses 2-9

2.4.1 Blowup 2-9
2.4.2 Corner Break 2-9
2.4.3 Longitudinal, Transverse, and Diagonal Cracks 2-10
2.4.4 Durability Cracking 2-10
2.4.5 Joint Seal Damage 2-11
2.4.6 Patch, Small (less than 5 ft2) 2-11
2.4.7 Patch, Large (over 5 ft2) 2-12
2.4.8 Popouts 2-12
v
2.4.9 Pumping 2-13
2.4.10 Scaling, Map Cracking, and Crazing 2-13
2.4.11 Settlement or Faulting 2-14
2.4.12 Shattered Slab/Intersecting Cracks 2-14
2.4.13 Shrinkage Cracks 2-15
2.4.14 Spalling (Transverse and Longitudinal) 2-15
2.4.15 Spalling (Corner) 2-15

2.5 Assessing Pavement Failure 2-16
3. PAVEMENT DESIGN PROCEDURES REVIEW AND EFFECTS OF THE
RESPONSE MODEL ON PAVEMENT LIFE 3-1
3.1 Flexible Pavements 3-1

3.1.1 Development of California Bearing Ratio Equation—Pavement as
Single Layer 3-1

3.1.2 Layered Elastic Design Procedures 3-5

3.2 Rigid Pavements 3-9

3.2.1 Slab Models 3-9

3.2.2 Foundation Models 3-9

3.2.3 Effects of Concrete Elastic Modulus 3-10

3.2.4 Variation of Joint Load Transfer Capabilities 3-12

3.2.5 Effects of Interface Model Between the Slab and the Layer
Underneath 3-13

3.3 Summary 3-15
4. EFFECT OF FAILURE MODELS ON PAVEMENT LIFE 4-1
4.1 Flexible Pavements 4-1

4.1.1 Failure Model in AC 150/5320-6D 4-1
4.1.2 Failure Model in AC 150/5320-16 (LEDFAA 1.2) 4-4
4.1.3 Failure Model in AC 150/5320-6D Change 3 (LEDFAA 1.3) 4-6

4.2 Rigid Pavements 4-7

4.2.1 Major Changes in Failure Models 4-7
4.2.2 Calculation of Pass-to-Coverage Ratio 4-10
vi
4.2.3 Uncertainty of the Concrete Flexural Strength 4-10
4.2.4 Control of Top-Down Cracking 4-11

4.3 Summary 4-13
5. SENSITIVITY OF INPUTS TO PAVEMENT LIFE 5-1
5.1 Concepts and Formulas 5-1
5.2 Flexible Pavements 5-2

5.2.1 Sensitivity of Pavement Life to HMA Modulus 5-4
5.2.2 Sensitivity of Pavement Life to HMA Thickness 5-4
5.2.3 Sensitivity of Pavement Life to P-209 Base Thickness 5-5
5.2.4 Sensitivity of Pavement Life to Aircraft Gross Weight 5-5

5.3 Rigid Pavements 5-6

5.3.1 Sensitivity of Design Factor R/σ 5-6

5.3.2 Sensitivity to Slab Thickness, Aircraft Gross Weight, Subgrade
Strength, and Stabilized Base 5-8

5.4 Summary 5-11
6. PAVEMENT STRUCTURAL LIFE ANALYSIS 6-1
6.1 Concepts and Assumptions 6-1
6.2 Analysis Procedures and Methods 6-3
6.3 Description of Surveyed HMA Pavements 6-7

6.3.1 Analysis of Available Data for HMA Pavements 6-8
6.3.2 Distress Analysis 6-11

6.4 Available Data From Published Reports 6-17

6.4.1 Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport 6-17
6.4.2 John F. Kennedy International Airport 6-18
6.4.3 Additional Data and Information 6-18

6.5 Description of Surveyed PCC Pavements 6-19
6.6 Analysis of Surveyed PCC Pavements 6-20
6.7 Summary 6-25
vii
7. CONCLUSIONS 7-1
8. REFERENCES 8-1
9. INDUSTRY COMMENTS 9-1
9.1 Comments From the Asphalt Institute 9-1
9.2 Comments From the American Concrete Pavement Association 9-3
9.3 Comments From the National Asphalt Pavement Association 9-5

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page

2-1 Alligator Fatigue Cracking 2-2
2-2 Tire Marks Evident in High-Severity Bleeding 2-3
2-3 High-Severity Block Cracking 2-3
2-4 Depression in Pavement 2-4
2-5 Joint Reflection Cracking From PCC 2-4
2-6 High-Severity Longitudinal and Transverse Cracking 2-5
2-7 High-Severity Patch 2-6
2-8 Polished Aggregate 2-6
2-9 High-Severity Raveling and Weathering 2-7
2-10 Rutting in a Pavement 2-7
2-11 Shoving in a Pavement 2-8
2-12 Severe Slippage Cracking 2-8
2-13 Blowup in a Pavement 2-9
2-14 Corner Break 2-9
2-15 High-Severity Longitudinal Cracking 2-10

2-16 High-Severity Transverse Cracking 2-10
viii
2-17 High-Severity D Cracking 2-11
2-18 Joint Seal Damage 2-11
2-19 Small Patch Distress 2-12
2-20 Large Patch Distress 2-12
2-21 Popout Distress 2-13
2-22 Water Bleeding and Pumping 2-13
2-23 Scaling 2-14

2-24 Map Cracking 2-14
2-25 Faulting of Transverse Cracks 2-14
2-26 Shattered Slab Condition 2-15
2-27 Joint Spalling at a Transverse Joint 2-15
2-28 Corner Spalling 2-16
3-1 LEDFAA Failure Model for all Available Full-Scale Test Data Points With
Reported Subgrade Shear Failure 3-7
3-2 Effects of the Concrete Modulus on the Comparison of Measured and
Calculated Strains 3-11
3-3 Uncertainty of the Interface Behavior Under a Circular Load at the Slab Center 3-14
4-1 Comparison of Thickness Factor From Different Relationships 4-2
4-2 Alpha Factor Versus Coverages 4-4
4-3 Subgrade Failure Criteria in LEDFAA 1.2 4-5
4-4 Comparison of Subgrade Failure Models in LEDFAA 4-6
4-5 Three-Step Adjustment From WES to LEDFAA Failure Models 4-8
5-1 Pavement Sections for Sensitivity Analysis 5-3
5-2 Summary of Results From Sensitivity Analyses 5-5
5-3 The Sensitivities of Design Factor R/σ vs R/σ 5-7
5-4 Failure Models in AC 150/5320-6D and WES 5-8
ix
6-1 Effects of Mean and Standard Deviation on Pavement Life—Conceptural Analysis 6-2
6-2 Average PCI for HMA Runways, Taxiways, and Aprons 6-9
6-3 Average PCI for HMA Runways 6-9
6-4 Average PCI for HMA Taxiways 6-10
6-5 Average PCI for HMA Aprons 6-10
6-6 Pavement Condition Index Reduction by Distress Groups for HMA Pavements 6-11
6-7 Pavement Condition Index Reduction Values for Different Functional
HMA Pavements 6-14
6-8 Percent of Total Reduction of PCI for Different Functional HMA Pavements 6-14
6-9 Average SCI for HMA Runways, Taxiways, and Aprons 6-16
6-10 Surveyed PCC Pavements Grouped by Function 6-20
6-11 Surveyed PCC Pavements Grouped by Years of Service 6-20
6-12 Pavement Condition Index of the PCC Pavements by Age 6-21
6-13 Pavement Condition Index of PCC Pavements by Age and Function 6-22
6-14 PCI of 0- to 30-Year PCC Pavements Grouped by Size 6-22
avg
6-15 Distribution of PCI for all PCC Pavements Between 16 and 23 Years 6-23
6-16 Estimated SCI of PCC Pavements by Age and Function 6-24
6-17 Average SCI for Pavements Older Than 20 Years 6-26
6-18 Average PCI for Pavements Older Than 20 Years 6-26
6-19 Difference in Flexible and Rigid PCI and SCI for Pavements Older Than 20 Years 6-27

x