Performance Prediction for Innovative Crushable Material used in Aircraft Arrestor Beds

Surveys on innovative materials for aircraft arrestor beds are of great interest in airport safety research. In the event of a runway overrun, the arrestor bed has to provide for the complete stop of the aircraft. In doing so, the bed essentially collapses under the effect of the vertical load of the nose and main gears. Along the contact areas between the wheels and bed, the horizontal drag forces generated depend on the dissipative properties of the material used in the bed. The use of innovative materials in arrestor beds could lead to a significant improvement in the performance of same. In the paper, the authors propose a cellular mortar with expanded polystyrene spheres and the use of static and dynamic tests to determine its characterization. The aim is to optimize its composition in terms of mechanical properties, to evaluate its durability under the effects of environmental actions, and to estimate the stopping distances for selected aircrafts. The code arrestor provided by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was used as a reference for distance calculations.