Numerical analysis of flexible airfield pavements behaviour submitted by large aircraft: influence of the position and configuration of the landing gear

Abstract

Finite Element numerical program applied to the airfield pavement behavior to determine the damage mechanisms of pavement structures under high intensity loads and to determine the critical response has been investigated. This investigation on airfield pavements confirms that six-wheels bogies for aircraft or tridem axles of heavy weights on road pavement mainly create longitudinal cracking due to the maximum transverse strains, while four-wheels bogie for aircraft or tandem axles mainly create transverse cracking due to the maximum longitudinal strains such as in road pavements. The modelling was based on quasi-static comparisons of landing gear configurations. These analyses provided data on the effects of interference when changing the distance between wheels or supports, comparisons between different landing gear configurations of the A340, B777 and their main competitors. A multi-layer linear model is proposed considering the design of flexible pavement, which will be more rational than the current CBR method.