A comparative analysis of the results of different design methods is a powerful tool for evaluating and developing new pavement design procedures. A sensitivity, or comparative, analysis was employed during the development of Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Advisory Circular (AC) 150.5320-16 and its computer program LEDFAA. The FAA is currently developing a new Portland cement concrete design procedure based on the three-dimensional finite element method (FEDFAA) and has modified the original subgrade vertical strain-based failure criteria used for flexible pavement design. This report includes a comparison and evaluation of both new construction and overlay designs over a broad range of input conditions. Since the FAA design procedure requires the use of a stabilized base and subbase for airport pavements accommodating aircraft heavier than 100,000 lb, the sensitivity of a stabilized base/subbase on the pavement life or thickness was also studied. Design thickness comparisons, using different models, are provided to show how the sensitivity analysis results influence the design model. This report focuses on the results of the comparative analyses for both new and overlay pavements. Other parameters analyzed in this report include subgrade strength, aircraft type, annual departure levels for single aircraft, narrow- and wide-body aircraft traffic mixes, and thickness and strength of stabilized and aggregate base and subbase layers. Numerical sensitivity comparisons among different failure models included in conventional design methods (AC 150.5320-6D) and standard LEDFAA (AC 150.5320-6D, Change 3) were also conducted. It has been found that, under certain conditions, computational results can differ, depending on the model and the range of input parameters that were evaluated. The comparative analysis results will be used to calibrate the parameters to be used in the new failure models and to provide guidance on the selection of design inputs.
Comparative Design Study for Airport Pavement
2007
70 pages
Report
No indication
English
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