AIRPORT

PLANNING AND

DESIGNING

Airport Engineering

Airport Engineering encompasses the planning, design, and construction of terminals, runways, and navigation aids to provide for passenger and freight service.

Airport engineers design and construct airports. They must account for the impacts and demands of aircraft in their design of airport facilities.

These engineers must use the analysis of predominant wind direction to determine runway orientation, determine the size of runway border and safety areas, different wing tip to wing tip clearances for all gates and must designate the clear zones in the entire port.

What is an AIRPORT?

• An airport is a facility where passengers connect from ground transportation to air transportation.

It is a location where aircraft such as airplanes, helicopters take off and land.

Aircraft may also be stored or maintained at an airport.

An airport should have runway for takeoffs and landings, buildings such as hangars and terminal buildings.

Definition

AIRFIELD is an area where an aircraft can land and take off, which may or may not be equipped with any navigational aids or markings. Many grass strips are also designated as airfields.

What are Aerodromes?

A defined area on land or water (including any buildings, installations and equipment) intended to be used either wholly or in part for the arrival, departure and surface movement of aircraft.

Air transportation

One system of transportation which tries to improve the accessibility to inaccessible areas

Provides continuous connectivity over water and land

Provide relief during emergencies and better compared to others some times

Saves productive time, spent in journey

Increases the demand of specialized skill work force

Air transportation

Helps tourism, generates foreign reserves

Requires heavy funds during provision and maintenance

Highly dependent on weather conditions compared to other modes

Requires highly sophisticated machinery

Adds to outward flow of foreign exchange Purchase of equipment, airbuses etc.

Safety provisions are not adequate. Providing a support system during the flight is complicate

Specific demarcation of flight paths and territories is essential

Development of Air Transport

1903 – first successful flight by Wilbur and Orville Wright at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

1909 – Louis Bleriot crossed English channel to England

1911 – Post was carried by air in India from Allahabad to Naini (pilot: Henri Pequet) crossing Ganga

1912 – Flight between Delhi and Karachi

1914 – Air passenger transport began in Germany

Development of Air Transport

1918 – first international service between France and Spain

1919 – London – Paris flight

1919 – International Commission on Air Navigation (ICAN) was established

1919 – 6 European airlines formed in Hague the International Air Traffic Association (IATA) to control the movement of air traffic and have a coordinated approach

1928 – Havana Convention on civil aviation

1929 – Warsaw convention on civil aviation

1944 – international civil aviation convention

1944 – Chicago convention, establishing provisional ICAO (international civil aviation organization)

1945 – International Air Transport Association (IATA) established in meeting at Havana, Cuba

1947 – ICAO was established as a body of United Nations

27, July 1949 – worlds first jet airliner made its journey from hatfield airport

1954 – Boeing Dash 80 type prototype, B707 first flight

1969 – concorde first flight

2006 – Airbus A328 made first flight (one of the biggest passenger air craft i.e., 800 persons)

Air Transport in India

1911 – post was carried by air in India from Allahabad to Naini

1912 – flight between Delhi and Karachi

1927 – Civil Aviation Department was established

1929 – Regular air service between Delhi and Karachi

1932 – Tata airways ltd was setup

1933 – Indian trans-continental airways ltd was formed

1938 – 153 aircrafts were registered

1946 – Air transport licensing board was established

1947 – Tata changed its name to Air India Ltd

1948 – Air India International ltd was established by government

1953 – Air Transport Corporation bill was made, provision for establishing two corporations, one for the domestic services and other for the international services.

1972 - The International Airport Authority of India (IAAI) was setup to coordinate the international aviation from different

locations of the country

1981 -Vayudoot service was started. It merged into Indian Airlines in 1993

1985 - Air taxi policy

1994 -Airport Authority of India (AAI) was formed by merging International Airport Authority of India (IAAI) and National Airports Authority (NAA).

Airport Authority of India

Controls overall air navigation in india

Constituted by an act of parliament and it came into being on 1st April, 1995

Formed by merging NAA (National Airport Authority) and IAAI (International Airport Authority of India)

Functions of AAI

Control and management of the Indian airspace extending beyond the territory limits

Design, development and operation of domestic and international airports

Construction and management of facilities

Development of cargo ports and facilities

Provision of passenger facilities and information systems

Expansion and strengthening of operating area

Provision of visual aids

Provision of communication and navigational aids (ex: Radar systems)

Aircraft components

Reference: http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/k-12/airplane/airplane.html

AEROPLANE COMPONENT PARTS

Its essential parts are as given below:

I Engine

2 Propeller

3 Fuselage

4 Wings

5 Three controls

6 Flaps

7 Tricycle under-carriage

Engine

The main purpose of an aircraft engine is to provide a force for propelling the aircraft through the air.

Aircraft can be classified according to their propulsion as follows

(I) Piston engine

(ii) Turbo jet

(iii) Turbo fan or Turbo prop

(iv) Rocket

(I) Piston engine : It is powered by gasoline fed reciprocating engine and is driven by propeller or airscrew.

Turbo Jet

(ii) Turbo prop

It is similar to the turbo jet engine except that a propeller is provided in it.

Main difference is in the design of turbines. The turbine in turbo prop extracts enough power to drive both the compressor and the propeller. Only a small amount of power is left as a jet thrust.

(iv) Ram jet:

It is an engine with no moving parts. It must be operated at comparatively high speed if it has to function at all. It cannot operate statically unless a continuous source of air is flown past the engine. Its principle of working is very simple. Air enters the air intake. By shaping the tube with a diverging-converging configuration, as shown in the Figure, the air velocity is decreased in combustion chamber with a consequent increase in the pressure. Fuel flow and combustion are continuous. A spark plug is used for starting only. The heated air expends and rushes out of the exhaust nozzle at high velocity creating the thrust. The advantages of ram jet are the simplicity of design and high speeds. But it requires the assistance of other types of power plants to reach the operating speed and has a very high specific fuel consumption.

(v) Rocket engine

The rocket produces its thrust in the same manner as the ram jet except for one outstanding difference. All the engines described previously have definite ceilings, depending upon when they run out of oxygen necessary to support the combustion. But for rocket engines, there is no limit on altitude since oxygen in the atmosphere is not relied upon for the combustion. The engine carries its own supply of oxygen placing it in the category of non- atmospheric engines. which had flown faster than the speed of sound was powered by liquid-fuel rocket engine.

Operative altitude of aircraft depends up on

Type of engine

Propulsive power available to aircraft

Piston engines – low altitudes

Turbo jet or turbo propulsions – low to high altitudes

Ram jets – used in missiles at middle altitudes

Where other type of movements are less

Rocket jets – outside atmosphere

Propeller

This is provided in the conventional piston engine aircrafts as well as in turbo prop engines.

When engine and propeller are in front, the machine is described as a tractor types

Sometimes, but not very often, the engine and airscrew are behind the wing and this is known as a pusher installation.

Fuselage - It forms the main body of the aircraft and provides for the power plant, fuel, cockpit, passenger, cargo etc.

Wings - The purpose of an aircraft wing is to support the machine in the air when the engine has given it the necessary forward speed.

Vertical Lift on the Cambered Aerofoil Various Parts of a Wing

Three Controls The movement of aircraft about

the X axis is called lateral or rolling movement.

The movements about Y and Z axes are called pitching and yawing movements respectively.

To control these movements, the airplane is provided with three principal controls, viz., (i) elevator (ii) rudder and (iii) aileron.

The first two controls which are provided at the tail end of the fuselage are also known as empennage. Each control can be operated by the pilot from his cabin.

ROLLING MOTION

YAWING MOTION

PITCHING

(i) Elevator

It consists of two flaps capable of moving up and down through an angle of 50 to 60. They are hinged to a fixed horizontal surface (called a tailplane or stabilizer) placed at the extreme rear of the fusilage. It controls the pitching or up and down movements of the aircraft.

(ii) Rudder

It Consists of a streamlined flap hinged to a vertical fine provided at the tail end of the fuselage. It can be moved right or left of the vertical axis through an angle of about 300 It is utilised for the turning or yawing movement of the aircraft.

(iii) Aileron

It is a hinged flap which is fixed in the trailing edge of the wing near the wing tip, as shown n Figure 3.19. It is so rigged that when aileron in one wing is pulled up that in other is pulled down. The effect of pulling the aieron c1own is to increase the camber and angle of incidence of the wing. This results in an increased lift under the wing. Pulling an aileron up reduces the lift on the plane.

Flaps

These are somewhat similar to ailerons and are used for increasing the lift on acrofoils, Like the other three controls,

Tricycle Under-Carriage

It is a structure to support the aircraft while it is in contact with the ground, It has two principal functions to perform as listed below

(i) To absorb landing shocks while an aircraft lands,

(ii) To enable the aircraft to maneuver on ground

Wheel configuration defines how the weight will be transferred to the bottom

More the no of wheels, lesser the stress, hence less thickness enough.

Different wheel combinations available based on size of aircraft.

Single tandem, duel tandem and multi axle tandems are used based on the size and weight of air craft.

Aircraft characteristics

Type of propulsion

Size of aircraft

Min turning radius

Min circling radius

Speed of aircraft

Aircraft weight and wheel configuration

Capacity

Jet blast

Fuel spillage

Noise

Type of propulsion

Engine Speed limit kmph

Piston 250 to 750

Ram jet 1280 to 2400

Rocket 4600

Size of Aircraft

Size of Aircraft involves

Wing span

Fuselage length

Height

Distance between main gears

Wheel base

Trail width

Aircraft components

Aircraft components

Cont..

Wing span decides

Width of taxi way

Clearance between two parallel traffic ways

Size of apron and hanger

Width of hanger gate

Cont..

Length of aircraft decides

Widening of taxi way on curves

Sizes of apron and hanger

Height of aircraft or empennage height

It decides the height of hanger gate

The gear tread and wheel base

Min turning radius of the aircraft.

Min turning radius

Min turning radius

While making a turn, the nose gear is steered and hence it makes an angle with

the axis of main gear called angle of rotation.

The point of intersection of axis of main gear and line through axis of steered nose gear is called point of rotation.

A line is drawn through the axis of nose gear when it is at its max angle of rotation.

Theoretically max angle of rotation is 900

It will causes the skidding

Because it is producing excessive wear.

Max angle of nose gear limited 500 to 600 for turbo jet.

Aircraft components

Min circling radius

Min radius required in space depends

Type of aircraft

Traffic volume

Weather conditions

Diff. radii for diff. types of aircraft

Small gear aviation aircraft under VFR condition =1.6 Km

Bigger aircraft, say two piston engine under VFR condition =3.2 Km

Piston engine aircraft under IFR =13 Km

Jet engine aircraft under IFR =80 Km

weight

Pavement thickness, design, materials etc., depend on the weight and wheel distribution of aircraft.

Different types of weights

Maximum gross take-off weight

Total amount of weight when it is taking off from runway

Maximum standard landing weight

Fuel consumed during transport will be deducted from take-off weight

Operating empty weight

Operating at zero pay load

Weight and wheel distribution

Pay load

Load for which revenues are generated (passengers + freight)

Zero-fuel weight

Air craft reaching destination and fuel is getting empty

Note: (maximum is taken considering biggest aircraft allowed at airport

Weight of Aircraft & wheel configuration

Wt of Aircraft directly influence the length of runway and structural requirements, i.e. the thickness of runway, taxiway, apron and hangers.

Speed of Aircraft

It is split into two ways

Cruising speed or ground speed: It is the speed of air craft with respect to the ground when the aircraft flying in air at its max speed.

Air speed: It is the speed of aircraft relative to the wind.

Aircraft Capacity

The number of passengers, baggage, cargo and fuel that can

he accommodated in the aircrafts depends upon the capacity of aircraft.

the capacity of aircraft using an airport have an important effect on the capacity of runway systems as well as that of the passenger processing terminal facilities.

Jet blast

High velocity Aircraft it will eject the hot exhaust gases.

The velocity of jet blast may be high as 300kmph

Due to this passenger may feel inconvenience.

To avoid this problems several jet blast deflectors are available.

Fuel spillage

It is very diff to avoid the fuel spillages at loading aprons and hanger.

Bitumen pavement are affected by the fuel spillage.

But it should bring within min limit.

So that constant supervision is required at fuel inlets, engines and main landing gear.

Noise

Noise generated by Aircraft create problem.

Layout and capacity depend on it.

It should be min as per as possible.

It is regulated by FAA (Federation Aviation Agency).

Airport Planning

Airport planning is mainly concerned with three

aspects:

1. Adequate access to the metropolitan area

2. Securing sufficient airspace for access to air

3. Sufficient land for carrying out ground

operations

Master Planning

It refers to the planner’s idealized concept of the form and structure of ultimate development of an

airport. Federal Administration Aviation (FAA)

suggests 4 phases.

1. Airport Requirements-existing/anticipated

facilities.

2. Site Selection – availability of utilities, land costs

3. Airport Plans-Plans of layout, land use, terminal

area, airport access

4. Financial Plan-Schedules, estimates, economic &

financial feasibility analysis.

Regional Planning

Aims at the formation of an effective network of airports on national basis.

It avoids creation of separate airports by individual jurisdiction. If airports located in close vicinity & not properly coordinated, total capacity & efficacy gets reduced.

Regional plan provides the following

Approximate locations of airports in national map

Classification of airports

Location of air strips

Routes of air travel

Data required for Regional Planning

Population

Topographical and Geographical Features

Existing Airports in the vicinity

Air traffic characteristics

Development of New Airport

1. Traffic forecast

2. Determination of the capacity of existing airport

3. Improvement of airport capacity

4. Planning of a new airport

Traffic Forecast

Following data is to be collected for traffic forecast

Area to be served

Origin & destination of the residents and non-residents of the area

Population growth in the area

Economic character of the area

Income level per capita

Types of business activities and labour employed

Trends in existing local & national air traffic volume

Population growth & economic standards of adjacent areas

Determination of capacity of existing Airport

Suitability of approaches for the type of airports

Capacity of runways & taxiways to handle the peak

hour traffic

Adequacy of terminal building for handling passengers

and cargo

Adequacy of aprons & serving facilities

Improvement of Airport Capacity

Runway extension, new or parallel runway and

high speed exit taxiways.

Rearranging or increasing the size of terminal

building and/or loading apron.

Improving the traffic control devices.

Data required before Site Selection

Peak hourly volume of air traffic to be handled.

The present & future, types of aircrafts which may use

the airport.

Facilities to be provided for the passengers, baggage

and cargo, for landing and take-off and servicing of

aircrafts should be determined.

Airport Site Selection

1. Regional plan

2. Airport use

3. Proximity to other airports

4. Ground accessibility

5. Topography

6. Obstructions

7. Visibility

8. Wind

9. Noise Nuisance

10. Grading, drainage and soil characteristics

11. Future development

12. Availability of utilities from town

13. Economic considerations

1. Regional plan

The site should fit for regional plan

Forming it an integral part of the national network of airport.

2. Airport use

Selection is depend on type use whether for civilian or for military operations.

In emergency civilian airports also used for military purpose.

3. Proximity to other airports

The site should be considerable from the exiting airports.

So that landing in one airport does not interfere with the other airport.

Min spacing have been suggested:

For airports serving small aviation aircraft under VFR condition =3.2 Km

For aircraft serving bigger aircraft, say two piston engine under VFR condition =6.4 Km

For aircraft operating piston engine aircraft under IFR =25.6 Km

For aircraft operating Jet engine aircraft under IFR =160 Km

4. Ground accessibility

Site should be selected that it is readily accessible to the users.

Passenger time is more concerned rather than the actual time in air travel.

The time required to reach an airport not exceeds 30 minutes.

It should be located adjacent to the main highway.

5. Topography

Includes like ground contours, trees, streams.

Raised ground usually considered for airport.

Reasons:

Less obstructions in approach zones

Natural drainage

More uniform wind

Better visibility

6. obstructions

For landing or take off, long clearance areas are provided on either side of runway known as approach areas.

These structures are controlled by zoning laws.

7. visibility

The site should be free from visibility reducing conditions like fog, smoke.

8. wind

Runway is oriented by wind data.

Wind data i.e. direction, duration and intensity collected over a min 5 yrs.

8. Noise nuisance

Noise depends on type of propulsion and gross wt of aircraft.

The problem is more with jet engine.

So that area should away from residential and industrial area.

10. Grading, drainage and soil characteristics

Grading and drainage play an important role in the construction and maintenance of airport.

Previous materials i.e. gravel, sand soils are suitable for aircraft construction.

11. Future development

Air traffic volume will continue to increase in future,

More no. of runways provided.

More no. of facilities for processing of passengers, baggage and cargo.

Zoning laws implemented to prevent growth of undesirable structures with in the area.

12. Availability of utilities from town

Airport has to be provided with facilities like :

water supply

sewer

telephone

electricity

13. Economic considerations

The estimate should be prepared for various site that includes land cost, clearing and grading of land, drainage, removal of hazards, paving, turfing, lighting, construction of buildings, access roads and automobile parking areas.

Select from one of from above which is economical for us.

Surveys for site selection

1. Traffic survey

2. Meteorological survey

3. Topographical survey

4. Soil survey

5. Drainage survey

6. Material survey

Drawings to be prepared

1. Topographical plan

2. Obstruction plan

3. Drainage plan

4. Airport master plan

Future air traffic needs

1. Annual passenger volume

2. Annual volume of aircrafts

3. Peak-day and peak-hour volume of passengers

and aircrafts

4. Air cargo

5. Air mail

6. General aviation