ABSTRACT
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is conducting a long-term study to significantly increase the standard pavement design life for airport pavements beyond the current 20 years. As part of this study, construction, aircraft traffic, and pavement performance data were collected for 28 runways serving large- and medium-hub airports throughout the United States. Included runways are both flexible and rigid, and are divided between older runways whose service life exceeded the FAA standard, and newly constructed runways. The data were assembled into a SQL database with the goal of performing global analysis to identify specific indicators, or combinations of indicators, associated with triggering either rehabilitation or full reconstruction. This paper documents the data collection process and summarizes the resulting database. A mega-index based on ride smoothness, surface traction (skid resistance), and Foreign Object Damage (FOD) potential was proposed to quantify pavement serviceability, and is discussed in an accompanying paper by the present authors. Future FAA design procedures will incorporate performance models based on the mega-index developed from these data.
