Airports Flashcards
Terminal
A building that receives passengers and cargo, and allows for their processing to take place.
Apron
Hard-surface area in front of the terminal building where aircraft can stand or park.
Holding apron
The area adjacent to the taxiway or near the runway entrance, where aircraft may park temporarily.
Taxiway
Refers to the marked path along which an aircraft moves to or from a runway. Similar to runway but smaller in dimensions.
Airside
Includes all the activities on the airport side of the terminal- the runway, aprons, holding areas, taxiway.
Landside
Refers to all the activities that are non-flying related- access to and from the airport, parking.
Runway
A graded and paved load-bearing area allowing for aircraft take-off and landing. Commonly known as landing strip.
Pier fingers
Resemble fingers extending from the palm of a hand, allowing increased airside activity. All processing is done at the main terminal whilst boarding takes place at pier fingers.
Pier satellites
A move towards decentralisation of the pier fingers concept, where they provide holding areas for passengers.
Remote satellites
Of a central terminal are connected by a mechanised form of transport.
Remote aprons
Follow a centralised approach for processing and then transporting passengers to where the aircraft is parked on the apron.
Remote piers
Recent innovation, where the central terminal is linked under the apron to remote piers.
Airport master plan
Phase 1: Airport requirements.
Phase 2: Site selection
Phase 3: Airport plans
Phase 4: Financial plan
Phase 1: Airport requirements
The forecasting of travel demands in relation to facility requirements is done to determine magnitude or scope of project.
An initial environmental impact assessment is undertaken to determine whether there would be any detrimental effects arising from having airport in that location.
Phase 2: Site selection
Site must be evaluated with respect to airspace requirements, access, a full environmental assessment, lands cost and availability, site development costs and political implications.
Phase 3: Airport plans
- Airport layout plan- Showing all buildings, their sizes and location.
- Land use plan- Shows what the land that will form part of the airport and its surrounds will be used for.
- Terminal area plans- More detailed versions of the airport layout plan, showing the size and location of buildings within the terminal area.
- Airport access plan- Indicates links with other modes of transport.
Phase 4: Financial plan
Study of the economic feasibility of the airport, including its development and construction costs.
Airport structure
- Runways and Taxiways
- Airport aprons
- Terminal buildings
- Hanger and service buildings
- Airfreight buildings
- Parking
Runway
*Runway is the paved load-bearing area that aircraft use to land and take off. Its size is dependent on a variety of factors, but can range between two and four km in length and 20-100 m wide. Because of technological advances resulting in planes becoming larger and able to carry more these factors must be taken into consideration when designing the length, width, clearance etc.
Runway configurations:
- Single runways
- Parallel runways
- Open-V runways
- Intersecting runways
Capacity of runway
- Aircraft types
- Performance characteristics of aircraft
- Landing and take-off gross weight of aircraft
- Air traffic control techniques
- Apron capacity
- Landing aids
- Landing system in use
- Elevation of airport
- Runway gradient
Taxiway
Used to connect the runways to the terminal apron and should always lead onto the end of the runway.
This aligns aircraft with centreline of runway for takeoff.
Number of taxiways is determined: *Volume of air traffic.
*Runway configuration
*Location of terminal buildings and other ground facilities.
Airport apron
Defined as area intended to accommodate aircraft for the purpose of loading and unloading passengers or cargo, refueling or maintenance.
- Terminal apron- usually located near the terminals
- Holding apron- Areas where aircraft can park briefly while flightdeck checks and engine run-ups are made before take-off clearance is given. Required where aircraft operations exceed 30 per peak hour.
Planning and design: *Terminal configuration.
- Movement characteristics of aircraft.
- Physical characteristics of aircraft.
- Type and size of ground service equipment.
Design dimensions depend: *Number of gates
*Parking configuration
Parking configuration: *Nose-in
- Angled nose-in
- Nose-out
- Angled nose-out
- Parallel
Terminal buildings
Location:
- Between two parallel runways.
- In the angle of two convergent but non-intersecting runways.
- In the centre of a complex of parallel runways.
Functions:
- Processing of passengers and cargo
- Change of transport modes.
- Holding area for transfers.
- Airline and support activities.
Have developed from centralised to more decentralised. Decentralisation involves spreading the passenger processing functions over a number of contres in the terminal complex. Decentralised configurations: *Pier satellites *Pier fingers *Remote satellites *Remote aprons *Remote piers
Hanger and service buildings
Hangers have to be built that can accommodate the largest jets, for servicing and repair work.
Buildings are also provided for everyday requirements of an aircraft- food, beverages, cleaning and minor service facilities.
Airfreight buildings
Becoming a more viable means of transporting goods that require urgency. Must have a building that can process and store incoming and outgoing freight.
Parking
Most popular means of travel to and from airports is *car *bus *taxi. More modern airports have rail network. Area to accommodate cars: *Kerbside parking *Short term parking (48h) *Long term parking *Staff parking *Spectator parking *Car rentals
Pavement structure
To withstand enormous loads applied to the ground it is necessary to provide suitable pavements for aprons and maintenance areas, and runways and taxiways. Design criteria: *Adequate strength *Adequate fatigue strength *Absence of loose particles *Resistance to jet blast *Resistance to fuel spillage *Ability to withstand temp fluctuations *Good surface drainage *Good skid resistance *Good riding surface *Ease of maintenance
Pavement structures used at airports
- Rigid pavements
- Flexible pavements
- Composite pavements
Rigid pavement
Concrete (rigid) pavements act like foundations, spreading the load over a wide area of subgrade.
Generally used for aprons where sustained loads over long periods of time (parked aircraft) can be better supported by rigid pavements.
Concrete is unreinforced and divided into rectangular panels to restrict tensile stresses.
Contraction joints separate bays and bay size is dependent on slab thickness.
To improve skid resistance- Wire combed, small transverse grooves made while still plastic, hardened concrete can be scored with diamond cutting drums.
Flexible pavements
Flexible pavement at airport behave similarly to a road.
Relies on its thickness and elasticity to disperse the high loads and minimise stresses on the subgrade material.
Have good riding qualities, but are susceptible to jet heat and fuel spillage that causes softening.
Problems of aquaplaning.
Fictions coating, grooving, wire combing or scoring.
Composite pavements
In a continuous concrete pavement, cracking made worse by exposure to heavy traffic is likely to develop regardless of reinforcement.
If bituminous surface overlies the concrete pavement, cracking is reduced since the variation in concretes temp is lowered. Cracks can form but are not subject to wear, thus is not that severe.
Drainage
It is important to consider and cater for water, whether surface, subsurface or on site. Water has damaging effects and therefore it is necessary to minimise this by providing drainage.
- Surface water drainage
- Drainage from runways, taxiways and aprons
- Drainage from margins
- Subsoil drains
Surface water drainage
To protect the subgrade from ingress of water.
Subgrade when penetrated by water becomes soft and loses its strength.
Poorly drained subgrade have reduced bearing capacity and may cause failures in pavement areas.
Poor surface drainage decreases skid resistance and causes aquaplaning.
Drainage from runways, taxiways and aprons
Gullies, continuous gratings and slot drains are used to drain paved areas into a proper drainage system.
Ditches are not allowed next to areas containing air traffic as they are safety hazards.
Drainage from margins
Margin drains prevent water ponding near areas of aircraft movement.
To achieve this, surface areas are gently graded and subsoil drains are provided.
Cut-off drains are necessary where the ground slopes towards pavement areas.
Subsoil drains
To prevent the water table from affecting the subgrade, subsoil drains are provided. May also be used for draining low-lying, waterlogged areas.
Three installation patterns:
- Herringbone
- Parallel
- Gridiron
Open-jointed porous pipes are laid to depths ranging from 600 mm to 1200 mm and connected to the drainage system.
