D-Runuuay at Haneda Airport: Construction of the World's First Steel Jacket-type Runway

摘要

The D-Runway, the fourth runway of Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport), was constructed in an area offshore from the existing airport. Because one-third of the entire runway lies within the mouth of the Tama River, the D-Runway was designed as a hybrid structure: reclaimed land and a pier structure that ensures uninterrupted flow of the river. The pier adopted a first-of-its-kind steel jacket structure made for use in airport infrastructure. Because the pier section has a spacious flat area of about 520,000 m~2, many restrictions were imposed on its construction: the production and installation of a vast number (198) of jackets (steel products: about 260,000 tons) and 1,165 steel pipe piles (about 90,000 tons) in a relatively short period, realization of long-term durability for as many as 100 years, ensuring river flow, and providing fatigue strength capable of withstanding repetitive aircraft landings and take-offs. In spite of these restrictions, the new D-Runway was completed only in three and a half years.