Analysis of Load Bearing Capacity of Cement Concrete Airfield Pavement’s Construction in Relation to its’ Changes of Physico-Mechanical Parameters

Abstract

An airfield pavement is a designated and properly prepared surface of an airfield functional element (AFE) fulfilling a specific task as part of air operations. A structural system of an airfield pavement is a set of layers, the task of which is to safely take over and transfer loads coming from moving aircraft onto the subsoil. The safety of air operations conducted by aircraft over airfield pavements most of all depends on the load-bearing capacity of their structures. The basic type of airfield pavements includes rigid pavements (elastic) made of cement concrete. The load-bearing capacity state of cement concrete airfield pavements are strongly impacted by concrete properties (physical, mechanical, rheological and resistance to environmental factors), as well as the condition and type of the subsoil directly under the evaluated pavement structure. Adopting an appropriate computational model for the evaluated structure, correct identification of the layers comprising the airfield pavement, accuracy of determining the technical parameters of materials sampled from the structure and a correct assessment of the load-bearing parameter of the subsoil directly under the assessed structure make the load-bearing end result expressed by a PCN index or the permissible number of air operations to be similar to actual conditions. The article presents the dependencies showing the impact of varying physico-mechanical parameters of concrete on the end results of the pavement load-bearing capacity.