Prefabricated panels for rapid runway repair and expedient airfield surfacing

Claim 1

Prefabricated plastic-composite portable panels, a plurality of which are jointed together to form expedient airfield surfacing and rapid runway repair, each panel comprising: a. a plurality of substantially rectangular fiberglass plies impregnated, saturated and bonded together with a thermosetting polyester resin to form a substantially thin, flat, non-porous, laminar structure having low weight and shipping cube; b. two adjoining edges about the perimeter of said laminar structure being recessed from the bottom to form adjoining upper lips along one side and one end thereof; c. the remaining two adjoining edges about the perimeter of said laminar structure being recessed from the top to form adjoining lower lips along the opposite side and opposite end thereof; d. the depth to which said laminar structure edges are recessed to form lips about the entire perimeter thereof being substantially the same such that two diagonally opposite corners of said laminer structure are removed in the areas where said upper lips would otherwise intersect with said lower lips, thus allowing for the overlapping of said upper and lower lips about the edges of said laminar structure with respective lower and upper lips of other like laminer structures when placed adjacent thereto for joining therewith; e. the perimeter areas of said laminar structure being reinforced with high-modulus, high-tensile-strength fiber material such that both the upper and lower surfaces of said lips about the entire perimeter of said panels are reinforced for maximizing the load capacity of the laminar structure and increasing panel joint flexural strength and stiffness; a portion of said high-modulus, high-tensile-strength fiber material reinforcing the lower side of said upper lip and a portion of said high-modulus, high-tensile-strength fiber material reinforcing the upper side of said lower lip extending into and being sandwiched between two of said plurality of fiberglass plies which form said laminar structure; said laminar structure being constructed slightly thicker about the top edges by the addition of fiberglass plies along the perimeter thereof in the areas where the laminar structure is reinforced with high-modulus, high-tensile-strength fiber material for stiffening the panel edges to obtain higher load capacity and to prevent excessive deflection at joints between joined like adjacent laminar structres due to rolling aircraft wheel type loads; f. fastening means being provided at spaced intervals along the upper and lower lips of said laminar panel, said fastening means being operable for securely joining said laminar panel with like panels when positioned adjacent thereto; said fastening means comprising flush-mounted upper bushings secured along said upper lip, and lower bushings which are flush-mounted with and secured along said lower lip; said upper and lower bushings being positioned to align with and be bolted together with respective lower and upper bushings in adjacently placed like laminar structures; said upper and lower bushings being adhesively bonded in place; wherein a plurality of said prefabricated panels when jointed together form lightweight airfield surfacing of high flexural strength and high structural capacity.