The evaluation of runway surface properties: a new approach

The assessment of surface characteristics of runway pavement plays a key role in a modern APMS as it affects, on safety of aircraft operations and user riding comfort. In this paper a more cost-effective approach to develop empirical degradation models which is based on the evaluation of the transversal variability of surface properties of a runway is proposed. The methodology is based on the evaluation transversal distribution of the equivalent coverages derived from the aircraft traffic data. Preliminary results seem to indicate that the approach may represent a viable tool in evaluating the roughness and friction progression.