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John Rushing, Brad Hansen, and Michael Parker
Paper presented at ISTVS 2024 | 21st International and 12th Asia-Pacific Regional Conference of the ISTVS Keywords: Terrain surfacing; matting; site stability; mobility
Soft soils provide mobility challenges, even for vehicles designed with superior off-road capabilities. When numerous vehicles travel the same path, permanent deformation of the soil can result in rut depths that exceed vehicle ground clearance. These challenges can be overcome by modifying ground conditions to improve bearing capacity or spreading wheel loads over a greater area. Researchers at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center conducted field testing to quantify performance benefits from using a ground matting system comprised of connected fiberglass panels and designed to improve soft soil vehicle mobility. Soil conditions included soft sand, silt, and peat/sand mixtures with varying soil strength. Test vehicles included wheeled trucks with gross weights of approximately 14,000 lbs. per axle. Performance of the matting system was assessed by the number of allowable vehicle crossings with and without matting present. Results from testing showed that allowable number of vehicles could be increased by a factor of ten on the weakest soils. Data presented herein includes geotechnical site characterization, soil deformation as a function of traffic, and material characteristics for the fiberglass matting system.
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