Design of a temporary surface-level helipad paved with aluminium mats

Lifelines are infrastructural networks needed to guarantee transportation and other utilities. However, natural, deliberate, or one-off events could trigger a crisis throughout the on-ground network services and require the use of air transport with airplanes and helicopters. This work presents the results of numerical analysis of a temporary surface-level helipad paved with preformed mats. Modular elements are composed of aluminium alloy, and their sides interlock with a roto-translating motion in order to have a continuous pavement. The study focuses on traffic loads transmitted by helicopters commonly used in Italy by forces responsible for law and order, civil protection, and emergency or rescue services. The study presents the computational results carried out using the software package ANSYS® R17.1. The examined pavement is composed of 4.1 cm-thick aluminium mats, a 30 cm-thick granular layer and a geotextile membrane on the roller-compacted subgrade. Six static load configurations have been examined: emergency and operating conditions for wheels on the centre of the mat, on transversal and longitudinal joints. The maximum values of stresses are within the elastic limit of the aluminium alloy, and the maximum deflections do not compromise the safety of circulation. The proposed approach could be used by emergency supply agencies because the examined solution has both interesting short- and long-term implications: it ensures immediate solution, but it can be dismantled and relocated once the emergency ends.