The aim of this paper is to present the results of a long-term research project consisting in the elaboration of a new rational airfield pavement design procedure applied to flexible pavements. The described methodology is based on the principles and the feedback obtained from the highway pavement design process which has been applied for more than 30 years in France as well as in many other countries. Adaptations to airfield pavements have been made, including features such as accurate traffic

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... description, consideration of lateral wander of aircrafts for instance. The results of these developments have led to a new methodology which enables optimizing pavement designs by considering various input parameters such as the type of pavement section (runway, taxiway or apron), the material properties and the temperature. The complete description of this method is available in the new pavement design manual and it is implemented in the dedicated software Alizé-Airfield Pavement.