| Limited research has been conducted in the area of airfield pavement design in Canada over the past decade. This research attempts to review the most current international airport pavement design software programs and compare them to the Transport Canada design method. There are five flexible pavement design programs (Transport Canada, Federal Aviation Administration CBR Method, Federal Aviation Layered Elastic Design, MINCAD Systems Pty. Ltd Airport Pavement Structural Design System, and Asphalt Institute SW-1) and five rigid pavement design programs (Transport Canada, Federal Aviation Administration Westergaard Method, Federal Aviation Administration Layered Elastic Design, Federal Aviation Administration Finite Element Design, and American Concrete Pavement Association AIRPAVE 2000) included in the research.; On overview of each of the design methods included in this research is provided. Also included is a discussion on the important airport pavement design factors and how these design methods account for these key factors.; In total, there are fifteen airports from all across Canada that participated in this research by providing airport-specific data, including traffic, climate, and pavement structure. These data were used to run each of the design programs.; In order to compare the various airport pavement design methods, a sensitivity analysis of the input parameters for each of the design methods is presented. The sensitivity analysis includes subgrade strength in terms of the California Bearing Ratio (CBR); climate in terms of either Freezing Index (FI) or Mean Average Air Temperature (MAAT); and traffic in terms of either design aircraft characteristics or percent annual growth (%AG).; Finally, the design programs are compared to the Transport Canada design method. The basis for comparison for the flexible pavements is the equivalent granular thickness (EGT) and total pavement thickness (TPT); whereas, the basis for comparison for the rigid pavements is the Portland Cement Concrete (PCC) slab thickness and the total pavement thickness (TPT).; Ultimately, this research shows that the pavement thickness increases as the subgrade strength decreases for all pavement design methods. The design programs that account for traffic volumes (LEDFAA, FEDFAA, AIRPAVE, and APSDS) are far more sensitive to a change in subgrade strength than increase in annual traffic growth of up to 10%. Finally, as the Federal Aviation Administration rigid pavement designs have evolved, the PCC slab thickness has decreased, thereby indicating conservatism in previous design methods.; In conclusion, this research emphasizes the need to conduct more airport pavement design research in Canada in order to compete with other international aviation markets. |
