A method determining critical operating parameters for landing aircraft based on runway pavement skid resistance

ABSTRACT

Poor skid resistance of airport pavement is the critical cause of runway excursion accidents. While the current determination methods of skid resistance are limited to the independent operating parameters and the discontinuously monitoring the skid resistance, the empirically calculating critical operating parameters. In this study, an aircraft tire-fluid-airport pavement skid resistance model was developed using numerical simulation technology. The wide-body aircraft B777 was taken as an example, the available skid number (SN) was used to continuously track the skid resistance of pavement under various landing conditions. The combined effects of groove type, water film thickness and landing weight on the pavement skid resistance performance were evaluated when the pavement reached the maintenance threshold state. Results show that the skid resistance of the ungrooved pavement was subpar according to FAA. The skid resistance was positively connected with the grooved size and landing weight but negatively correlated with the water film thickness. Under certain operating conditions, the FAA maintenance threshold groove still meets the requirements for aircraft landing safety throughout the whole range of landing speeds. A real-time determination method of pavement skid resistance was proposed. It can guide pavement maintenance management departments to avoid runway excursion accidents.

KEYWORDS:

• Airport pavement
• skid resistance
• aircraft landing
• critical maintenance threshold
• numerical simulation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support by the Doctoral Research Funds for Nanchang Hang Kong University, China. Project No. 2110009401040, and the Doctoral Research Funds for East China Jiaotong University, China. Project No. 2003423037.