CONCRETE AND AIRPORT PAVEMENTS

This paper traces the development of airport rigid pavement design and construction both in the UK and in the USA, where much of the early t heoretical analysis and full scale testing took place. The phenomenal increase in the weight of military and civilian aircraft has led to a more analytical approach to the design of structural pavement layers, with less reliance on empirical solutions, in order to achieve economi c designs. With the advent of modern personal computers, and the almos t exponential growth in the power of mainframe computers, complex and sophisticated modelling of realistic pavement systems is now possible. Ongoing research into materials technology has sought to enhance the properties of conventional concrete mixes to achieve higher performanc e at lower whole life cost. Innovation in construction techniques will also allow airport owners to build high quality pavements at lower ca pital cost. Further full scale loading tests in the USA promise to fur ther advance our understanding of performance in service and bridge th e gap between theory and practice.