Split Airport is one of nine airports in the Republic of Croatia, second in size, next in capacity and traffic after Zagreb Airport. It was built in 1966, at the location of Divulje, at the distance of 18 km from the Town of Split, Croatia. Split Airport became a great transport hub for several million tourists that visit the Adriatic Coast each year. As a sort of regional centre of the Croatian airline Croatia Airlines, Split is connected to over 90 destinations. The trend in this airport is further growth in the number of passengers and expansion of the flight network to larger European and world destinations. This trend generates key indicators in the future short-term period of ca. 35 different types of planes with an average annual level of about 7,800 operations. The condition of the pavement structure of operative surfaces (manoeuvring areas, runways and aprons) is continuously monitored. The purpose of continuous monitoring and all related activities is to ensure the quality requirements stipulated by national and international regulations for performing all operations in the airport area. In this respect, by the end of year 2013, an initiative was started for the execution of investigations on operative surfaces of the airport in order to determine the load bearing capacity and condition of the existing operative surfaces. Operative surfaces included in the design are as follows: runway, protected areas along the runway and taxiways. The assessment of bearing capacity of existing pavement surfaces by ACN-PCN method, which was carried out according to Client’s request, is one of the first steps in an integral process of improvement and assurance of surface properties, which will ensure that take-off, landing and manoeuvring operations are performed safely. Within the project scope of determination of the bearing capacity and the condition of operative surfaces, investigations were conducted which included: testing of construction soil and rock, geophysical testing of substrates, laboratory and field soil mechanics testing of subgrade (embankment) and the subbase, laboratory and field testing of asphalt pavement, investigations and testing of concrete properties, analysis, interpretation and assessment of results. Based on the data obtained by relevant laboratory and field investigations, and traffic data (the number of aircraft operations and their composition), the calculation of bearing capacity of pavement structures of the operative surface, runway, taxiways A and B and the apron at Split Airport was carried out using the ACN-PCN method as a part of this report. The calculation of PCN values of operative surfaces of Split Airport was carried out for each of the sections determined depending on the type of pavement structure and physical and mechanical characteristics of materials and pavement structure courses. Institut IGH was in charge of: – Investigations for determination of bearing capacity and condition of operative surfaces at Split Airport, which includes numerous field investigations, laboratory testing and analyses – Geotechnical trial boring and testing of foundation soil parameters – Investigations, geophysical and seismic testing – Field and laboratory testing of placed lower base courses of the pavement structure, placed concrete courses, placed asphalt courses – Analysis and interpretation of results – Condition assessment report for all pavement structures – Final report with numerical calculation of the bearing capacity (PCN) of all existing pavement structures
