Conference presentation
Challenges for Spray Sealing of Airports
Airfield Pavement and Lighting Conference (Brisbane, Australia, 16-Apr-2013–17-Apr-2013)
Australian Airports Association
2013
Abstract
Various factors have lead to a number of poor performing runway seals in recent years. If airport-specific functional requirements are not addressed and taken into account during the seal design and construction process, then the result will not be suited to sustained aircraft operations. Based on experiences at Weipa and Prominent Hill airports, a number of key lessons can be learnt and applied to future airport sealing projects, including: Binder application and aggregate spread rates must be set during a seal trial and the trial must be considered to be a part of the design process and must include the designer; The use of 14 mm and 10 mm sized seals, with sanded-emulsion oversprays, should be adopted in preference over smaller (5 mm and 7 mm) sized seals to minimise the risk of aggregate stripping and binder flushing; Sealing works should not be attempted at night and there should be no requirement to perform multiple seal layers in a single shift; The spraying operation must be curtailed to ensure that an appropriate level of seal rolling is performed each work shift; Where the client's representative retains the authority for setting or approving binder application and aggregate spread rates, it is unreasonable to expect the contractor to retain the risk for defects resulting from inappropriate binder and aggregate rate selection. The resurfacing of Cocos Island airport is considered to be a fine example of an airport sprayed seal. The excellent outcome can be attributed to a collaborative approach between the designer's and contractor's technical specialists during a thorough seal trial process, that catered specifically for the various areas of differing surface and traffic conditions.
Details
- Title
- Challenges for Spray Sealing of Airports
- Authors
- Gregory W White (Author) - Fulton Hogan
- Conference details
- Airfield Pavement and Lighting Conference (Brisbane, Australia, 16-Apr-2013–17-Apr-2013)
- Publisher
- Australian Airports Association
- Date published
- 2013
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science and Engineering - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99450345802621
- Output Type
- Conference presentation
Metrics
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