Study on the Structural Performance Degradation of Rigid Airfield Pavements Using HWD

Abstract

At present, most of the airfield pavements are cement concrete pavements. The structural performance of airfield pavement is an important factor affecting operation safety. Under the coupling action of aircraft wheel load and environment, the rigid airfield pavement is prone to structural damage such as void and insufficient capacity. In this paper, based on the heavyweight deflectometer (HWD) deflection of the capital airport runway pavement, we analyze the deterioration laws and structural damage mechanism of three performance indexes, including the pavement structural capacity, the voids beneath rigid pavement slab and the load transfer efficiency at joint. The results indicate that these performance indexes are interrelated and they could reflect the structural performance deterioration of the airfield pavements. The impact load of aircraft has a compaction effect on the pavement foundation, which would slow down the deterioration of pavement structure performance. Grouting reinforcement can effectively improve the performance of pavement structures.