ACRP IdeaHub Research Projects

Research on what drives employee satisfaction.

Guidance for general aviation airports completing socioeconomic impact studies.

Stipends are used in competitive bids to encourage bidders to submit their best ideas in a procurement. Better understanding of the use and value of stipends would be useful to airport management, boards and policymakers to determine if compensating losing bidders for their intellectual property would advance practice and improve design and project delivery.

The 2,455 General Aviation Airports in the U.S. provide essential services that are uniquely available through this type of airport. A Resilience Management Plan, although expensive to contract and complicated to create, may be critical to protecting the continuity of these services. This research project provides operators with the tools necessary to effectively and efficiently develop their own Resilience Management ...more »

Conduct a survey of ramp/apron markings currently being used on US Airports and develop an apron/Ramp paint marking manual to establish common marking standards for ramp/aprons

Determine uniform certification standards in DBE/ACDEBE certification programs between airports and other local entities to ensure a smooth process and better understanding of the requirements.

Current methods of assessing the condition of airport pavement and infrastructure typically require restricting access or use, closing, and/or using expensive assessment methods or tools. Technology integrated into most mobile phones (gyroscopes, accelerometers, cameras, etc.) can be used to automatically collect and wirelessly transmit infrastructure-related data to a central database providing real-time tracking of ...more »

New construction and renovation projects at airports experience cost and schedule constraints due to the unique operational aspects and differing facility types. For example, apron expansions must give heed to airside operations and terminal renovations of retail space must often take place overnight when passenger traffic in minimal. This research will investigate state of the art techniques to enhance construction sequencing ...more »

In this case study we consider kinetic energy model to modify calculations of all types of required distances and included type of airfield pavement, four cases of aircraft loads on the runway during landing and take-off operations, interaction model formulation and resistance of rolling wheels. Special attention paid to the foreign structures and devices incorporated into the pavement structural layers. All devices and ...more »

Airport Emergency Plan requirements do not fully recognize the impact on airport employees and business partners in times of disasters or emergency events. Lessons can be learned from aviation organizations such as Jet Blue who have models for anticipating employee and business partners family needs for emergency support. Essential employees need support for their families in order to assist the airport and community ...more »

Our team aims to architecturally and financially model new ways to relieve airport congestion through the expansion of the curbside, while also allowing for new programs to monetize the landside and the airside. Our team intends to develop architectural solutions for modifying airport parking garages, providing ride share lobbies and amenities, re-programming parking garages and surface lots for alternative uses, and ...more »

Development of a microgrid standard framework (Technical, Financial, Regulatory, Permitting) solution which can apply to all airports across the country. Due to the complexity of the airports' operation and numbers of stakeholders and decision-makers, this comprehensive solution has not been developed.

Airside infrastructure maintenance requirements are typically defined using passive sensors that detect surface phenomena only, or using devices that require slow or stationary equipment which affect capacity & delay and may even require NOTAM closures for in-depth evaluations. A need exists to streamline the evaluation process to provide real time input to aircraft operations and progressive infrastructure maintenance ...more »

Concrete overlays are a growing trend in pavement maintenance and rehabilitation. Rapid-setting concrete overlays offer the potential or reopening aprons, taxiways and runways quickly. The viability and durability of rapid setting concrete overlays over asphalt or concrete airfield pavement should be evaluated and tested in order to provide airports and consultants with suitable practice guidelines.

It is imperative that entities preparing to undertake a major airport terminal or expansion project understand what risks are involved and how those risks can be mitigated. If the proposed research is conducted and an intuitive database of risk-management contract provisions is created, entities interested in participating in such a "mega project" would be able to identify how best to manage the associated risk: this ...more »