AlphaFactorDeterminationforWheelGears.pptVIP

February 2, 2005 12/08/03 Alpha Factor Determination for 6-Wheel Gears Gordon Hayhoe, AAR-410, FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center, Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.A. Need for evaluation Full-scale test structures and results Procedure for calculating alpha factors Alpha factor Proposals for consideration by ICAO Implications for thickness design B-777 Six-Wheel ACNs For flexible pavements, the ACNs initially computed for B-777 6-wheel gears appeared to be unreasonably high. The FAA had similar concerns about the existing CBR method for 6-wheel gears. A380 also has 6-wheel body gears. Interim 6-Wheel Alpha Factor at 10,000 Coverages 4-Wheel alpha = 0.825 “Original” 6-wheel alpha = 0.788 (inception to 1995) “Interim” 6-wheel alpha = 0.72 (1995 to present) Current 12-wheel alpha = 0.722 National Airport Pavement Test Facility (NAPTF) for 6-Wheel Tests Joint FAA and Boeing. Testing is funded and conducted entirely by the FAA. Tests run on flexible test items to compare 4-wheel and 6-wheel gears. Construction cycles CC1 etc. NAPTF Construction Cycles CC1 = original construction. Conventional and stabilized base flexible on low-strength subgrade (LFC and LFS). Conventional and stabilized base flexible on medium-strength subgrade (MFC and MFS). CC2 = rigid pavements, trafficking completed. CC3 = flexible pavement reconstruction with four conventional test items, trafficking and posttraffic testing completed. CC3 Test Pavements - Profile Trench in LFC2 Flexible Computation of Alpha Factor Pass/Coverage ratios calculated from surface coverages in test wander pattern: 4-Wheel = 2.36 for CC3 and 2.06 for CC1 6-Wheel = 1.57 Subgrade CBR = trench measurements. Total structure thicknesses are known. Contact area = 265 square inches. Compute Alpha using COMFAA. CBR Equations Change the Input Alpha until the design thickness is equal to the test structure thickness. MWHGL Subgrade CBR Measurements The CBR of the subgrade for each MWHGL test item was calculated from all availa