Aircraft Lateral Wander Characterization on a Runway using Optical Sensors - Instrumentation and Methodology

摘要

The new French rational procedure for flexible airfield pavement design was recently released (2014). This method includes the consideration of a phenomenon observed in aviation that is aircraft lateral wander, corresponding to the lateral offset of aircraft from the centerline of the pavement. Little data are available regarding the characterization of this parameter, especially on runways for take-offs. However, it is important to know it since its effect on flexible pavement design calculations is impactful. That is why the French Civil Aviation Technical Center decided to launch an experimental program aiming at characterizing lateral wander with the use of optical strain sensors embedded in the runway pavement. For each aircraft, a transverse profile (i.e. perpendicular to the runway centerline) of the strain basin is recorded and the landing gear position can thus be determined. Data processing is performed by correlating several databases: optical sensors database, aircraft traffic data provided by the air navigation services (essential for aircraft identification), and geometrical landing gear data from the French Civil Aviation's "FICAV" database. An automated routine was developed to process the data quickly, which is necessary since the amount of data may be substantial. This paper describes the experimental setup as well as the methodology implemented for data analysis. After enough data is collected, refinement of the lateral wander parameter of the design procedure will be considered.