Airport Engineering

Syllabus Functional areas of airports- Runways, Taxiways, Aprons, Terminal buildings; Classifications of Airports; Airport site selection; Design of Runway, Runway orientation, Wind Rose diagram; Design of Taxiway and Terminal building.

Books
1. 2. 3. 4. Airport Planning and Design Khanna, Arora & Jain Airport Engineering Rangawala Air Transportation Planning & Design Virendra Kumar & Satish Chandra Reference Book: Planning & Design of Airport R. Horonjeff & F.X. Mckelvey
2

Introduction
1.1 Characteristics of Air Transportation Advantages of Air Transportation I. Speed:- High Speed among all the transport mode

II.
III.

Accessibility:- Open up any region that is inaccessible by other means of transport e.g. Hill area
Continuous Journey:- Movement is possible continuous over land and water unlike other modes

IV.
V. VI.

Aerial Photography
Military use Encourage Trade and commerce:- More opportunities for business

VII.
VIII. IX.

Agricultural spraying
Impact on Economic and Social life of country Safety:- Safer than road way travel. Fatal air accident is less 3 than 20% of that of highway accident.

Disadvantages are

1. High Cost
2. Noise Pollution 3. High Energy Consumption: Per passenger fuel consumption is 10 times more than bus 1.2 Air Transport in India & Abroad History of Development of Air Transport and its characteristics. Different Stages and modification in Air Transport mode. Present Scenario of worldwide Air Traffic. Development of Air Transportation in India. History and Back Ground Operational Development Present Private and Govt. Participation in operation of Domestic as well as International Air Transportation
4

1.3 Elements of Air Transport Airport: It is an area of land and water which is to be regularly used for commercial purposes for arrival, departure and movement of aircrafts.

Aerodrome: Any defined area of land or water intended to be used for arrival and departure of aircraft is called aerodrome.
Any airport is largely divided into three major components: The air side: this consists of airfield and landing take-off area i.e. runway and taxiway The land side: this consists of terminal areas i.e. apron, hanger, terminal building.

Air traffic control: this consists control movement of aircrafts

in airspace surrounding the airport. Airport Engineering deals with first two components
5

A : Runway

B: Taxiway
C: Apron D: Hanger E: Terminal Building F: Car parking Zone

E F

Fig. Schematic Diagram of an airport

6

Runway: Long and comparatively narrow strip of land which is used for landing and take-off of aircraft along its lengths. Paved. More than one runway. Taxiway: Access of the aircraft from runway to apron or hanger. Speed of the aircrafts are less than runway. Less thick pavement. Apron: Paved portion in front of the terminal building or adjacent to hanger. Space for parking of aircrafts. Size of the apron depends upon aircraft volume Paved space provided near the runway is known as holding apron. Apron exclusively used for fueling purpose is known as fueling apron 7

Hanger: Space for servicing, overhauling and repairing of aircrafts Important airports may have more than one hanger Terminal Building: Building complex mainly used for passengers, airliners and airport administration facility. Passenger facilities for convenient and direct access to ground

transportation and parking area.

An airport encompasses a wide range of activities which have different complex. The airport activity system is shown in the next slide
8

and

conflicting

requirements.

As

they

are

interdependent, a single activity may limit capacity of entire

Enroute Airspace

Airfield Surface System

Terminal Airspace

Air side

Runway

Holding Apron

Exit Taxiway

Taxiway

Apron/Gate Area Terminal Building Vehicular Circulation Parking Aircraft flow Passenger flow

Land side

Fig. Components of the airport system for a large airport

Airport Ground Access System

1.4 1.4.1

Classification of an Airport International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)

Most important international agency concerned with airport development. Specialized agency of UNO with head quarter at Montreal, Canada. 169 nations are members.

The objective of ICAO are:

Safe and orderly growth of international civil aviation. Aircraft design and operation for peaceful purpose.

Development of airways, airports and air navigation facilities.

Safe, regular, efficient and economic air transportation. Rights of the contracting nations are fully respected. Promotion of all aspects including safety of flight of international civil aeronautics.

10

The document Aerodromes, Annex 14 to the convention on

International Civil Aviation issued by ICAO provides international design standards and recommended practices applicable to all international airports. ICAO uses a two-element code to clarify geometric design standards at an airport. The code element consist of a numeric designator and an alphabetic designator. Aerodrome code numbers 1 through 4 classify the length of runway available or the reference field length. Aerodrome code letters A through E classify the wingspan and outer main gearwheel-span for the aircraft for which the airport has been designed. This aerodrome reference code is shown in Table 1.0
11

Table 1.0 ICAO Aerodrome Reference Codes

Aerodrome Code No. Reference field length (m) Aerodrome Code Letter Wing Span (m) Outer main gear wheel span (m)

1 2 3

<800 800 - <1200 1200 - <1800

A B C

< 15 15 - < 24 24 - < 36

< 4.5 4.5 - < 6 6-<9 9 - < 14 9-< 14

1800

D
E

36 - < 52
52 - < 65

Reference Field Length: Actual Runway takeoff length converted to an equivalent length at MSL, 150C, and 0 percent gradient. Wing Span: Distance between outside of two wings of the aircraft. Outer main gear wheel span: Distance between outside edges of tyres on the main gear wheel. 12

13

1.4.2.

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

This is an agency which governs air transportation including airports in United States. It develops and establishes standards, government planning methods and procedures, airport design, construction

management, operation and maintenance. It clarifies airports for

geometric design purposes based upon airport reference code. Utility Airport: Utility airports serves and accommodate small aircraft with maximum take off weight of 12,500lbs. or less. Transport Airport: Transport airports can accommodate large aircraft with maximum take off weight in excess of 12,500 lbs. FAA also defines five aircraft approach categories. The approach category is defined by aircraft approach speed which is defined as 1.3 times the stall speed in the landing configuration of the aircraft at the maximum certified landing weight.
14

Table 2.0
A B C D E

FAA Aircraft Approach Category Classification

Aircraft approach Speed (Knot) <91 91 - <121 121 - <141 141 - <166 166 Airport Category Utility Airport Utility Airport Transport Airport Transport Airport Transport Airport

Airport Approach Category

Table 3.0

FAA Airplane Design Groups for Geometric Design of Airport

Aircraft Wing Span (ft.) Typical Aircraft

Airplane Design group

I II III

< 49 49 <79 79 - <118

Beech Bonanza A 35 Learjet 25 DeHavilland DHC-5 Gulfstream II Boeing 737, Martin-04

IV
V VI

118 - <171
171 - < 214 214 - < 262

Boeing 757, Lockheed 1011

Boeing 747-400 Lockheed C5A 1 Knot = 1.87 km/hr.
15

1.4.3. Govt. of India, Dept. of Civil Aviation Classification. I. a) Central Govt. Aerodrome b) Privately owned licensed aerodrome II. a) State Govt. Aerodromes maintained in a serviceable condition

b) State Govt. Aerodromes maintained in a serviceable condition

iii. Air force aerodrome available for limited civil use

Airport configuration The airport configuration is the number and orientation of runways and the location of the terminal area relative to the runways. The number of runways provided at an airport depends on the volume of traffic.

The orientation of these runways depends to a large extent on the direction of the prevailing wind patterns in the area, the size and shape of the area available for airport development, and land-use or airspace restrictions in the vicinity of the airport
16

Runways
In general, runways and connecting taxiways should be arranged so as to-

Provide adequate separations between aircraft in the air traffic pattern. Cause the least interference and delay in landing, taxing, and takeoff operations. Provide the shortest taxi distance possible from the terminal area to the ends of the runways. Provide adequate taxiways so landing aircraft can exit the runways as quickly as possible and follow the shortest possible routes to the terminal area. At busy airports, holding or run-up aprons should be provided adjacent to the takeoff ends of the runways these aprons should be designed to accommodate three or possibly four 17 aircraft to bypass one another.

Taxiways
The principal function of taxiways is to provide access between runways and terminal area and service hangers Taxiways should be arranged so that aircraft which have just landed

do not interfere with aircraft taxiing to take off.

At busy airports where taxiing traffic is expected to move simultaneously in both directions, parallel one-way taxiways should be provided . Taxiway should be located at various points along runways so that landing aircraft can leave the runways quickly to clear them for use of other aircraft commonly known as exit taxiways.

18

Runway Configuration
The basic runway configuration are Single runway. Parallel runways. Dual-lane runways. Intersecting runways. Open or V-runways.

19

RUNWAY ORIENTATION Runway is usually oriented in the direction of prevailing wind. If the take off is performed in the direction opposite to the direction of wind flow, greater lift on the wings of the aircraft is available. Due to the force applied by the wind, the aircraft can rise above the ground much earlier and therefore a shorter length of runway is required. This wind, directly opposite to the movement of the aircraft, is called head wind. During landing the wind provides a breaking effect and the aircraft comes to a stop within a shorter distance requiring a shorter length of runway. Thus, shorter runway length is required if the landing or take-off operation is performed along the head wind 20 direction

Takeoff
Landing

wsin

Wind Direction

wcos

However, this is not always possible to have the wind blows in the direction of runway as the direction of wind is not same through out the year. When the wind direction meets the runway at angle , its components along the runway centre line will be wcos and perpendicular to the runway centre line will be wsin. This perpendicular components of wind is referred as Cross Wind.

This cross wind components interrupts the landing and take off operation of the aircraft on runway. The excessive cross wind may put off the aircraft away from runway.
Therefore the runway or system of parallel runway should be directed in such a way that the cross wind component does not cross the specified 21 limit most of the time in a year.

The percentage of time in a year during which the cross wind components remain within the specified limit is called wind coverage or usability factor of airport.
ICAO recommended a minimum wind coverage of 95%.

The permissible cross wind components on different runway length as recommended by ICAO are
Reference Length Maximum cross wind component
1500m or over 37 km/hr 1200m 1499m 24 km/hr Less than 1200m 19 km/hr

This 95% criterion suggested by ICAO is applicable to all conditions of weather. When a single runway or a set of parallel runways cannot be oriented to provide the required wind coverage, one or more cross wind runway should be provided.
22

The period during which wind blows at a velocity below 6.4km/hr is called calm period. This intensity does not influence the aircraft operation.
Maximum allowable cross wind component depends upon size of aircraft, wing configurations and pavement surface.

23

WIND ROSE DIAGRAM

The wind data and its direction, duration and intensity are represented by a diagram called wind rose. This wind rose is used to analyze the wind data graphically to determine the best runway orientation. The wind data should be collected preferably for a period of 10 years and at least for 5 years. The wind rose diagram are of two types and there are two methods to determine the runway orientations. The wind data for preparation of wind rose diagram should provide: a) Direction of wind preferably in 16 directional segments each covering 22.50. and b) Duration of wind in % of the total time in different velocity group and at least three group should be taken starting from 6.4 kmph.
24

Table: Typical Wind Data: Percentage of time that Winds Come from Particular Directions at Various Velocities in All Weather Conditions

25

WIND ROSE TYPE I

In this method the duration and direction of wind are used, but data on velocity of wind is not required
NE ENE W E

NNE

This is not very accurate method. The radial lines indicate the wind direction and the duration is marked in this radial line to some suitable scale. All plotted lines are joined by straight lines. The best runway orientation is usually along the direction of the largest line on the wind rose diagram. 26

ESE
SE S SSE

In the figure the best orientation is along EW direction.,

Wind Rose Co-ordinate system

Cross wind components template showing limits of 15 mi/h

27

WIND ROSE TYPE II

The type II wind rose diagram shows information of wind on direction, duration and intensity. This diagram is used for orientation of runway. The wind rose diagram consists of a number of concentric circles, each circle represents the wind intensity to same scale. The circles are divided into number of segments, preferably 16 segments, each covering 22.50. Each segment represents a direction of wind flow. The duration of wind flow as a percentage of time in a year is noted in segment representing the respective direction of wind flow.
28

Wind rose type II

29

RUNWAY ORIENTATION
The procedure for determining the orientation of runway with the help of wind rose diagram is described in the following steps

Step I : Draw the equi-spaced parallel lines on a transparent paper strip. The middle line represents the runway centre line and the distance between it and each of the out side lines is equal to the

allowable cross wind component.

Step II : Place the transparent strip on the wind rose so that the middle line passes through the centre of the wind rose.

30

RUNWAY ORIENTATION
Step III : Rotate the strip with respect to the pivot until the sum of the percentage between the outside lines is a maximum. When the strip covers only a fraction of a segment, corresponding fractional part of the percentage shown should be used. The sum of percentages between the out side lines indicate the percentage of time that the runway with the proposed orientation will conform with cross wind standard. Step IV : Note the direction of runway and calculate the wind coverage.

31

Wind coverage for runway 9-27

32

Wind coverage for runway 3-21

33

Wind coverage for runways 9-27 and 3-21

34

Wind Data for day light hours for visual meteorological conditions for an airport

1. Plot the wind rose diagram under VMC 2. Determine the best orientation of primary runway at this airport. Permissible cross wind component 15km/hr
35