STN Bay Replacements

Project summary

Stansted Airport has historically carried out a regular airfield maintenance programme remedying distressed concrete bays and associated Aeronautical Ground Lighting (AGL) fixtures. This report examined the condition of taxiways Hotel and Juliet in conjunction with available information from a pavement management system. Using both visual assessments and results from a PCI survey, a targeted maintenance regime was developed to locally raise taxiway PCI values and reduce the overall maintenance liability of those areas.

Scope of assessment

A detailed desk study of the PCI data was undertaken to examine the individual defects recorded by the inspectors in the areas identified as requiring maintenance. The information was then consolidated with a more recent visual inspection and the effect on the PCI of replacing and repairing individual areas was ascertained.

Aerial overview of airport

Typical PCI study output

The desk study identified a more refined scope of potential works and a site visit was undertaken to visually confirm the current nature of the pavement defects in these areas. This revealed that while a number of concrete bays were showing signs of distress, these distresses were well-contained and did not pose any immediate FOD risk. The results of the investigation also showed that large-scale concrete bay replacements would be costly and not provide an appreciable gain in the PCI value of the pavement. Nevertheless, a large number of paved areas showed missing or degraded joint sealant, the replacement of which would be economical and offer a desirable PCI improvement.

Benefit

The investigation successfully made use of the airport’s pavement management system to narrow the scope of potential maintenance work required. A subsequent site visit further refined the required interventions while also highlighting additional areas for further investigation. The outcome of study was a significantly reduced scope of works than that originally envisaged and specific recommendations targeted at raising PCI values with minimal intervention.