Post on 12-May-2017
Airfield Design February 6, 2013 Soheila Aalami
* An area of land set aside for the takeoff, landing, and maintenance of aircraft * Typically account for 80% to 95% of the total land area
occupied by an airport
Airfields
* Geometric Design of an airfield *Efficiency in operations *Flexibility *Potential for future growth *Safety for aviation operations * The two most influential sets of design standards: The
International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-‐Similar but not identical coding system
Geometric Design of an Airfield
* The land acquired for a new airport * The overall geometric layout of runways, taxiways,
and aprons * The size of aircraft which the airfield is designed for * How the construction of airside facilities is phased
Sets of Standards and Guidelines
* Inflexibility for responding to future developments (long-‐range planning ) * Overbuilding in the initial stages of an airport’s
operation * Adopting a nonintegrated approach to design * Insufficient appreciation of the economic implications
of design choices
Mistakes in Designing Airfields
* Failure of designers and planners to anticipate the eventual land area requirements of the airfield
Failure to Respond to Future Developments
* Accommodate new, larger types of aircraft in the future needs either making very expensive changes to existing facilities or having to rebuild them from scratch
Overbuilding in the Initial Stages of an Airport’s Operation
* Airports tend to be designed in a hierarchical fashion without full consideration of the interactions among the various subsystems * Absence of a systems viewpoint: taxiway and apron
systems, in particular, are often inefficient and sometimes include parts that are obvious candidates to become congestion points * Safety-‐related criteria such as minimizing the number
of runway crossings and reducing the likelihood of runway incursions
Nonintegrated approach to design of the airport
* Design choices made to save some capital costs, greatly increase the operating costs of airport users—for example, by increasing taxiing times on the airfield.
Insufficient appreciation of the economic implications of design choices
Airport classification codes and design standards
* Airbus Industries had received about 100 orders for the A380 * Wingspan of 79.8 m, The first nonmilitary airplane in FAA
Group VI or with ICAO reference letter F * Survey of 81 leading airports * Principal problems: 1) runway and taxiway dimensions and separations 2) weight effect on taxiway bridges 3)The effects of aircraft size and capacity on passenger buildings * $100 million per airport for the adjustments
EXAMPLE
* Wing span and length * Maximum certificated structural takeoff weight
(MTOW), maximum landing weight, and operating empty weight * Number of passenger seats * Range of the aircraft * FAA takeoff field length at maximum certificated
structural takeoff weight, sea level, standard atmospheric conditions, no wind, and level runway
Principal Characteristics of Commercial Jet Airplanes
* Every runway is identified by a two-‐digit number, which indicates the magnetic azimuth of the runway in the direction of operation to the nearest† 10°.
Runway Classification
* Intersecting runways: motivated by the requirement to provide adequate coverage for crosswinds at an airport * Landings and take-‐offs are typically conducted into
the wind * Crosswind component = Speed of wind * Sin( Angle
between the wind direction and the runway centerline ) * A runway should not be used if the crosswind
component exceeds some certain thresholds * The number and orientation of runways should be
such that crosswind coverage is at least 95 percent
Wind Coverage
A wind rose and the wind coverage of two runways
Land area occupied by an airfield: * The number, orientation, and geometry of the
runways, including length, separations between parallel runways, airport reference codes selected for the purposes of airfield design, etc * The location of the landside facilities relative to the
airside facilities * The additional land area held in reserve for future
expansion
Airport layouts
* 19 are in North America, 5 in Asia, and 6 in Europe * North American airports process very large numbers of
aircraft movements every year, small number of passengers per movement * Asian airports are at the opposite end * European airports in the middle between these two
extremes
Busiest Airports in the World
* Single runways * Parallel runways: * Close < 2500 ft (762 m) * Medium-‐spaced * Independent > 3400 ft (1035 m) or 4300 ft (1310 m) or
5000 ft (1525 m) depending on the country
* Runways with different orientations
Types of airport layouts
Single Runway
* The land-‐side facilities are to the side of the runway and passenger buildings and cargo buildings on opposite sides * Advantages: lower construction cost, limited land
requirement * Disadvantage: limited landing/take-‐off capacity
Single Runway
Close Parallel Runways
* Disadvantages: * No sufficient space for the development of a landside
complex between them * Runways are not necessarily independent
Close Parallel Runways
Independent Parallel Runways
* Advantages: * Efficient utilization of the vast area between the independent
runways * Reasonable proximity of passenger and cargo buildings to
both runways * Better airfield traffic circulation, as aircraft can reach either
runway without having to cross another active runway * Isolate the airport’s landside from the surroundings of the
airport and thus better control the landside’s development * Reduced taxiing distances when one of the two runways is
used for arrivals only and the other for departures only
Independent Parallel Runways
* Disadvantages: * Long/complex local transportation links and highways * Extensive taxiway system that includes expensive
taxiway bridges passing over the access roads to connect the runways * Placement of landside facilities restricts the expansion
of these facilities when traffic grows
Independent Parallel Runways
Runways with Different Orientations
* Advantage: Operation under most weather conditions and provides > 95% crosswind coverage recommended by the ICAO and the FAA * Disadvantages: * Difficult to operate from the air traffic management
(ATM) point of view. * Vast land area requirement
Runways with Different Orientations
Calgary Airport
* Taxiway systems at major airports can be extensive, complex in configuration, and costly to construct and maintain. * Munich Airport: Runways: 8km, Taxiways: 30 km
* Often an afterthought part * Costs: Minimize (Construction + Operation)
Taxiways
* FAA and ICAO standards specify recommendations for: * taxiway width * taxiway curves * minimum separation distances between taxiways and
parallel taxiways, taxiways, and objects * longitudinal slope changes, sight distances, and
transverse slopes
Taxiway Standards
Special Cases of Taxiway Design
* The standards also include: * Curved segments of taxiways * Taxiway intersections or junctions * Taxiways on bridges * Exit taxiways, including high-‐speed (or rapid or acute-‐angle)
exit taxiways * Holding bays and bypass taxiways
Exit Taxiways
Conventional, right-‐angle exit taxiway
Acute-‐angled exit taxiway, allows high speed exits
* Provide the interface between airside and landside facilities at airports * Passenger building aprons * Cargo building aprons * Long-‐term parking aprons * Service and hangar aprons * General aviation aprons
Aprons
* Standards specify the safety guidelines (e.g., minimum clearances between any part of the aircraft and any adjacent building) * Design Considerations: * Both efficiency and safety are important * Expandability of the apron area and its ability to
accommodate the full range of aircrafts are important issues * Trade-‐offs between ease of movement of aircraft vs.
passenger convenience
Aprons
Thank you!