PURPOSES : Previously, airport concrete pavement was designed using only aircraft gear loading without consideration of environmental loading. In this study, a multiple-regression model was developed to predict maximum tensile stress of airport concrete pavement based on finite element analysis using both environmental and B777 aircraft gear loadings.
METHODS: A finite element model of airport concrete pavement and B777 aircraft main gears were fabricated to perform finite element analysis. The geometric shape of the pavement, material properties of the layers, and the loading conditions were used as input parameters for the finite element model. The sensitivity of maximum tensile stress of a concrete slab according to the variation in each input parameter was investigated by setting the ranges of the input parameters and performing finite element analysis. Based on the sensitivity analysis results, influential factors affecting the maximum tensile stress were found to be used as independent variables of the multi regression model. The maximum tensile stresses predicted by both the multiple regression model and finite element model were compared to verify the validity of the model developed in this study.
RESULTS: As a result of the finite element analysis, it was determined that the maximum tensile stress developed at the bottom of the slab edge where gear loading was applied in the case that environmental loading was small. In contrast, the maximum tensile stress developed at the top of the slab center situated between the main gears in the case that the environmental loading got larger. As a result of the sensitivity analysis and multiple regression analysis, a maximum tensile stress prediction model was developed. The independent variables used included the joint spacing, slab thickness, the equivalent linear temperature difference between the top and bottom of the slab, the maximum take-off weight of a B777 aircraft, and the composite modulus of the subgrade reaction. The model was validated by comparing the predicted maximum tensile stress to the result of the finite element analysis.
CONCLUSIONS : The research shown in this paper can be utilized as a precedent study for airport concrete pavement design using environmental and aircraft gear loadings simultaneously.