A method for estimating the life of rigid airfield pavements is presented which is applicable for any ty aircraft traffic on all types of rigid pavement including overlays. The basic concept of the method presented is that any rigid pavement will withstand a certain number of stress repetitions before it cracks. The number of stress repetitions is dependent upon the magnitude of stress which is in turn dependent upon such things as: magnitude of load, gear configuration, traffic distribution, pavement strength, and foundation. All are considered in the method presented; an example of the use of the method is shown as well as three classical examples considering special problems. (Author).

A method for estimating the life of rigid airfield pavements is presented which is applicable for any ty aircraft traffic on all types of rigid pavement including overlays. The basic concept of the method presented is that any rigid pavement will withstand a certain number of stress repetitions before it cracks. The number of stress repetitions is dependent upon the magnitude of stress which is in turn dependent upon such things as: magnitude of load, gear configuration, traffic distribution, pavement strength, and foundation. All are considered in the method presented; an example of the use of the method is shown as well as three classical examples considering special problems. (Author).

The paper was organized to present the various factors which influence the current design criteria with a brief explanation of how the numerical values of each was derived.