PAVEMENT DESIGN

AND ANALYSIS
(CE-860)
LEC-21

Fall Semester 2015

Dr. Arshad Hussain
arshad_nit@yahoo.com , Office Room#111,Tel: 05190854163,
Cell: 03419756251
National Institute of Transportation (NIT)
School of Civil & Environmental Engineering (SCEE)
National University of Science and Technology (NUST)

NUST Campus, Sector H-12, Islamabad

RIGID AIRPORT PAVEMENT DESIGN

FAA DESIGN METHOD

FAA DESIGN PROCEDURE

1.

Design Inputs

a.

Concrete flexural strength (90 days)

b.

Modulus of subgrade reaction (k)

c.

Gross weight of design aircraft

d.

Equivalent annual departure of design

aircraft

FAA DESIGN PROCEDURE

2.

Thickness Selection

a.

Separate design curves for single, dual and

dual tandem gear assembly and separate
wide body aircraft.

b.

Design curves indicate thickness of PCC

slab only and this thickness T is the
critical thickness.

FAA DESIGN PROCEDURE

3.

Subbase Requirements

a.

A minimum thickness of 4 inches of

subbase required except as shown in

Table 3-10 conditions where no subbase

is required.

TABLE 3-10
Good Drainage
Soil
Classifi No
Frost
cation Frost
GW
x
x
GP
x
x
GM
x
GC
x
SW
x

Poor Drainage
No
Frost
Frost
x
x
x

x indicates conditions where no subbase

FAA DESIGN PROCEDURE

b.

Subbase thickness in excess of 4 inches

can be used to decrease the required

thickness, if economical.
c.

Stabilized subbase is required if aircraft

weighing more than 100,000 lbs is

present in the mix.

Conversions for different gear types

FAA DESIGN PROCEDURE

4.

Subgrade Compaction Requirement

a.

For Cohesive Soils

Must be compacted to 90 % maximum

density for fill (ASTM D 698)

Top 6 inches must be compacted to 90%

maximum density in cut section.

FAA DESIGN PROCEDURE

b.

For Cohesionless Soils

In fill section top 6 inches must be compacted

to 100 % maximum dry density and remainder
95 %.

In cut section Top 6 inches must be compacted

to 100% maximum density and next 18 inches

to 95 %.

FAA DESIGN PROCEDURE

5.

Determination of k

a.

k should be assigned to material directly

beneath concrete slab.

b.

Determine k for subgrade soil and use curve

to improve k values for given subbase material
& thickness Table 2-3

c.

Use Fig. 2-4 to improve k for untreated

subbase.

Effect of subbase on k (well graded crushed aggregate)

Effect of subbase on k (bank-run sand & gravel)

FAA DESIGN PROCEDURE

Use

Fig. 3-16 to improve k for stabilized

subbase

(applicable

to

bituminous treated subbase.

cement

or

FAA DESIGN PROCEDURE

6.

Critical & non-critical areas

Fig. 3-1

a.

Design curves give T, the critical thickness

b.

0.9T thickness for non-critical areas

applicable to concrete slab.

c.

Variable thickness section & thinned edge

section reduction factors (0.7 T) applies to
slab thickness.

FAA DESIGN PROCEDURE

d.

Subbase thickness must be adjusted to

provide continuous drainage at subgrade.

High Traffic Volume

Provide
additional
thickness
for
departures in excess of 25,000 according
to Table 3-5.

Pavement Thickness for Higher

Departure Levels
For annual departures in excess of 25,000 the total
pavement thickness should be increased as shown below:
________________________________________
Annual departure
Per cent of 25000
level
departure thickness
________________________________________
50,000
104
100,000
108
150,000
110
200,000
112
________________________________________

DESIGN EXAMPLE

DESIGN EXAMPLE (Cont)

Assumed

Material Properties

FAA Software for Rigid

R805FAA

For Rigid Pavement Design