Management of Dutch Airfield Pavements at Network Level: Fid-Bau Portal

Management of Dutch Airfield Pavements at Network Level

Drenth, Kars P.

The volume of air traffic continues to grow, resulting in an increasing number of aircraft movements. To cope with such growth it is necessary to make optimal use of all available pavements. In order to do this, a planned approach to the maintenance of all pavements is required. This involves a thorough review of the performance of pavements in course of time. Carrying out the right maintenance at the right time will reduce the overall need for maintenance and make any work done more cost effective. To predict maintenance at network level, performance models are required. Performance models in this study were based on data retrieved from the Dutch civil and military airfields. The three models, which have been analyzed, are roughness, surface friction and visual condition. Roughness is only measured when there is an operational reason for checking such. It has as yet proven difficult to produce models for this characteristic. The wetted surface friction is measured annually and an abundance of data is available although limited in their use due to the different pieces of equipment in use as well as differences in set-up. The surface friction is only relevant for Touch-Down areas at busy civil airfields with a high volume of heavy aircraft. A decrease in friction level is derived for these areas related to the number of landings. The visual condition is monitored periodically for most airfields. Performance models based on the Pavement Condition Index have been derived for asphalt as well as concrete surfaced airfield pavements.