ERDC finding rapid repair solutions for bomb-damaged airfields

25 Jul 07 -- Vicksburg, Miss. -- ERDC research is currently providing reliable technologies and solutions in support of U.S. military contingency operations.

Engineers and technicians in ERDC-GSL's Airfields and Pavements Branch are working to develop methods and materials for rapid repair of bomb-damaged airfields in support of contingency operations on forward airfields as part of the U.S. Air Force Airfield Damage Repair Modernization Program.

The program, funded by the U.S. Air Combat Command and U.S. Air Force Civil Engineer Support Agency, includes 16 research projects being conducted at ERDC's Vicksburg site and more than $15 million in funding.

Currently, there are nine full-scale test beds being constructed at the Vicksburg site under this program. According to Jeb Tingle, GSL research civil engineer, the program began last year in which three full-scale test sections were completed. Construction on the current test beds in Vicksburg began last October.

"The test beds are scheduled to be completed by the end of September," Tingle said. "Once the beds at ERDC are complete, a field test will be conducted at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida to validate technologies and materials developed.

Projects being conducted under this program and ERDC team leaders include: small crater repair, large crater repair, Soviet pre-cast and pre-stressed slab repair, Airfield Damage Repair kit upgrade project, rapid asphalt repair, evaluation of deteriorated asphalt pavement, polymeric stall repair, validation of revised California Bearing Ratio evaluation procedure, rapid parking ramp expansion project, evaluation of marginal base course materials, evaluation of stabilized surface pavements, development of repair quality criteria, development of improved mat installation equipment, development of contingency culvert criteria, development of methods for void detection, development of Air Force dust abatement criteria, evaluation of in-plane bow wave formation, evaluation of minimum asphalt thickness criteria, development of mat foundation constitutive model, evaluation of bomb crater repair equipment, and development of mat joint constitutive models.

"The technology will be certified and transferred to the acquisition community in a live aircraft test of both a C-17 and F-15 at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana in the summer 2009," Tingle said.

Stay tuned for more information regarding this program and upcoming events.