Airport Engineering

Baggage sorting is one of the major requirements for rapid processing in an airport. For larger airport automated system is must to match with the dynamic world. But there are many small to medium size airports handling between 1.5 and 6 million passengers a year, still haven’t automated. For many of these airports, there are still big gains to be made – in cost, time, efficiency and sorting quality – by introducing automated sorting system. The problem for many of those airports is finding the right systems to do the job. Because in many cases, solutions are designed primarily for the larger airports where much of the automation market is to be found are not cost effective for lower volume environments, and often those system cannot be accommodated within the space constraints of smaller terminal buildings. In the present project, an automated baggage handling and sorting system has been designed using microcontroller so that it could be cheaply implemented on a small size terminal with a low cost. A small scale model of the project has also been constructed. The sorting system is based on bar code reading and tracking of the baggage in a terminal. The baggages are then diverted to their destined terminal using a gate control system. The model can also be used in any packaging and distribution system.

Khartoum airport plays a vital role in air traffic and national economy. The airport has experienced poor performance and lack of services. Serious congestion, delay and cancellation problems in flights becoming a daily habits. The study aims to evaluate the existing airport facilities and services and their ability to meet future demand. The literature concerning airport capacity and performance related issues were reviewed. The research depend on documents information, site inspection, and interviews for evaluation. The historical data of travelers at the Airport were analysed to estimate the forecasted demand. The study has identified challenges facing the increasing travel demand in the airport. Facilities that are unable to accommodate the increase in travel demand were identified for improvement. Thus, the improvement has to be done by expansion of terminal building, extending apron area for more aircraft parking spaces, additional runway length, increasing taxiways width as well as optimizing the operational processes by introducing flexibility and using technology.

This presentation describes the Planning and Design criteria needed to be considered when planning for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) operations at airports.
The complete Webinar series: Plnning for NonTraditional Airports can be found online:
http://www.trb.org/ElectronicSessions/Blurbs/174989.aspx

Abstract Airport networks become one of the important assets in a country that constitute an enormous investment of public funds. For a good return in the investment, the networks need to be sustained and maintained in an adequate condition by employing the most cost effective method of maintenance and rehabilitation. This required not only financially but particularly in term of human resources and expertise in considering the decisions.

Otoritas Bandara Radin Inten II merenovasi bandara mulai dari memperpanjang landasan pacu serta memperluas apron dan bangunan terminalnya. Landasan pacu diperpanjang dari sebelumnya 2.500 m menjadi 3.000 m. Pengembangan ini dilakukan karena Bandara Radin Inten II dipilih menjadi embarkasi haji penuh dan juga karena adanya potensi peningkatan aktivitas bandara setiap tahunnya. Bandara juga harus mampu mengakomodasi pesawat Airbus A330-200 dan A330-300 untuk meningkatkan kapasitas penumpang. Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan mengevaluasi kondisi yang ada dari Bandara Radin Inten II dan menganalisis apakah landasan pacu di Bandara Radin Inten II dapat mengakomodasi Airbus A330-200 dan A330-300. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa terdapat peningkatan yang signifikan dalam kegiatan penumpang dan kargo. Selanjutnya, Bandara Radin Inten II dapat melayani jenis pesawat Airbus A330-200 dengan panjang landasan pacu yang dibutuhkan 2.753 m untuk pesawat tersebut, sedangkan pesawat A330-300 tidak dapat dilayani karena pesawat ini membutuhkan panjang landasan 3100 m untuk lepas landas dan mendarat dengan aman. Kata kunci: airbus, bandar udara, panjang landasan pacu, perpanjangan landasan pacu, pesawat terbang ABSTRACT The 2 nd Radin Inten Airport authorities renovate its airport starting from extending the runway as well as expanding the apron and its terminal building. The runway was extended from previously 2,500 m to 3,000 m. The development was due to the 2 nd Radin Inten Airport was chosen to become a full hajj embarkation and also due to a potential increase in airport activity every year. The airport also must be able to accommodate the Airbus A330-200 and A330-300 aircraft to increase passenger capacity. The study was conducted by evaluate the existing conditions of the 2 nd Radin Inten Airport and analyse whether the runway at the 2 nd Radin Inten Airport can accomodate the Airbus A330-200 and A330-300. The results of the analysis showed that there were significant increases in the passenger and cargo activities. Furthermore, 2 nd Radin Inten Airport can serve Airbus A330-200 aircraft types with the required runway length of 2,753 m for such aircraft, while the A330 aircraft-300 unable to be served because this aircraft requires 3,100 m runway length in order to takeoff and landing safely.

Kansai International airport is the floating airport and first of its kind. Also as per American Society of Civil Engineers, it's monument of the millennium in the year 2001. This airport has its unique construction track record not only due to its floating nature, but also due to challenges faced during construction. The challenges include the construction of Sea wall, Geotechnical Engineering challenge in counteracting rapid sinking as well as catalyzing the consolidation process. Also structural challenges like construction of structural element as well as grapevine of the typhoons and earthquake.
I am hopeful that new minds in Civil Engineering will find it helpful in knowing the challenges in airport engineering and structural engineering including Geo-Technical engineering besides their academic benefits. Also detailed explanation on the operation will be beneficial for airport planning.

This paper reveals and explores the flow characteristics of airport surface network on both mesoscopic and macro-scopic levels. We propose an efficient modeling approach based on the cell transmission model for simulating the spatio-temporal evolution of flow and congestion on taxiway and apron networks. The existence of link-based fundamental diagram that expresses the functional relationship between link density and flow is demonstrated using empirical data collected in Guangzhou Baiyun airport. The proposed CTM-based network model is shown to be an efficient and accurate method capable of supporting air traffic prediction and decision support. In addition, using both CTM-based computation and empirical data, we further reveal the existence of an aggregate relationship between traffic density and runway throughput, which is referred to as macroscopic fundamental diagram (MFD) in the literature of road traffic. The MFD on the airport surface is analyzed in depth, and utilized to devise robust off-block control strategies under uncertainties, which is shown to significantly outperform existing off-block control methods.

An innovative solution is proposed for robotic docking system for commercial aircrafts in large-scale airports of the future. The system eliminates jet bridges (aerobridges) and enables passengers' transfer through multiple doors / both sides. It envisions shortening of engines idling time, reduction of gate time and makes for streamlined airport logistics. It reduces also human factor influence by aircraft docking and potentially saves aviation fuel.

This paper proposes a framework for airport taxi situation awareness to enhance the assessment of aircraft ground movements in complex airport surfaces. Through a macroscopic distribution network (MDN) of arrival and departure taxi processes in a spatial-temporal domain, we establish two sets of taxi situation indices (TSIs) from the perspectives of single aircraft and the whole network. These TSIs are characterized into five categories: taxi time indices, surface instantaneous flow indices, surface cumulative flow indices, aircraft queue length indices, and slot resource demand indices. The coverage of the TSIs system is discussed in detail based on the departure and arrival reference aircraft. A real-world case study of Shanghai Pudong airport demonstrates significant correlations among some of the proposed TSIs such as the aircraft taxi time indices (ATTIs), surface cumulative flow indices (SCFIs) and aircraft queue length indices (AQLIs). We identify the most crucial influencing factors of the taxi process and propose two new metrics to assess the taxi situation at the aircraft and network levels, by establishing taxi situation assessment models instead of using two systems of multiple TSIs. The findings can provide significant references to decision makers regarding airport ground movements for the purposes of air traffic scheduling and congestion control in complex airports.

Rapid increase in the weight and number of aircrafts that use the existing airport asphalt pavements has focused the light on the ability of these pavements to serve efficiently. The fast deterioration of airport asphalt pavements in comparison with their design life encourages the researchers to evaluate the existing airport design methods. The objective of this research is to examine the current design methods by introducing the dynamic effects of aircraft loads on the airport flexible pavement. The effect of aircraft impact, aircraft movement, and aircraft braking forces on airport asphalt pavement were studied. It was found that all the known design methods of airport asphalt pavements are underestimate the actual dynamic effects of aircraft loads. When the impact factor is 1.5 of the actual wheel load, the wheel load factor for rutting criterion is from 3.96-4.49 for standard single wheel loads of 200-500 kN respectively. Also, when the braking forces are 50% of the standard single wheel loads, the wheel load factor for fatigue criterion is from 6.64-7.66 for single wheel loads of 133.6-334 kN respectively. The pavement structure optimization as recommended by most design methods should be reconsidered due to the considerable effects of dynamic loads of aircraft maneuvers. New compaction techniques were recommended to increase the strength of airport asphalt pavement structure.

Airport networks become one of the important assets in a country that constitute an enormous investment of public funds. For a good return in the investment, the networks need to be sustained and maintained in an adequate condition by employing the most cost effective method of maintenance and rehabilitation. This required not only financially but particularly in term of human resources and expertise in considering the decisions. Expert system is perhaps the most beneficial application for engineers and decision makers as it ...

Airports are large, multifaceted and very profitable enterprises. It also has matured into a recognizably distinctive building type; it has also diversified into a range of formal types. As World growth in air transportation will reach critical levels in terms of infrastructure provision within the next decade, it is now widely admitted that the growth in aviation facilities cannot keep pace with demand. As a result, the keystone of development of airports is expansion, on airport level and terminal level.

This thesis has four major purposes: (1) identify the characteristics of different terminal design concepts and several airports master planning studies as it affects development on long term; (2) investigate the different types of expansion and how this procedure can be completed the right way and accomplish the goals it was set to achieve; (3) demonstrate the conceptual and functional factors that have direct impact on terminal buildings expansion; (4) analyze terminal buildings of Egyptian airports and highlight findings of this study.

Data for this study were collected from various credible sources including the international design consultants for the case studies of Egyptian airports, using local and national data, this study was designed to investigate how effective Egyptian airports grow, adapt to the increasing passengers traffic year-over-year, how terminals expand and what factors would affect the size and efficiency of expansion to help achieve operation flexibility and economic gains.

On the basis of the results of this study, it can be concluded that Egyptian airports experience dramatic loss on all levels as a result of fatal planning decisions and incomplete expansion studies which led to huge stress on airports facilities and operations and massive economic loss as well as ranking in late positions compared to worldwide airports and how they adapt, develop and expand.

A reaction to the announcement of the impossibility for the authorities in charge of the construction and management of the new BER Berlin-Brandenburg airport to open on time.

Key words:
BBI, BER, Schönefeld, Tegel, Berlin, Germany, Germania, aeroporto, delay, fiasco, Willy Brandt, Rainer Schwarz, Klaus Wowereit, Matthias Platzeck, Bosch, Siemens, Hartmut Mehdorn, SPD, CDU, SXF, TXL, One World, Air Berlin, Lufthansa, Easyjet,