Parameter Sensitivity Analysis of Airport Rigid Pavement Thickness Using FAARFIELD Program

Abstract

Federal aviation administration rigid and flexible iterative elastic layered design (FAARFIELD) software program became the exclusive approved method for airport pavement thickness design adopted by federal aviation administration (FAA) in the United States after the advisory circular AC150/5320-6E “Airport Pavement Design and Evaluation” was issued in September 2009. In this paper, a sensitivity analysis was conducted to investigate the effect of FAARFIELD input parameters on the required thickness of the airport rigid pavement. The input parameters studied are: concrete flexural strength (modulus of rupture, MOR), the subgrade reaction modulus, K, subbase layers and air traffic mix .Each evaluated input parameter was varied within its recommended range to study its effect on the required thickness of the airport pavement. It was found that the concrete modulus of rupture is the most sensitive parameter on the required thickness.