Rubblization: A Practical, Cost Effective and Sustainable Option for Repairing Deteriorated Airfield Pavement in the Empty Quarter Desert of Saudi Arabia

Rubblization technique has been extensively used to repair the damaged concrete pavement and has proven successful in developed countries like the US and Europe. It has not been fully adopted in developing region like the Middle East and this paper presents the design and construction challenges posed while assessing damaged concrete runway in empty quarter of Saudi Arabia. A number of design options for repairs for runway pavement were considered and rubblization was chosen as a preferred option for repair. This paper includes the consideration for the assessment and adoption of the concrete rubblized modulus value using the falling weight deflectometer, optimization of the tests for the whole runway using the Heavy Weight Deflectometer HWD testing to replace pits, safely working around the utilities, reasonable assumption of drop height of the pavement and installation of utility conduits in the rubblized layer. Findings of the paper demonstrates resolving technical issues which are not very well covered in the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) EB-66 such as the additional test strips, minimum areas of rubblization for assessment using test pits, drop in the height of concrete surface and fixing of utilities in rubblized pavement. The case study demonstrates that the rubblization can be successfully carried out in remote locations like empty quarter of Saudi Arabia with carefully carried out detailed site investigations, adopting correct assumed design rubblization modulus, quality control using HWD, protection of utilities while rubblizing and use of polymer modified asphalt for successful project deployment.

Rubblization of Shaybah Airport Runway Pavement—A Sustainable Circular Economy Solution

Shaybah airport runway upgrade construction work was successfully completed in 77 days, four months ahead of the contractual construction execution schedule. The project was honored with the PMI 2020 Project Excellence Award for Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Rubblization of existing concrete pavement was one of the key factors for the early completion and project achievements and awards. Rubblization technology was used to crush existing worn-out Shaybah airport runway concrete pavement, keeping the integrity of underneath sub-grades, and reused as a structurally strong base course to overlay hot mix asphalt. This paper will share the success story behind the process of selection, definition, sourcing, implementation, validation and acceptance of rubblized concrete pavement, and its contribution to the Shaybah Airport Runway Upgrade Project’s achievements. This paper presents Rubblization as a practical, cost effective and sustainable option for repairing deteriorated airfield concrete pavement, and will also demonstrate how the implementation of rubblization of runway pavement contributes to the Saudi Aramco initiative to adopt circular economy principles. The circular economy unlocks economic opportunities, preserves natural resources, and improves environmental performance, an initiative sponsored by Saudi Aramco executive management.

碎石化后沥青加铺层应力对比分析

碎石化是一种旧水泥混凝土路面处治重要技术,它能降低建设成本,加快建设周期.文章基于有限元分析方法,首先对比分析了碎石化后加铺沥青面层和同厚度级配碎石层上加铺沥青面层的应力,结论认为碎石化后沥青加铺层底的拉应力要小于级配碎石的情况,证明碎石化后水泥混凝土板块优于级配碎石的力学性能;然后,通过改变碎石化层中两个主要分层的厚度和模量,分析不同的破碎程度对加铺层应力的影响,结论认为,碎石化下层厚度在10cm左右时,既能保证碎石化层仍然具有一定强度使沥青层底拉应力不至于过大,又能起到防止反射裂缝的作用.碎石化下层厚度不变时,加铺沥青层的受力状况随着碎石化下层模量的增大会稍有改善,拉应力、拉应变和弯沉都会有所减小,总体幅度在3%～9%之间.