APCI Evaluation Method for Cement Concrete Airport Pavements in the Scope of Air Operation Safety and Air Transport Participants Life

Abstract

Many factors have an impact on flight operation safety and air transport participants life. This article presents one of them, which is maintenance of the airport infrastructure in a good condition, with proper infrastructure management, in particular of cash and human resources. At the beginning of the article, attention is paid to the aspect of safety and human life in air transport. Also, an overview of world experience in the field of assessment of the technical condition of airport pavements was presented, including the standard method of the Pavement Condition Index (PCI) estimation. Then, the authors propose an innovative method of assessing the condition of airport pavements based on the Airfield Pavement Condition Index (APCI), taking into account, apart from the extent of surface damage, such parameters as load capacity, evenness, roughness, and bond strength. This approach gives a broader picture of the actual condition of the airport pavement, which has a great importance on flight operation safety, including passengers and cruel life. Next the described research method is experimentally verified in real conditions at Polish airports. Finally, an example of using the APCI method in the assessment of selected airport pavements from Polish airports is presented. The results of tests performed on five functional elements of a military airfield are presented. A satisfactory result is obtained for three elements, an adequate—for two.

Evaluation of Asphalt Concrete Airport Pavement Conditions Based on the Airfield Pavement Condition Index (APCI) in Scope of Flight Safety

“…Aerospace 2020, 7, x 6 of 22 information contained in [26] by the assessment of airport pavements made using asphalt concrete technology.…”

“…This approach gives a broad picture of the actual technical conditions of the airport pavement. This article is an extension of the information contained in [26] by the assessment of airport pavements made using asphalt concrete technology.…”

Assessment of the Impact of Atmospheric Corrosivity on the Cement Concrete Airfield Pavement’s Operation Process

“…While nondestructive techniques of corrosion detection are gaining popularity [23,24], the atmosphere corrosivity parameter may be one of the elements on the basis of which it is possible to determine the degree of pavement deterioration, not only according to the level of corrosion of reinforcing steel, but also considering the corrosion of cement concrete in specific corrosive atmospheric conditions. This will make it possible to estimate the duration of safe operation of a specific airport functional element (after which it would be advisable to carry out renovations), thus allowing the transition to the use of airport functional elements in accordance with its technical condition, thus keeping them in constant technical readiness [25].…”

Operations & Maintenance of the Aircraft Arresting Gear Systems in the Polish Air Force. Part 1

“…One is to ensure a run with the required length for modern tactical aircraft, which is approx. 300-370 m. Moreover, in the vicinity of the arresting cable, the pavement must be in the proper technical condition [24,25], and it has to satisfy the requirements mentioned above regarding the evenness parameter. It is caused by the potential threat that the hook would break due to the roughness, and thus, the cable will not be caught [11,13].…”