Review of ice and snow runway pavements

• Published in: International journal of pavement research & technology 2018-05, Vol.11 (3), p.311
• Main Authors: White, Greg, McCallum, Adrian
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air transportation; Aircraft; Construction; Geomaterials; Ice cover; Logistics; Mathematical models; Mechanical properties; Mechanics; Pavement design; Runways; Sintering; Skis; Snow; South Pole; Tensile strength
• ISSN: 1996-6814; 1997-1400
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijprt.2017.11.002

Antarctica is the highest, driest, coldest, windiest, most remote and most pristine place on Earth. Polar operations depend heavily on air transportation and support for personnel and equipment. It follows that improvement in snow and ice runway design, construction and maintenance will directly benefit polar exploration and research. Current technologies and design methods for snow and ice runways remain largely reliant on work performed in the 1950s and 1960s. This paper reviews the design and construction of polar runways using snow and ice as geomaterials. The inability to change existing snow and ice thickness or temperature creates a challenge for polar runway design and construction, as does the highly complex mechanical behaviour of snow, including the phenomena known as sintering. It is recommended that a modern approach be developed for ice and snow runway design, based on conventional rigid and flexible pavement design principles. This requires the development on an analytical model for the prediction of snow strength, based on snow age, temperature history and density. It is also recommended that the feasibility of constructing a snow runway at the South Pole be revisited, in light of contemporary snow sintering methods. Such a runway would represent a revolutionary advance for the logistical support of Antarctic research efforts.