Concrete Airport Areas Results of Recent Achievements

Owing to its anti-kerosene properties, its resistance to heat and punching, concrete is always used in the tarmac of the runway threshold of military airports and in the aprons of large-sized aircrafts in civil airports. Due to the strong competition with flexible structures, concrete is at disadvantage as far as runways are concerned, mainly because of defects of the construction techniques used during the 70ies and earlier, and because of maintenance problems. Nevertheless, the progress achieved during the last decade has made this technique highly reliable and also competitive, especially if the low maintenance costs are taken into account from the beginning of the project. In this article the progress achieved in new constructions is discussed. Specific and general repairs are also discussed, always keeping in mind the aim of the lowest disturbance of traffic.