Design Charts for Flexible Airfield Pavement Based on Analytical Study

In this paper, an attempt has been made to develop design charts for flexible airfield pavements without or with geosynthetic reinforcements considering 20-years pavement life. The analytical study comprises Federal Aviation Administration method (1996) and Barenberg's design method (1975) to interpret the design charts. It concerns different types of aircrafts such as single wheel gear, dual wheel gear, dual tandem wheel gear, DC 10-10, 10CF, A300-B2/ B4, B747-100,SR,200B,C,F and B 747 SP with their different gross weights and annual departures. The required pavement thickness over a layer depends on several influencing factors such as California bearing ratio (C.B.R.) of the pavement layer, gross weight of aircraft and its annual departure. For a particular aircraft, the required pavement thickness is lesser over a layer with higher California Bearing Ratio (C.B.R.). The required thickness is more under the higher gross weights of an aircraft with same annual departure. As the annual departures of an aircraft increases, the required pavement thickness also increases over a particular layer. Results indicate appreciable reduction in the required aggregate thickness due to the inclusion of geosynthetic reinforcement.