The purpose of the Ground Run-Up Enclosure (GRE) at the Wayne County Airport Authority in Romulus, Mich., is to reduce the impact of noise generated from jet engine testing on surrounding communities. At 304 feet wide by 317 feet deep and 40 feet tall, the structure is capable of accommodating commercial aircraft up to and including a B747-800. Aircraft are able to run their engines up to full take-off power for testing inside the facility. The facility’s interior is lined with noise absorbing panels that reduce the noise levels outside the building. Engine maintenance and testing typically occurs overnight when the aircraft are not in service. Following maintenance and prior to returning the aircraft to service, it is necessary to test the engines, often up to full power. At night when the ambient noise levels are low, the noise impact of these tests on the surrounding communities can be significant.
The entire GRE structure is metal, and everything except the cladding is galvanized steel. McElroy Metal supplied more than 25,000 square feet of 24-gauge Multi-Rib panels in Slate Gray Kynar. McElroy also supplied 2,000 feet of 16-gauge channel and 4,600 feet of 16-gauge hat section. There were concerns that radar signals from the ground radar system would bounce off the GRE’s exterior and produce false readings.
To address this concern, the Multi-Rib panels were mounted horizontally on a triangular assembly of rollformed channel. Each horizontal run was tipped out at approximately 7 degrees at the top. The resulting exterior geometry serves to reflect any radar signals down toward the ground rather than back to the receiving antenna to prevent false readings.
General contractor/installer: Blast Deflectors Inc., Reno, Nev.
Metal wall panels: McElroy Metal, Bossier City, La., www.mcelroymetal.com,
