Airfield Pavement Creep Failure Investigation

Shortly after a taxiway and apron extension project was completed on a small airfield in Florida, depressions began to appear in some areas of the pavement surface. The extent and locations of these depressions coincided with the parking locations of various aircraft that had remained on the pavement overnight, but only on some portions of the pavement. The writer was retained by the airfield owner to determine the cause of distress and recommend a repair strategy. Nondestructive testing is conducted over the entire apron and taxiway, and test pits are excavated at selected locations. The results of laboratory and field tests, described in the paper, show that this failure is due to consolidation or densification of the low‐density recycled‐asphalt base course used in the problem areas. The low density is probably a result of inadequate compaction during construction. The paper also addresses the structural pavement design requirements and recommends a repair strategy.