FAA’s Instrumentation Project at John F. Kennedy International Airport to Study Load and Environment Induced Responses in Concrete Pavements

Abstract

Pavement instrumentation data helps in a better understanding of pavement system responses under varied climatic and operating conditions, and for the validation and calibration of analytical response prediction models. Improved pavement design and evaluation tools will conserve airport development funds and reduce the downtime of airfield pavements for construction and maintenance activities. The success of the instrumentation project at Runway 34R-16L at Denver International Airport (DIA) encouraged the Federal Aviation Administration to initiate a project in 2008 titled “Field Instrumentation and Testing”. Under this project, Taxiway-Z at JFK International Airport, NY, USA, was instrumented with 48 strain gages, 10 pressure gages, and temperature gages. The objective is to study the curling effects of concrete slabs, measure total strain and load induced strain in slabs under multi-gear aircraft such as A-380, B-777, B-747, and measure load induced strain at an offset under the same aircraft to study top-down cracking. The pavement cross section consists of 20-inch (50.8-cm) concrete slab over a 4-inch (10.2-cm) plant mix Macadam and a 6-inch (15.2-cm) dense graded aggregate base. A remotely controlled state of the art data acquisition system coupled with a camera collects static and dynamic data. The system is self-sufficient in power (supplied by solar panels and rechargeable batteries). This paper presents the details of the pavement instrumentation project, strain gage data collected during curing of concrete, and pavement response data under multi-gear heavy aircraft, and our findings to date.