Evaluation of Longitudinal Irregularity in Airport Pavements and Unpaved Runway

Abstract

This paper presents a study about the effect of unevenness on conventional airport pavements and unpaved runways. During landing and take-off operations, aircraft tires are at high levels of tension and possible surface roughness can contribute to aircraft damage, landing gear fatigue, as well as the loss of aircraft directional stability, thus increasing the chances of accidents or incidents. The National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC), responsible for regulating and supervising civil aviation activities in Brazil, regulates the need to evaluate longitudinal irregularity through the International Roughness Index (IRI) parameter on paved runways. In addition to the IRI, the Boeing Bump Index (BBI) and Runway Roughness Index (RRI) are indices also recommended by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Moreover, this study understands the concept of unpaved runways and how these indexes can be evaluated on unpaved runways, however, with minimum requirements. Therefore, the present study addresses these bearing quality indices whose purpose is to guarantee the safety of operations.

Keywords

• airport pavement
• Roughness Index
• paved runway
• unpaved runway