Effect of near-surface hydrology on soil strength and mobility

Abstract

History has repeatedly demonstrated the potentially negative influence of near-surface hydrology on military mobility. Increased moisture and saturation in soil results in a transition from solid to somewhat liquid states. As soil approaches the liquid state, the shear strength available for supporting traffic of ground vehicles or aircraft diminishes. Historical engagements elucidate the importance for armies to recognize soil conditions that could compromise manoeuvre. Since World War II, the US Army has pursued research aimed at equipping soldiers with the tools and knowledge needed to account for the impact of near-surface hydrology on mobility. Significant portions of the research have been focused on characterizing soil trafficability as a controlling factor in ground vehicle mobility and on developing methods for rapidly assessing soil conditions to ensure adequate bearing capacity for expediently constructed roads and airfields. In contrast, hydrological conditions can also produce extremely dry soil with potential for surface layers to break down under ground vehicle and aircraft traffic loadings, resulting in a propensity for extreme dust generation, an entirely different problem for military mobility that the research has also been addressing. Mobility problems associated with these adverse soil conditions have not been eliminated, but the research has produced significant advancements.

Military aspects of hydrogeology: an introduction and overview

“…In consequence, Napoleon's last military thrust, one of the great battles of history, died on the fields of Waterloo, as much the result of wet ground as the tenacity of the coalition troops (MacDonogh 2010; cf. Priddy et al 2012).…”

“…This made use of the then new science of soil mechanics to develop a method of classifying soils for military purposes. Research initiated in the heat of conflict during World War II has since been carried forward, in particular by the US Army, aimed at equipping soldiers with the knowledge needed to account for the impact of near-surface hydrogeology on mobility (Priddy et al 2012). Among other things, such work has concentrated on developing methods for quickly assessing soil conditions to ensure adequate bearing capacity for roads and airfields, which need to be designated for rapid construction or repair as armies advance.…”

“…Four papers in this volume describe studies directly funded by the US military. Three of these have been referenced in earlier sections of this review and show how the US Army has pursued research aimed at equipping soldiers with the tools and knowledge to account for the impact of near-surface hydrology on mobility (Priddy et al 2012), how computer simulation has been used to explore the importance of hydrogeology in remote sensing for explosive threat detection (Howington et al 2012), and how the Department of Defense has researched and developed technologies for environmental cleanup from past military activities (Miller & Foran 2012). A more general paper (Downer et al 2012) discusses the need for hydrological forecasts by the US Army and the history of hydrological modelling and model development undertaken to satisfy that need.…”

Untitled

“…Our research is focused on predicting vehicle cross country mobility where many geographical factors influence vehicle mobility (Heštera & Pahernik, 2018). Soil bearing capacity is one of the fundamental factors of vehicle mobility that has been explored by many authors, among whom it is necessary to highlight Frankenstein & Koenig (2004), Priddy et al (2012), Rybansky (2015) and Dasch et al (2016). Due the importance of soil moisture, TWI takes a significant part in vehicle mobility predictions and map production (Kokkila, 2002;Gumoś 2005;Pahernik et al, 2006, Hohmann et al, 2013Dasch et al, 2016;Nazish Khan et al, 2021).…”

The NATURE autonomy stack: an open-source stack for off-road navigation

“…This leads to challenges in the three main software functions of autonomous software -perception, planning, and control. Perception challenges arise because of the inconsistent nature of off-road terrain, 2 planning challenges occur because of the wide range of factors affecting mobility in off-road terrain, 3 and control challenges occur due to interaction with terrain features like soft-soil 4 or vegetation. 5 Perhaps due to these challenges, prior to the work presented in this paper there was no publicly available open-source autonomous navigation stack available for passenger-sized off-road vehicles.…”