| dc.description.abstract | Aerial transportation infrastructure is vital to connecting communities across the United States and the globe. It provides critical support functions in transporting purchased goods and resources, providing access to medical treatment, allowing timely travel for businesses, and strengthening national security. General aviation (GA) airports make up the vast majority of the total number of airports in the country and, while vital to the national economy, primarily serve communities through specialized roles. Due to the volume of GA facilities, they are more accessible to suburban and rural communities thus providing an opportunity to offer emergency response to these populations. However, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) design and maintenance specifications regarding GA airports are non-specific and do not reflect the differences in the use and funding of these airports. Therefore, GA airport traffic levels and runway structural capacities are not clearly defined under FAA guidelines. A misunderstanding of the pavement capability increases risk to large emergency aircraft in need of utilizing these airports.
This research seeks to develop a methodology to load rate GA airports with consideration for facilities located in coastal regions that are at greater risk of experiencing flood events. Procedures are developed to accurately estimate annual airport traffic and pavement structural capacity during normal and inundated conditions using conventional pavement test methods and FAA software. Results indicate that the proposed methodology is capable of producing accurate and repeatable load ratings for both normal and inundated pavement conditions. | |
