Direction générale de l'aviation civile (DGAC)

Service technique de l'aviation civile

Study Report

In the context of the NLA development, Airbus Industrie proposed the A380 program, an aircraft whose mission is to transport 555 Pax over 7920nm (A380-800). The aircraft sets the standard for new Code F airports (80 m wing span, Landing Gear (L/G) Outer Wheel Span >14 m) and will feature 20 Main Landing Gear wheels for MTOW ranging from 560t to 600t with development potential beyond 640t.

The issue of pavement compatibility was considered to be fundamental to the programme, especially as the current ACN/PCN method, was shown to have reached its limit of reability with the unpredicted failures of pavements subject to 6 wheel bogie loads. The pavement designers from Airport and Airforce Bases Engineering Dept. (Direction Générale de l’Aviation Civile - Service Technique des Bases Aériennes DGAC-STBA), ICAO ACNSG European voting member, the pavement structure and materials experts (French Laboratory for Civil Engineering – Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chaussées LCPC) and the European aircraft manufacturer AIRBUS INDUSTRIE felt the need for an ambitious research program aiming at defining more accurate pavement design methods.

AIRBUS INDUSTRIE set up in partnership with STBA and LCPC the experimental part of this research via the A380 Pavement Experimental Program to be able to bring in the pavement compatibility issue into the Landing gear (L/G) configuration selection decision process.

English version

Editor STBA
ISBN/ISSN
Publication year 2001
Format A4
Pages number 173
Price printed version 42.00 €