SEPTEMBER 2011 MEETING
Wednesday, August 10, 2011 (1.0 PDH)

WORKSHOP

Airport Engineering

Speaker: Adil Godiwalla, P.E., Design & Construction Division., Houston Airport Systems. Tel. No. (281) 233-1934 

Adil Godiwalla is currently the Assistant Director of Aviation Design & Construction Division Houston Airport Systems. He has 45 years of Civil Engineering experience of which 27 years are in Airport Engineering. He earned a master's degree in Civil Engineering from University of Missouri at Rolla in 1966. He also earned a professional Engineers License of Texas, Florida and Illinois. He is a member of FAA working group committee and ASCE Airfield Pavement committee. 

PRESENTATION SUMMARY

To an audience of about 56 HESS, Mr. Godiwalla presented information about the Instrument Landing System, Navigational Aids, and other modern systems used at the Houston Airport Systems and other facilities.  Mr. Godiwalla workshop also included discussions of modern airport runway design, design software, and other design components. Many components of airport engineering were discussed and the main focus of the workshop was pavement design.
The presentation outline included the following pavement topics:

       * Jointed plain concrete pavement
       * Jointed reinforced concrete pavement
       * Continuously reinforced concrete pavement
       * Pre-Stressed concrete pavement
       * Rigid PCC (Portland Cement Concrete) pavement
       * Flexible ACP/HMA (Asphaltic Concrete Pavement/Hot Mix Asphalt)
       * Full Depth Pavement
       * Layered methods both granular and bound layer
       * Surface treatments
       * Composite pavements

Slides were shown to illustrate the engineering principals of each topic.

Mr. Godiwalla went on to discuss wheel load effects, take off weights of specific aircraft and their effect on pavement designs. He also discussed other design variables such as height above sea level and its effect on the runway lengths, crack control, effective joint spacing, effects of landing gear and runway maintenance.

Several interesting points were that takeoff forces applied to the runway are two times that of landing forces. Mr. Godiwalla also stressed the importance of maintenance. He presented data which documented that for every dollar not spent on maintenance would cost five dollars in repairs. 

To download Mr. Godiwalla's slides, click here.

To read past presentations by Mr. Godiwalla, click below:

September 8, 2010 Airport Engineering

July 11, 2007 Advanced, Modern and Innovative Technologies used for Asphalt and Concrete Pavement Surface Courses at the Houston Airport Systems

April 2005 Advanced, Modern and Innovative Technologies Used at Houston Airport System

April 2002 Distress of Pavements: Asphalt and Concrete