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Civil and Environmental Research www.iiste.org

ISSN 2224-5790 (Paper) ISSN 2225-0514 (Online)
Vol.8, No.11, 2016

Impact of New Large Aircraft on Airport Flexible Pavements

Mohamed Bayoumi1* Omar Osman2 Ahmed Gadallah3
1.Transportation Engineer, Dar Al Handasah (Shair and Partners), M.Sc., Department of Civil Engineering,
Cairo University, Giza, Egypt
2.Assistant Professor, Highway Traffic and Airport Engineering, Public Works Department, Faculty of
Engineering, Cairo University, Giza, 12316, Egypt
3.Professor, Highway and Airport Engineering, Public Works Department, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo
University, Giza, 12316, Egypt

Abstract
The objective of the study is to evaluate the effects of New Large Aircraft (NLA) on airport flexible pavement in
terms of its expected impact on pavement life. The study is conducted using Hurghada Airport air fleet
composition at four hypothetical annual departure levels, four standard subgrade strength categories, and
introducing NLA at five different percentages. On the basis of the results of this research, it is concluded that,
where an airport has a subgrade with CBR values higher than 6%, airport authority may permit the operation of
A380 up to an additional 3% of the existing annual departures without losing more than 10 to 30 percent of
pavement life. For airports with CBR values less than 6%, a significant reduction in pavement life as high as 40
to 90% should be anticipated in case of introducing the A380 at 3 percent share in the traffic mix or more. In
case of subgrade strength CBR less than 6%, there is a high rate of pavement life reduction due to introduction of
A380 up to 2% share in the traffic mix. However, there is a low rate of pavement life reduction due to
introduction of A380 from 2% and up to 5% share in the traffic mix.
Keywords: Airports, New Large Aircraft, NLA, Flexible pavements, A380

1. Introduction
The aviation industry faced aggressive growth in air travel demand and a corresponding increase in aircraft
manufacturing. Air traffic is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 4.6%. Airbus predicted $4 trillion to
serve as a value for 31,358 new freight and passenger aircraft demand for the next twenty years (Airbus Global
Market Forecast, 2014). Boeing expects air freight to rise by 5.2 percent annually, and air passenger to rise 5
percent annually. Boeing expects to sell a total of 35,280 planes in two decades. It expects this will make $4.8
trillion (Boeing Current Market Outlook, 2014).
To overcome such increase in demand, three alternatives are available (Barros, 2001):
1. Increasing the airport capacities (more runways, taxiways, aprons, terminal building, ground handling
system …. etc.), but this alternative has reached its limit.
2. Increasing flight frequency, and this is still possible but not at the busiest airports.
3. Using larger aircrafts; i.e. the introduction and use of New Large Aircrafts.
The term New Large Aircraft is generally used to describe a new generation of aircrafts that have
wingspans and lengths substantially greater than Boeing 747 aircraft, weigh up to 1.2 million pounds, and have a
seating capacity ranging from 555 to 880 passengers. Airbus calls its NLA the A380, it is the largest passenger
aircraft today, put into long distance nonstop service to highly capacity airports. Thirteen airlines had taken
delivery of nearly 169 A380s as of September 2015, which are operating on routes around the world. In total,
more than 100 million passengers have flown on A380 since its 2007 service entry (Airbus, 2015).
Thirteen different airlines (such as; Singapore, Emirates, Qantas, Air France, Lufthansa ….etc.) entered
A380 into operation, to serve mainly the long range routes. Emirates Airline is the largest single A380 customer,
Emirates has expanded its route network since initiating operations with the double-deck aircraft in July
2008. The A380 network covers some of the world’s largest airports, including major hubs such as London-
Heathrow, Dubai, Hong Kong, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Singapore, Amsterdam, Frankfurt; Bangkok, Seoul and
Kuala Lumpur, along with destinations such as Washington, D.C., New York, Tokyo,; Moscow, Rome,
Manchester, Barcelona, Munich; Zurich, Toronto and other cities.
Nowadays many aircrafts with different weight and gear configuration are landing on airport runways.
It is clear that this difference in airplane weight and gear configuration cause different quantity of damage on the
rigid and flexible pavements. Table 1 shows a sample of main gear weight characteristics for wide body and
New Large Aircrafts. Development in Airbus industry comes with consequences, that A380 have a heavy weight
reaching 1,200,000 lbs., along with dramatic growth in A380 dimensions, A380 have long wing span of 79.75m,
wheel base of 31.88m, and overall length of 72.72. Such change in aircraft dimensions and weight could shorten
the lifetime of Airside pavement or make it simply unsafe, A380 would take longer time to finish its ground
handling services, and would take a lot of time to land and take off. A380 manufacturer introduced new gear
configuration with Main Landing Gear Group consists of two Wing Gears (4 Wheel Bogies) and two Body
Gears (6 Wheel Bogies) as shown in Figure 1 (Airbus S.A.S., 2014).

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Table 1. Main gear weight characteristics for wide body and new large aircrafts

Aircraft Maximum Takeoff Weight (MTOW) (lbs.) Wheel Load (lbs.)

A380-800 (NLA) 1,239,000 58,852

B747-400 913,000 54,210
A340-600 805,128 63,740
B777-300 662,000 52,408
AIRBUS S.A.S. Customer Services provided procedures to develop flexible and rigid pavement design,
to accommodate A380. The flexible pavement procedure provided by Airbus is based on the US Army Corps of
Engineers Design Method. In order to design the flexible pavement the CBR value, annual departure level, and
the weight on one Main Landing Gear must be known.
The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) introduced another design procedure for flexible and
rigid pavement. FAArfield (Federal Aviation Administration’s Rigid and Flexible Iterative Elastic Layered
Design) was introduced by FAA to replace the use of LEDFAA 1.3 and FAA design charts based on the
California Bearing Ratio (CBR) and Westergaard methods as a standard design procedure in the latest revision
of Advisory Circular. FAArfield is also used for the pavement life evaluation. FAA design process for flexible
pavement design depends on two modes of failure (Federal Aviation Administration, 2009):
1. Vertical strain in the subgrade, to prevent failure by subgrade rutting.
2. Horizontal strain in the asphalt layer, to preclude pavement failure initiated by cracking of the asphalt
surface layer.

Figure 1. A380 gear configuration

The FAA has made a preliminary version of FAArfield, called FEDFAA, and it was available for
download since 2004. FAArfield continues to use layered elastic analysis for flexible pavement and flexible
overlay design. FAArfield is based on the Cumulative Damage Factor (CDF) concept, in which the contribution
of each airplane in a given traffic mix to total damage is separately analyzed. CDF is expressed as the ratio of
applied load repetitions to allowable load repetitions to failure. For a single airplane and constant annual
departures, CDF is expressed as:
number of applied load reptitions
CDF =
number of allowable reptitions to failure
FAArfield software has several capabilities to analyze the cumulative damage factor for any aircraft in
the pavement system. Also FAArfield is used for detecting critical zones of runway and evaluating the effect of
gear configuration and lateral distance from centerline of runway. According to Shafabakhsh and Kashi (2014),

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B777-300 ER, and A340-500/600 has the highest CDF rate among other aircrafts, in case of equal annual
departure levels (including A380-800F), and this is same for both flexible and rigid pavements, as shown in
Figure 2.

Figure 2. FAArfield CDF rate diagram for aircraft mixed traffic for flexible and rigid pavement (Shafabakhsh &
Kashi, 2014)

2. Pavement overloading
Overloading of pavement can be a result of the increase in loading or increase in application rate. When applied
loads exceed the design or evaluation load, these loads could shorten the design life. Since pavements are not a
brittle material, pavement can sustain a certain load for an expected number of repetitions before failure. Small
acceleration of pavement deterioration is allowed with certain criteria. For those loads the following criteria are
suggested (ICAO, Annex 14):
a) For flexible pavement occasional movement by aircraft with Aircraft Classification Number (ACN) not
exceeding 10 percent above the reported Pavement Classification Number (PCN) should not adversely
affect the pavement;
b) For rigid or composite pavement, in which a rigid pavement layer provides a primary element of the
structure, occasional movements by aircraft with ACN not exceeding 5 percent above the reported PCN
should not adversely affect the pavement;
c) If the flexible pavement or rigid pavement structure is unknown, the increase in loading or in
application rate should be limited to 5 percent.
d) The annual number of overload movement should not exceed approximately 5 per cent of total annual
aircraft movement.
Overloading of pavement should not be allowed in the following cases:
1. Presence of signs of pavement distress or failure.
2. During any periods of thaw following frost penetration.
3. When the strength of the pavement or its subgrade could be weakened by water.
Due to dramatic increase in mass load and gear load of the NLA, the pavement would require adequate
pavement support. Bituminous bound wearing course is able to reduce the pressure from NLA gears layer by
layer, because bituminous bound wearing course can yield more under surface loading.
Evaluation for existing pavement is necessary to determine the validity of the pavement and
undercarriage design to accommodate the NLA. PCN value should be equal to or greater than ACN value for a

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certain NLA. These may require an operational solution by providing another alternative taxi routings to avoid
using a certain taxiway, apron, or any facility that has a PCN value lower than the NLA ACN value. Such
operational procedures may, however, lower the capacity of the airport.

3. Research Methodology
3.1 Quantifying NLA Impact on Pavement Life
Figure 3 shows the analysis approach to be followed in this study for quantifying the expected impact of NLA on
flexible pavement life. As shown in the figure 3, using Hurghada Airport airfleet composition data, four
hypothetical scenarios of annual departure levels, and four subgrade strength categories. The required pavement
typical cross sections for 20 years’ design life are determined using FAArfield software. The designed typical
sections consist of three layers as follows:
• Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) layer.
• Bituminous Base Course (BBC) layer (the use of BBC is assumed to meet ICAO recommendations for
pavement subjected to loading for aircrafts weight higher than 100,000 Ibs).
• Crushed aggregate base layer.
• Variable subgrade strength categories.
After introduction of A380-800 at five different percentages, as discussed in 3.1.2, the effect on
pavement life for each of the typical pavement sections was determined using FAArfield software. Scenarios for
the analysis of NLA impact on pavement life is shown in Figure 4. In this study, FAArfield is used for
evaluation of A380 effects on flexible pavement damage using FAA method which is based on Layered Elastic
Design method.

Figure 4. Scenarios for the analysis of NLA impact on pavement life

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Vol.8, No.11, 2016

3.1.1 Hurghada Airport airfleet composition

Hurghada International Airport is an international airport located in the Red Sea City of Hurghada, Egypt. It is
the second busiest airport in Egypt after Cairo International Airport. The airport is currently served by one
terminal and two runway, so Aircraft movements at Hurghada Runway 16L-34R for the year 2006 are shown in
Table 2, the data indicates the following:
1. Twenty different aircraft types mainly used Hurghada Airport during 2006 with 23,843 annual departures.
2. Gear configuration is an important characteristic that defines the impact of the traffic mix on pavement.
Hurghada air traffic mix consists of:
• Three different aircraft types with complex gear configuration representing 2.3% share in the traffic
mix.
• Seven different aircraft types with dual tandem gear configuration representing 24.2% share in the
traffic mix.
• Ten different aircraft type with dual gear configuration representing 73.5% share in the traffic mix.
3. Wide body aircrafts have a contribution of 4.6% share in the traffic mix:
• B747-200 has a contribution of only 0.12% share in the traffic mix.
• A340-200 has a contribution of only 1.04% share in the traffic mix.
• B777-300 has a contribution of only 1.1% share in the traffic mix.
Hurghada air traffic characteristics for the year 2006 are shown in Table 2. The data is arranged by
aircraft annual departures levels in descending order.

Table 2. Hurghada Airport air traffic characteristics for the year 2006
Maximum Takeoff Share in
Aircraft mix Annual
ID. Type Gear Type Weight (MTOW) traffic mix
class* Departures.
(lbs.) (%)
1 A320-200 DUAL C 162,922 6,972 29.24
2 A321-200 DUAL C 179,039 5,100 21.39
3 B737-200 DUAL C 117,500 4,700 19.71
4 A310-300 DUAL TANDEM D 315,041 3,600 15.1
5 A310-200 DUAL TANDEM D 315,041 1,435 6.02
6 MD83 DUAL C 161,000 427 1.79
7 A300-B4 DUAL TANDEM D 365,747 371 1.56
8 B777-300 COMPLEX D 662,000 266 1.12
9 A340-200 COMPLEX D 568,563 248 1.04
10 B757-200 DUAL TANDEM C 256,000 146 0.61
11 MD90 DUAL C 168,500 103 0.43
12 DC9 DUAL C 122,000 97 0.41
13 B767-200 DUAL TANDEM D 361,000 91 0.38
14 A330-300 DUAL TANDEM D 509,047 85 0.36
15 B737-400 DUAL C 150,500 72 0.3
16 B757-300 DUAL TANDEM C 273,500 50 0.21
17 B747-200 COMPLEX D 836,000 28 0.12
18 LJ35 DUAL C 18,000 21 0.09
19 B737-500 DUAL C 134,000 18 0.08
20 G-IV DUAL C 75,000 13 0.05
* Aircraft mix classes
A: 12,500 or less (lbs.) with single engine.
B: 12,500 or less (lbs.) with multi engine.
C: 12,500 - 300,000 (lbs.) with multi engine.
D: 300,000 or more (lbs.) with multi engine.
3.1.2 Scenarios for annual departure levels
Four levels of annual departures are assumed to evaluate pavement performance under different levels of
loading. These levels are 10,000 annual departures to represent ultra-low intensity level, 25,000 annual
departures to represent low intensity level, 50,000 annual departures to represent medium intensity level, and
100,000 annual departures to represent high intensity level. Table 3 shows the four analysis scenarios of annual
departure levels using Hurghada Airport air fleet composition.

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Table 3. Annual departure levels for analysis scenarios

Hurghada 2006 traffic Annual departure for analysis Scenarios
Aircraft
Annual departures Share in traffic mix (%) Scenario I Scenario II Scenario III Scenario IV
No. Type
1 A320-200 6,972 29.24 2,924 7,310 14,621 29,241
2 A321-200 5,100 21.39 2,139 5,347 10,695 21,390
3 B737-200 4,700 19.71 1,971 4,928 9,856 19,712
4 A310-300 3,600 15.10 1,510 3,775 7,549 15,099
5 A310-200 1,435 6.02 602 1,505 3,009 6,019
6 MD83 427 1.79 179 448 896 1,791
7 A300-B4 371 1.56 156 389 778 1,556
8 B777-300 266 1.12 112 279 558 1,116
9 A340-200 248 1.04 104 260 520 1,040
10 B757-200 146 0.61 61 153 306 612
11 MD90 103 0.43 43 108 216 432
12 DC9 97 0.41 41 102 203 407
13 B767-200 91 0.38 38 95 191 382
14 A330-300 85 0.36 36 89 178 356
15 B737-400 72 0.30 30 76 151 302
16 B757-300 50 0.21 21 52 105 210
17 B747-200 28 0.12 12 29 59 117
18 LJ35 21 0.09 9 22 44 88
19 B737-500 18 0.08 7 19 38 75
20 G-IV 13 0.05 5 14 27 55
Total 23,843 100.00 10,000 25,000 50,000 100,000

3.1.3 Subgrade strength categories

Four subgrade strength categories are assumed to represent different standard subgrade soil types. These
categories are CBR = 3% to represent ultra-low strength soil, CBR = 6% to represent low strength soil, CBR =
10% to represent medium strength soil, and CBR = 15% to represent high strength soil. The chosen subgrade
strength categories in this research are consistent with the categories defined by ICAO for PCN reporting.
3.1.4 Typical flexible pavement cross sections
Sixteen typical cross sections were designed using FAArfield software at the four assumed subgrade strength
categories, and the four scenarios of annual departures levels shown in Table 3. Asphalt thickness is taken as a
constant and equals to 180.0 mm, and bituminous treated base thickness is also taken as constant and equals to
130.0 mm for all cases. Crushed aggregate base course thickness and characteristics shown in Table 4 are
variable to achieve design life of 20 years for the different CBR and annual departure scenarios. The required
thickness and Modulus of Resilient for the crushed aggregate base course layer for each case are shown in Table
4.
Table 4. Base course characteristics for different CBR and annual departure scenarios.
Base course characteristics
CBR Assumed Annual
Modulus of Resilient
Categories departures levels Thickness (mm)
(MPa)
10,000 1,021 443
A 25,000 1,127 458
(CBR = 3%) 50,000 1,189 462
100,000 1,242 468
10,000 565 374
B 25,000 635 392
(CBR = 6%) 50,000 683 402
100,000 565 374
10,000 300 334
C 25,000 339 350
(CBR =10%) 50,000 370 361
100,000 401 372
10,000 153 322
D 25,000 186 340
(CBR = 15%) 50,000 211 352
100,000 236 363

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4. Results and analysis

The study presents the impacts on pavement life due to introduction of A380-800 as a percent share in the traffic
mix. The impact on pavement life is studied for four subgrade strength categories and four annual departure
levels which were formed using Hurghada Airport air fleet composition. Table 5 shows the results of pavement
life analysis scenarios using FAArfield for the sixteen typical pavement sections, after the introduction of A380-
800 at five percentage share in the traffic mix.

Table 5. Results of pavement life analysis scenarios

Pavement life using FAArfield (years)
Annual A380-800 percentage share
CBR%
departure
categories 0% 1% 2% 3% 4% 5%
levels
10,000 20.0 12.2 6.3 4.3 3.2 2.6
A 25,000 20.0 8.9 4.6 3.1 2.3 1.8
(CBR = 3%) 50,000 20.0 6.3 3.2 2.1 1.6 1.3
100,000 20.0 4.2 2.1 1.4 1.1 0.8
10,000 20.0 17.4 15.5 13.9 12.6 11.3
B 25,000 20.0 17.5 15.5 13.9 12.6 11.2
(CBR = 6%) 50,000 20.0 17.5 15.5 13.9 12.6 11.1
100,000 20.0 17.3 15.3 13.7 12.3 11.0
10,000 20.0 17.9 16.2 14.8 13.5 12.4
C 25,000 20.0 18.0 16.2 14.8 13.6 12.4
(CBR =10%) 50,000 20.0 18.0 16.3 14.8 13.5 12.4
100,000 20.0 17.9 16.3 14.8 13.5 12.4
10,000 20.0 17.5 15.5 13.8 12.5 11.3
D 25,000 20.0 17.6 15.7 14.0 12.6 11.5
(CBR = 15%) 50,000 20.0 17.6 15.7 14.1 12.7 11.6
100,000 20.0 17.6 15.7 14.1 12.8 11.6

4.1 Impact of subgrade strength categories

This section presents the study and analysis of results concerning the NLA impact of subgrade strength
categories on pavement life. Figure 5 shows the relation between the introduction of A380-800 on four different
subgrade strength categories, and reduction in pavement life as a percentage of original pavement life before
introduction of A380-800, for four different annual departure levels. Analysis of the results shown in figure 5
reveals that the impact of the introduction of A380-800 is almost the same for the four different annual departure
levels. Analysis of the relation between A380-800 share and pavement life reduction in case of the four different
annual departure levels, shows the following:
a) Figure 5 displays two different impact trends of pavement life reduction, the two trends are noticed to
be almost the same for the four annual departure levels, the trends are explained below:
1. First impact trend is related to weak subgrade with CBR equal to 3%, where a steep slope is shown
to represent high rate of pavement life reduction.
2. Second impact trend is related to strong subgrade with CBR categories equal to 6%, 10%, and
15%. These subgrades with high CBR values show mild slope to represent the limited loss in
pavement life.
b) In case of introduction of A380-800 at 5% share in the traffic mix, weak subgrade with a 3% CBR (first
impact trend) experiences a pavement life reduction no less than 87%, while the second impact trend
displays pavement life reduction about 40%.

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4.2 Impact of annual departure levels

This section presents the study and analysis of introducing A380-800 as a share of four different annual
departures traffic mix impact on reduction in pavement life. Figure 6 shows the relation between A380-800 share
of four different annual departures traffic mix, and reduction in pavement life as a percentage of original
pavement life before introduction of A380-800, for four subgrade strength categories. Analysis of the results
shown in figure 6 reveals that there are two types of impact due to introduction of A380-800. First impact trend
is the impact on pavement life in the case of low subgrade strength (CBR equal to 3%). Second impact trend is
the impact on pavement life in the case of high subgrade strength (CBR higher than 6% and up to 15%). The two
impact trends are discussed below:
a) First impact trend which represent the impact of A380-800 introduction on pavement sections with
ultra-low subgrade strength shows that there is increase in rate of reduction in pavement life with the
increase of annual departure level.
b) The loss in pavement life is nearly the same for the pavement sections with subgrade strength that have
CBR of 6% or higher (up to 15%). The reduction in pavement life due to introduction of A380-800 up
to 5% have a linear behavior with slope about 8.2.

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CBR 3% CBR 6%
100
100
90

Reduction in pavement life as

90
Reduction in pavement life as
80 80

a percentage of 20 yrs
a percentage of 20 yrs
70 70
60 60
50 50
40 40
30 30
20 20
10 10
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
A380-800 percentages A380-800 percentages

CBR 10% CBR 15%

100 100
90

Reduction in pavement life

Reduction in pavement life

90

as a percentage of 20 yrs
as a percentage of 20 yrs

80 80
70 70
60 60
50 50
40 40
30 30
20 20
10 10
0 0
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
A380-800 percentages A380-800 percentages

Figure 6. Impact of A380-800 introduction on pavement life for different annual departure levels at different
subgrade strength categories

4.3 Summary
Based on previous analysis, the impact of NLA on pavement life has the same trend for all examined annual
departure levels. Subgrade strength with CBR 3% (first impact trend) has a steep slope, while for the remaining
CBR categories 6%, 10%, and 15% (second impact trend) the slope is mild. For first impact trend with subgrade
strength CBR less than 6%, there is a high rate of pavement life reduction due to A380 percentages up to 2%
share of the traffic mix, however, there is a low rate of pavement life reduction due to introduction of A380
percentages from 2% and up to 5% share in the traffic mix. Second impact trend has almost the same trend under
different annual departures levels. Also, second impact trend has a linear trend with an average slope equal to
8.2. For airports with CBR categories less than 6%, a significant reduction in pavement life as high as 40 to 90 %
should be anticipated in case of introducing the A380 at 3 or more percent share in the traffic mix.

5. Conclusions and recommendations

The main purpose of the study was to estimate the effects of New Large Aircraft (NLA) on airport flexible
pavement, to clarify the impact of NLA on flexible pavement life. The study was conducted using Hurghada
Airport air fleet composition to form four annual departure levels; and four standard subgrade strength
categories, as a consequence sixteen different pavement sections were formed that are used for the analysis of
the expected impact. NLA was introduced at five different percentages share in the traffic mix to evaluate the
NLA impact on pavement life using FAArfield.

5.1 Conclusions
Based on the study results and analysis the following conclusions were obtained from this research:
1. Introduction of A380-800 on all examined annual departure levels have the same impact on pavement

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life.
2. NLA has a severe impact on subgrade with CBR less than 6%, while the impact on subgrade with CBR
higher than 6% is mild.
3. For airports with CBR categories less than 6%, a significant reduction in pavement life as high as 40 to
90% should be anticipated in case of introducing the A380 at 3 percent share in the traffic mix or more.
4. In case of subgrade strength CBR less than 6%, there is a high rate of pavement life reduction due to
introduction of A380 up to 2% share in the traffic mix. However, there is a low rate of pavement life
reduction due to introduction of A380 from 2% and up to 5% share in the traffic mix.

5.2 Recommendations
Based on the study results and analysis the following recommendations can be considered:
1. Airports which have subgrade with CBR value higher than 6%, these airports authority can permit
NLA operations up to 3 percent share in the traffic mix without losing more than 30 percent of the
original pavement life.
2. In case of weak subgrade soils with CBR value equal to or less than 3%, if airport is already
accommodating NLA operations at 3 percent share in the traffic mix, airport authority can increase
NLA percent share up to 5 without expecting a significant loss in pavement life.

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