Feasibility study of Air Traffic Control Towers around the globe

Abstract

At this moment the global human wealth is getting to the next level, which means a growing amount of people is able to travel by plane and these growth figures are seen in the latest global annual passenger’s flows. These latest developments demand building new airports and extending the existing airports heavily around the world in the nearby future (10 years), subsequently resulting in a higher demand of air traffic control towers (ATC towers). Air traffic control towers are very unique buildings. Most countries possess only one or a few towers and the specific knowledge of the technical and functional design of these towers are owned by a few consultants around the world. One of these consultants is Royal HaskoningDHV. However these (Dutch) designers do not possess knowledge about the entire global construction market and geological conditions, making it very difficult to design an optimal ATC tower in a certain country. From this specific design difficulty, the overall objective of this thesis research is to perform an international investigation regarding the main local influences in order to provide an economical optimal structural design methodology for ATC towers which can be used to design these towers anywhere around the globe. The main research question which follows from the research objective is: “What are the local influences on the structural design of an air traffic control tower and how do they relate with an economical optimal structural design?” First, an investigation has been performed in order to select a few representative countries that will cover the scope for this thesis research. Based on motivated reasons the chosen countries are: the Netherlands, Nigeria, Japan, China, Turkey and Indonesia. On basis of a literature study the main structural characteristics for high and tall building design are investigated. The lateral forces caused by wind and earthquake action are the most vital forces for structural design and the structures must provide enough structural reliability. Next, the local building codes of the chosen countries are compared and it has been examined that all the codes contain the same factors and approaches as the Eurocode (European building standard), which is used along the research. To be able to perform this complex international research, the elementary design process is chosen as a sequential guidance in order to obtain economical optimal structural concepts around the globe. By simulating these concepts (case studies) with designs and calculations, the behaviour can be qualified and relations can be made between the local influences and structural design. This process starts with a comprehensive analysis of the fundamental design principles of ATC towers. It is concluded that ATC towers are the most important buildings on the airport domain regarding the guidance and safety of air traffic in the proximity of an airport, providing all the facilities and utilities air traffic controllers need to operate. Even with advanced radar technical and camera technology this guidance is mainly done (and will be done in future) by visual observation and these towers give the air traffic controllers the best view over active pavement. The towers consist of three basic components; the control cab, tower shaft and base building, each having their own primary function. Next, the fundamental requirements for ATC towers facilities are determined. They are drafted by the two major aviation authorities in the world, the FAA and ICAO. In addition to these requirements; desires, starting points and boundary conditions are determined for ATC tower design. The stated desires and starting points are applicable for every ATC design in a general manner, whereas the local boundary conditions have their own influence and importance on every individual ATC design. The following four local boundary conditions are found to be the most important to determine: • Current and projected future air activity airport • Wind climate • Earthquake hazard • Construction industry For each of the six countries these boundary conditions are determined, by examining literature and conducting interviews with experts in the Netherlands and in foreign countries. It is found that for each country different results are obtained. After the analysis, wherein all the necessary information in a diverging process was gathered in order to design an ATC tower, choices are made in order to achieve targeted optimal design solutions. This choice determination is done by applying a converge process with a self-developed methodology which is performed on basis of three main aspects; structural optimum solutions, labour optimum solutions and material optimum solutions. The input variables for this converge process are directly related with the specific boundary conditions found for each country, resulting in different possible optimal structural solutions as output of this converging process. Next, these optimal structural solutions are simulated to understand and to quality how the local boundary conditions relate with the structural design characteristics. E.g. how does an earthquake load compare with a wind load in certain countries, or how does a steel variant compare with a concrete variant. Unfortunately it is not possible to determine which structural design is the most economical solution, but this thesis research provides a design methodology which gives the designers a direction towards the most optimal solution when they take the specific cost aspects into account. The report closes with two kinds of recommendation: themes for follow-up research based upon the issue are which are not elaborated in detail in this report and some advices for using the design methodology as described.