PCC Airfield Pavement Response during Thaw-Weakening Periods

Abstract

A field study was performed at two regional airports in Wisconsin during spring thaw to determine its effects on portland cement concrete (PCC) airport pavements. This study was part of a research program to model the performance of airfield pavements for the Federal Aviation Administration. Subsurface temperature and falling weight deflection measurements of the pavement structures were taken at both airports and used to calculate the frost penetration depths, the changes in bearing capacity, and the joint and load transfer efficiencies. This paper summarizes the findings of this study and includes several relationships between various engineering properties of the subsurface layers below the PCC layer, along with a procedure for evaluating pavement performance using falling weight deflection data for PCC pavements during spring thaw.