CLT Welcomes Mobile Concrete Lab for Research

A huge concrete lab on wheels has rolled into CLT for the next two weeks.

The Federal Highway Administration has its Mobile Concrete Technology Center (MCTC) on-site at CLT to provide testing support for ongoing paving work on the runway and taxiways for the new Fourth Parallel Runway, scheduled to open in fall 2027.

The UNC Charlotte Aviation, Innovation & Research (AIR) Institute secured the research project, which is being funded by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The mobile lab features new concrete testing methods and other Performance Engineered Mixture technologies that deal with design and performance.

“We’re taking a more critical look at our concrete, and we’re designing and constructing it for more durable infrastructure in the future,” said Robert Conway with the Federal Highway Administration. “We expect our airfield runways to perform at a much higher standard.”

Four daily production strips of concrete pavement on Taxiways H and T, along the North End Around Taxiway Extension, will serve as test sections for the research.

“This study is to explore different speeds, different vibration rates, different energies that we are imparting to the concrete,” said Dr. Tara Cavalline, Professor and Director of the Charlotte AIR Institute.

This research project is separate from the Digital Twin sensors that will be embedded in the new runway later this summer.