Development and integration of models for prediction and analysis of airport pavement friction
Creators: name: Jiang, Baiyu
Publisher: name: No Publisher Supplied
Year: 2024

description: The safety of aircraft operations during landing and takeoff is of paramount importance and intricately connected to the skid resistance of the runway. Skid resistance, a critical factor ensuring adequate braking and traction, emerges as a pivotal element in mitigating potential hazards and optimizing overall aviation safety. However, the efficacy of skid resistance faces substantial challenges in moist conditions. Therefore, the tire-water-pavement interaction needs further investigation and there is a pressing need for in-depth exploration and analysis of interactions among tire, water, and pavement.First, an innovative methodology aimed at developing the physical correlation between aircraft braking performance and friction coefficients measured by ground devices. By incorporating energy dissipation and brush model, this approach facilitates the rapid and precise prediction of aircraft tire friction values under diverse conditions from measurements of ground devices.To address the efficiency of pavement grooves, an analytical solution is further developed to analyze mechanical interactions between aircraft tire tread rubber and grooved pavement surfaces, resulting in the friction coefficients of grooved pavement. This study validates the method's capacity to predict friction coefficients under various groove configurations, providing essential insights for designing optimized groove patterns that contribute to enhanced skid resistance.The intricate dynamics of tire-water-pavement interaction are then studied, aiming to determine the deformed tire profile and the effective tire-pavement contact length in the presence of water. An integrated analytical model, incorporating brush model for tire-pavement contact and the flexible ring model for tire deformation, accurately predicts friction coefficients under varying conditions. This approach underscores the significant impact of water depth on the risk of aircraft hydroplaning and overrun, emphasizing the critical role of understanding these interactions in ensuring safe aircraft operations.As compared to analytical solutions, finite element modeling of tire-water-pavement interaction is studied with computational fluid dynamics. The model calculates the pavement friction coefficients of the runway under thick water film conditions. The results reveal a clear correlation between groove depth, water film depth, and friction coefficients, providing valuable insights for determining groove depth maintenance thresholds under diverse environmental and operational factors.In summation, this dissertation offers a comprehensive exploration of runway pavement skid resistance, providing valuable insights into aircraft landing safety. By refining methods for predicting friction coefficients, designing effective pavement grooving patterns, understanding tire-water-pavement interactions, and establishing maintenance thresholds based on groove depth considerations, this research contributes to advancing the field and ensuring safer airport operations.