FAARFIELD 1.203 -
Computer Program for Airport Pavement Thickness Design
FAARFIELD 1.203 is a 32-bit
version and requires Windows XP or later.
Uninstalling previous versions of FAARFIELD is advised.
Setup requires the following files:
Setup.Exe
FAARFIELDSetup.msi
Copy all of the files into a temporary directory on a hard disk. Then run
setup.exe. Setup can also be run from the distribution disk.
The Alternate SG check box allows a flexible pavement design (or Life) to be
run based on the vertical strain at the top of the layer below the arrow on the
left side of the pavement structure. The procedure is: 1) get into the
Structure window, 2) check the Alternate SG box at the bottom left of the
structure, 3) press the Modify button, 4) click to the left of the picture of
the structure (in the margin) to move the arrow so that it sits to the left of
the layer above the layer where the vertical strain criterion will be applied,
5) return to design mode, 6) if a design is run then the layer pointed to by
the arrow will change thickness to satisfy the strain criterion in the layer
below, 7) if Life is run then the life for the strain criterion in the layer
below will be calculated.
See the help file under Running the Program - Options for information on Batch,
No HMA CDF, and No Out Files.
FAARFIELD is released for public evaluation and review, with the understanding
that FAARFIELD 1.203 is not a
currently approved FAA design standard or specification. The FAA does not
officially support the program as a standard nor sanction any use of the
results. FAARFIELD may be updated from time to time, so it is advisable
for users to check the web page (http://www.airporttech.tc.faa.gov/download/)
regularly for updates. FAARFIELD 1.203
includes a 3-dimensional finite element model (FEM) for rigid pavement
response calculations. The use of 3-dimensional FEM allows the direct
computation of edge stresses under aircraft gear loads and eliminates the need
to estimate the edge stress based on the interior load as was done in LEDFAA.
The flexible design procedure remains unchanged from LEDFAA 1.3.
FAARFIELD 1.203 includes the
Airbus A380-800 and A380-800F aircraft in the airplane library. The treatment
of these airplane types in FAARFIELD 1.203 is identical to LEDFAA 1.3, except that for
rigid pavement design, the computation of edge stresses for both wing and body
gears is performed by 3-dimensional finite element analysis. For additional
information on A380 treatment in the design procedure, please refer to LEDFAA
1.3 documentation.
Please note that the default setting for data output files (*.out) is for them
not to be written. Double click on the gray area of the Structure Window and
uncheck "No Out Files" for the data files to
be written to the working directory, or uncheck “No Out Files” from the Options
window.
A number of FAA workshops are planned to accompany the review process. The
dates and locations of the workshops will be announced.
FAARFIELD v. 1.203 July 31, 2008:
FAARFIELD v. 1.203 replaces all previous versions of FAARFIELD. In particular, FAARFIELD v. 1.203 replaces FAARFIELD v. 1.100 that accompanied Draft AC 150/5320-6E.
Major changes implemented in FAARFIELD version 1.203 are as follows:
1. The pavement thickness is now computed for constant tire contact area. Changing the airplane gross weight causes the tire pressure to be adjusted to maintain the contact area. In previous versions the tire pressure was held constant.
2. Additional XML (Extensible Markup Language) support has been added. Job files are now in XML format. In addition, the external airplane library file has been converted to XML format. FAARFIELD automatically detects job files or external airplane libray files in the previous format and converts them to the new XML format, moving the original files to a subdirectory old_job_files in the working directory. All subsequent changes will be made only to the XML files.
3. A function to display CDF files graphically has been added.
4. An enhanced Airplane Data window now displays the gear coordinates using a mouse-over function. The Airplane Data window now displays x and y scales.
5. Support for PCC over rubblized base has been added.
6. Hitting Alt-O in the Pavement Structure, Airplane, or Airplane Data windows brings up the Options window.
7. The word “Aircraft” has been replaced with “Airplane” or “Airplanes” as appropriate.
8. Errors that prevented the writing, saving and editing of Notes files in previous versions have been fixed.
9. The program now opens in the same system of units that was used in the previous session. Previously, the program always opened in the default (English) system of units.
10. The external airplane file was “cleaned” of unnecessary airplanes, and now contains the same airplane data as the COMFAA external airplane library.
11. For files generated by the Save XML command, the file extension was changed to *.DES.xml (rather than just *.xml). This allows the design information files to be distinguished from the *.JOB.xml files and any other files in XML format.
12. The program no longer generates the pltdata.dat file. This function has been replaced by a separate utility program called NIKEPLOT.
13. A bug in previous versions sometimes caused dialog boxes to “hide” behind the Structure window, requiring the user to terminate the session. This bug has been fixed.
14. A new internal pass-to-coverage ratio (P/C) computational routine has been fully implemented.
15. The design information summary now reports P/C and CDF information for both Subgrade CDF and HMA CDF (if the latter is performed) in separate tables.