Vehicle bearing capacity of frozen ground over a soft substrate

Abstract

Freezing temperatures may allow the use of vehicles and heavy equipment on otherwise inaccessible or sensitive areas such as swamps, bogs, tundra, and peatlands. Predicting operable conditions on frozen ground is useful for forestry, mining, oil exploration, construction, and military operations. Guidelines for estimating the frost depth necessary to support a given vehicle load have been generated based on experience in forestry operations on peatlands and similarities in the strength behavior of frozen peat and frozen soils. Correlation with information in the literature leads to a simple equation relating safe trafficability of frozen ground over soft ground: P = Cz2, where P is the maximum load and C is a constant depending on the strength of the frozen layer, which has a thickness z. Values for the constant C and a chart showing required frozen thickness for a variety of vehicles are given. Key words : bearing capacity, frozen ground, peat, frost, vehicle mobility, strength.

A modular terrain model for daily variations in machine-specific forest soil trafficability

“…This is particularly so for forest operations in the boreal or northern mixed-wood forests where winter harvesting on frozen soils is widespread. With Shoop's (1995) formulation for the load-bearing capacity of frozen soils, Eq. 7 becomes:…”

Overview of cold regions mobility modeling at CRREL

“…Semi-empirical winter mobility algorithms have been developed over the past decades by Blaisdell et al [19], Richmond et al [20,21], and Shoop [5,22]. These algorithms are compiled into a set of equations that predict maximum available traction and motion resistance on winter terrain, including shallow and deep snow, ice, and frozen and thawing ground [23].…”

Assessing the impacts of military vehicle traffic on natural areas. Introduction to the special issue and review of the relevant military vehicle impact literature

“…A number of studies have emphasized the effect of vehicle designs or static vehicle properties on site impacts [85,[89][90][91][92]. The fifth paper in this special issue, Jones et al [93], evaluates the extent of terrain degradation associated with common military vehicle design classes using vehicle mobility performance models and soil rutting as a measure of vehicle impact.…”

“…This approach provides a means to utilize readily available installation data to assess potential impacts of maneuvers. Other researchers have used similar approaches to identify where vehicle impacts may occur [91,92,[96][97][98]. A limitation of all these approaches is that just because a site is suitable for vehicle use does not mean it will actually be used in a predictable fashion.…”