Evaluation Pavement Distresses for Runway Asphalt Using Pavement Condition Index (PCI)

Due to the long period of time since the construction of the surfaces designated for landing and take-off of aircraft (Airport Pavement) at Sabha International Airport and as a result of several factors that lead to causing significant distress to it, the most important of which is the distress resulting from obsolescence, as these surfaces usually have a specific maintenance program. Early failure of runway pavement structure can be detected by the distress on the asphalt surface of flexible runway pavement and obtain the value of runway pavement condition, it was analyzed using Pavement Condition Index (PCI) method. PCI is a simple, convenient and inexpensive measure to evaluate the condition of flexible pavement surfaces for rehabilitation or maintenance and predict future costs. In this study, we evaluated the current condition of flexible pavement defects present at Sebha airstrip, by conducting visual inspection. A total of 15 sample units were examined on the runway in the distress survey, which is a process to collect accurate type and quantity of distress data that occur in flexible runway pavement structure. After visual inspection, a variety of defects were found on runway surface, such as longitudinal and transverse cracks, alligator cracks, erosion/weathering, block cracks, swelling cracks, and oil spillage. Through this examination, the level of distress severity in the flexible pavement surfaces of the runways was determined as high, medium and low for most of the distress, and the results of the analysis using the PCI method concluded that the runway at Sabha International Airport has an average PCI value of 40, which falls within the poor category, and the PCI value of the runway that needs to be reconstructed.