Civil Engineering ETDs

Publication Date

1-30-2013

Abstract

Airport pavements need to be maintained for adequate health condition by implementing cost effective maintenance solutions. Traditionally, maintenance and repair techniques have been developed based on the minimum acceptable Pavement Condition Index (PCI). However, there are pavements which show high PCI but have low Structural Condition Index (SCI); though these pavements are good in terms of functional condition, their structural condition is not good. This may lead to pavement reconstruction after a few years of service life, instead of minor repair. Therefore, there is a need to combine a study of functional and structural conditions. Moreover, the Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) determines the best option based on the minimum life cycle cost assuming all alternatives have equal functional benefit. By only performing LCCA, one cannot draw a conclusion about the functional benefit achieved by an alternative. A pavement may reach the end of its life cycle and then require an extensive reconstruction or major repair work which is difficult to include in LCCA. This study focuses on PCI based and PCI-SCI based pavement evaluation of a selected 19 general aviation airports in New Mexico. Deterministic and probabilistic LCCA and Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) of major maintenance treatments have been performed based on PCI with or without considering SCI and hence significance of SCI in LCCA of airport pavements has been studied. A new System Dynamic (SD) Model has been developed which predicts PCI as a function of time after various maintenance treatments and determines the functional benefit and life cycle treatment cost of those alternatives. Both linear and nonlinear deterioration rates have been considered in determining benefit. Different BCR design charts have been developed based on the SD study, and, different management goals have been compared using a pavement management tool named MicroPAVER. A good correlation can be drawn between PCI and SCI, but Skid Number does not show any correlation with any other indices for this study where Skid Number (SN) represents the skid resistance of the pavement surface. Developed design charts are helpful to set cutoff PCI and to select the most effective maintenance treatment to obtain maximum BCR. PCI-SCI approach gives a higher BCR than PCI approach only for Carlsbad airport; as it has its SCI value close to its PCI value. Analysis also shows that, among all of the single maintenance treatments, spray patching is the most cost effective and Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) overlay shows the highest functional benefit. The management goal of Reach PCI 80' has shown the highest functional benefit than other strategies and different single maintenance treatments.'

Keywords

Runways (Aeronautics)--Maintenance and repair, Runways (Aeronautics)--New Mexico--Evaluation, Pavements, Asphalt concrete--Testing.

Sponsors

Aviation Division of New Mexico Department of Transportation

Document Type

Thesis

Language

English

Degree Name

Civil Engineering

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Civil Engineering

First Committee Member (Chair)

Stormont, John

Second Committee Member

Ross, Timothy

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