Design and Reconstruction of Barranquilla Airport's Concrete Runway Using Rubberized Asphalt and Geogrid Fabric with Nighttime Construction

摘要

The Ernesto Cortissoz International Airport is a commercial service airport that serves the city of Barranquilla, Colombia. This paper details the design and reconstruction using an asphalt overlay of the existing 3,000-meter Portland cement concrete (PCC) runway that was built in 1968. The alternatives to repair the runway and taxiway PCC pavements were evaluated, including the reconstruction of the existing rigid pavement. Since the airport has only one runway, the operational impact had to be considered as a critical factor in the design, to minimize the operational disruptions during construction. The airport concession was awarded to Grupo Aeroportuario del Caribe on June 2015, for a 15-year period. The concessionaire proposed the use of a rubber-asphalt mix, with recycled rubber grain (GRC) as the first layer on top of the existing PCC pavement. This layer would allow aircraft operations on the surface and serve to reduce reflection cracking. The use of rubber-asphalt GRC has not been, in general, used in airfield pavements. Another unique technique used in the reconstruction was the use of geogrid synthetic fabric between the first and second asphalt layer to reduce reflection cracking. This paper describes the design considerations for the airfield pavements rehabilitation project including three layers of asphalt overlay constructed at night with transition ramps. The construction process included daytime taxiway construction and several lessons were learned by the contractor before the nighttime process. The runway was kept open to military and commercial service aircraft during the project. The runway overlay was completed in October 2017.