Foamed glass composite arrestor beds and methods for making and using the same

The method of claim 2 and further comprising:

• c) crushing at least a portion of the composite bed with an oncoming aircraft, wherein crushing the at least a portion of the composite bed removes kinetic energy from the oncoming aircraft to slow the oncoming aircraft;
• wherein the composite bed is generally resistant to fire;
• wherein the composite bed as at least 50 volume percent foamed glass aggregate;
• and
• wherein the foamed glass aggregate has a crushing strength between 50 PSI and 200 PSI.

A method of fabricating an aircraft arrestor bed, comprising:

• a) introducing a structural matrix material to plurality of foamed glass aggregate bodies to define an admixture;
• b) forming the admixture of foamed glass aggregate bodies and structural matrix material into an arrestor bed adjacent the end of a runway;
• wherein the arrestor bed is at least about 50 volume percent foamed glass aggregate;
• wherein the foamed glass bodies have crushing failure modes;
• wherein the foamed glass aggregate have strengths of at least 50 PSI;
• and
• wherein the arrestor bed will preferentially crushingly fail instead of slide over itself under the compressive and torsional loads produced by an aircraft rolling over the runway safety area.

A method of making a foamed glass composite engineered material arresting system for aircraft arrest, comprising:

• a) heating glass frit to a temperature of between about 1500 degrees Fahrenheit and about 1900 degrees Fahrenheit;
• b) softening the frit to define a viscous glass material;
• b) foaming the viscous glass material to yield a foamed glass body;
• c) cooling the foamed glass body;
• d) positioning the foamed glass body in a bed located adjacent an airport runway;
• and
• e) at least partially surrounding the foamed glass body with a structural matrix material to define a composite bed portion;
• wherein the foamed glass body is incompressible with a crushing failure mode.