Alternative Aircraft Loading Index for Pavement Structural Analysis

Abstract

The most common practical way to simplify the structural analysis of airfield pavements is the use of equivalent single wheel load models instead of the actual gear of the aircrafts. As the accuracy and reliability of these models strongly affects the design and evaluation of airfield pavements, there is considerable need to investigate both system approaches. The first one, which uses a constant value for the pressure while the radius is variable, is currently under use by the aircraft classification number—pavement classification number method of the International Civil Aviation Organization, but despite this fact it proved to be inadequate to express the aircraft loading in many situations. On the contrary, according to this study, the second model, which has a constant value for the radius while the pressure varies, is more reliable, and it can be an interesting alternative. Thus, based on this model, an aircraft loading index is introduced, which aims to be a simple and reliable factor for expressing the severity of the loading of the aircrafts and a utility for several matters related to the airfield pavement applications.