Wood & Grieve Engineers (WGE) were honoured to have a seat at the table when some of the world’s pre-eminent airfield engineering and maintenance experts gathered earlier this month.
The 13th Airfield Engineering & Maintenance Summit 2018 was held in Singapore on 4-5 September, which brought together experts from all over the world including Nigeria, Germany, North America, Indonesia, the Middle East, United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia. Constituents varied from engineers and airfield owners, to construction companies.
WGE’s Airport Lead Hock Chua was invited to speak at the summit, which this year looked at proven techniques and strategies for airfield pavement design, engineering and maintenance under all environmental, climate and air traffic conditions.
Hock said the biggest topic to be discussed was the use of permeable pavements, which moves away from the traditional pavement principle of keeping water out of the structure.
“New technology around the use of permeable pavement design was a really big talking point at the conference – moving away from the traditional method of pavements being water tight,” Hock said.
“Essentially an argument was made that allowing the water to drain away from surfaces can be actually safer. Up until now, having water drain under the sub-grade or pavement is a big no-no as it can create all sorts of problems.
“But when you consider the safety advantage of having water drain away from the surface of a runway, for example, rather than pooling on top and providing a potential hazard of airplanes skidding upon landing or attracting birds, it’s definitely a positive consideration.”
Hock says a speaker at the conference, who co-wrote a paper on using permeable pavement, went into great detail about the research he had done on the technology and the advantages it could hold.
“It’s not a new technology – it’s regularly used for low-traffic infrastructure projects, such as carparks. But, only about one percent of the airfield industry already use permeable pavement technology because it does come with a lot of challenges,” Hock said.
“Airports are completely different. There’s acres of pavement, a huge area of concrete, and therefore it attracts higher costs when keeping that area water-tight. But there are environmental impacts to consider, such as fuel spills and preventing those firefighting chemicals from draining into stormwater or river system or the like.
“There’s a lot to be done before the use of permeable technology becomes widespread, particularly in gaining approvals from relevant industry authorities. But it’s definitely an exciting prospect for the future.”
This year marked Hock’s second visit to the conference, which isn’t organised by any specific airport or airline company – rather, is treated as a “meeting of the minds” to understand what’s happening the in the world of airfield infrastructure.
“It’s a great environment for specialists from all over the world to learn and discover what’s happening in their environments. It’s not a big conference, but it does bring together specialists within the industry who are continually looking at ways to improve processes and infrastructure through innovative thinking.
“It’s a privilege to be amongst them, to learn and share our learnings too, and hopefully continue to improve our industry.”
WGE’s infrastructure team has accrued a wealth of experience working on airport projects that keep Australia moving. We are experienced in the delivery of all stages of airport infrastructure projects, from feasibility to completion.
We have excellent working relationships with specialist external consultants required to inform complex and highly detailed projects, including geotechnical, surveying, arboriculture, heritage, environmental, planning and traffic consultants.
Contact Hock Chua to find out how WGE can help with your next airport infrastructure project.
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