SENSOR TECHNOLOGY FOR ROLLING DEFLECTION MEASUREMENETS TO ASSESS THE REPAIR QUALITY OF BOMB-DAMAGED RUNWAYS

A RUNWAY STIFFNESS MEASUREMENT SYSTEM WHICH APPLIES A KNOWN FORCE TO THE RUNWAY IS PROPOSED. THIS TECHNIQUE DYNAMICALLY MEASURES VERTICAL GROUND DISPLACEMENTS USING AN ELECTRO-OPTICAL HEIGHT SENSOR TO BE PROTOTYPED IN THIS WORK. THE DEVELOPED SYSTEM WILL BE COMPOSED OF A TRACTOR-DRIVEN ROLLING LOAD, A POSITION SENSITIVE LASER SENSOR MOUNTED ON THE AXLE OF THE TRACTOR, AND A SELF-LEVELING, ROTATING LASER BEAM FOR GENERATION OF A HORIZONTAL PLANE OF LIGHT. THIS PLANE OF LIGHT IS CONTINUOUSLY MAINTAINED IN THE LEVEL CONDITION. THE PHASE I EFFORT WILL CONCENTRATE ON DEVELOPMENT OF A HIGH SPEED POSITION SENSITIVE DIFFERENTIAL DETECTOR WHICH WILL MEASURE THE HEIGHT OF THE LASER BEAM ABOVE THE RUNWAY SURFACE WITH AN EXPECTED ACCURACY OF 0.001 INCHES. THE HORIZONTAL LASER PLANE SOURCE WILL BE A COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE DEVICE CAPABLE OF SCANNING THROUGH 360 DEGREES OF ARC.