Digital management of airport apron pavement surveys

Airports necessitate specialized approaches in design, construction, and management due to their unique characteristics. They typically comprise diverse structures, each requiring distinct handling techniques. Specifically, land-side components (e.g., terminals, technical facilities, real estate areas) are often treated as building structures, while air-side elements (e.g., runways, aprons) adhere to specific pavement engineering standards and procedures. Designers and maintenance operators encounter challenges at interfaces between these areas, navigating different methodologies simultaneously.

Complicating matters further, the airport environment is subject to numerous constraints and regulations for safety and security. Consequently, a substantial volume of remote sensing and non-destructive survey data is regularly collected at airports to support decision-making by facility managers concerning both airport expansion projects and the maintenance of existing assets.

In this context, the recent proliferation of digital modeling and digital twinning approaches in design and management processes for transport infrastructures is opening up new possibilities. Given the intricacy of airport operations, digital environments capable of consolidating land- and air-side data, monitoring survey reports, and addressing limitations in various asset areas are expected to achieve the following:

• Improve accuracy at land-side/air-side interfaces.
• Enhance efficiency in planning actions through integrated monitoring datasets management.
• Strengthen the effectiveness of constraints and limitations by simulating interference between worksite activities and obstacle-free volumes.

This study explores the potential and challenges associated with a digital model at a land-side/air-side interface area in an airport. Specifically, the focus is on the digitalization of a multi-source non-destructive testing (NDT) survey conducted over the apron 700 area Rome Fiumicino International Airport, where extensive ground penetrating radar (GPR), heavy weight deflectometer (HWD) and visual inspections have been conducted.

 

Acknowledgements

This research is supported by the Projects “PIASTRE” accepted and funded by the Lazio Region, Italy (PR FESR Lazio 2021-2027 – "Riposizionamento Competitivo RSI"). Authors express their gratitude to Aeroporti di Roma Ingegneria (ADR Ingegneria) S.p.a. and GRS s.r.l. for the assistance in survey data acquisition.