Purpose and Background

This webinar combines three presentations that covers a wide range of topics intended to address pressing issues covering pavement design (FAA's migration towards 40-year pavements), pavement structural inventory reporting requirements (FAA/ICAO's pavement classification number (PCN) computation using real-time traffic) and maintenance issues (FOD detection systems).

Extending the Service Life of Major Hub Airport Pavements. The current design life of runway pavements for major hub airports is established to be 20 years by the Federal Aviation Administration. Many of the nation's airports, along with their infrastructure, are aging and nearing the end of their useful service life. While the FAA requires the design of airfield pavements to meet the minimum 20 year initial design life requirements, some major hub airports have found that the incremental cost to design for longer service lives is positive when life-cycle cost is considered. With the MAP-21 requirements to implement risk based asset management plans and asset performance monitoring, increasing pavement service life and cost effective pavement maintenance is gaining rapid acceptance. In consideration, the FAA has initiated a project to evaluate key pavement performance measures for constructed longer life pavements to establish design and construction guidelines for longer life pavements.

Determining the PCN Using Real-Time Traffic. In 2011, the FAA and ICAO mandated that all public-use paved airports report pavement strength in terms of a Pavement Classification Number (PCN) for their critical (runways-taxiways-aprons) pavement features. Procedures documented in the FAA Advisory Circular 150/5335-5B require knowledge of traffic, pavement thickness, and foundation support as inputs to reasonably compute the PCN. This case-history example demonstrates how PCN values can be developed from an ongoing pavement management system and integration of real-time traffic currently being utilized and archived at the world's busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

High-speed 3D Laser Scanning Technology for Pavement Condition Inspection and FOD Detection. Significant advances in high-speed 3D imaging technology have been made in the last decade. There are now Commercial Off-the-Shelf (COTS) solutions for automatically evaluating infrastructure condition at high-speed. Using high-speed cameras, custom optics, and laser line projectors mounted on inspection vehicles to acquire both 2D images and high resolution 3D profiles of infrastructure surfaces at speeds up to 100 km/h, these technologies offer numerous advantages to the traditional manual inspection (improved safety to staff, day or night operation, rapid assessment and minimal impact to operations, and improved accuracy and reliability of results. In addition, 3D scanners offer the ability to perform "single pass data collection" wherein a wide range of data elements regarding an airport surface can be captured in just one pass of the vehicle. This increases the overall value of the equipment and increases ROI while minimizing impact on operations. Data elements which can be automatically captured include: FOD, Pavement roughness, Pavement cracking, Macrotexture, etc.

Primary Topics of Discussion/Outline

• The process and requirements needed to achieve 40-year pavement designs
• The process and requirements needed to compute PCN
• The benefits and reliability when using real-time traffic data for PCN computations
• How high-speed, high-resolution 3D video profiling can be used to detect FOD and measure pavement condition

Webinar Benefits/Outcomes

• Learn about current and emerging state of the practice
• Discover innovative means of utilizing emerging technologies to improve pavement performance

Intended Audience

• Airport Managers
• Airport Operations personnel
• Airfield Engineers/Planners
• Airfield Maintenance staff
• Engineering and Planning Consultants