DEVELOPMENTS IN THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS RIGID AIRFIELD DESIGN PROCEDURES

In 1979 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers introduced an airfield design manual that included design procedures for plain, reinforced, continuously reinforced, steel fiber reinforced, and pre­ stressed concrete airfield pavements. In the intervening ten years additional work has led to changes in some of these procedures and to preparation of two updated design manuals published in 1988. This paper reviews the basis for these changes. Some of the topics covered include revised fatigue relationships for plain and steel fiber reinforced concrete pavements, acceptance of layered elastic design procedures as an alternative to Westergaard procedures, changes to thick ness design for continuously reinforced concrete pavements, and revisions to the jointing criteria for steel fiber reinforced concrete pavements. Some work has not progressed to the point to allow its inclusion in the 1988 manuals and the current status of changes to prestressed and overlay pavement design are presented.