Abstract
The complex mechanical behaviour of snow and its propensity to vary temporally and spatially makes the engineering of engineered pavements of snow and ice challenging. Current technologies and design methods for snow and ice runways remain largely reliant on work performed in the 1950s and 1960s. This paper examines the evolution of techniques for the engineering of runways constructed using snow and ice. It is recommended that modern engineering approaches based on conventional rigid and flexible pavement design principles be considered for ice and snow runway design. The adoption of such methods requires the development on an analytical model for the prediction of snow strength, based on snow age, temperature history and density. The use of such a model would allow contemporary engineered pavements of snow and ice to be efficiently sited and constructed. This would increase the viability and reliability of engineered snow and ice pavements across the polar regions of the world