wood, which can be used as a wear surface or base
military vehicles on thawing ground. This type of
course for roads and trails. The U.S. Army Engi-
interaction is essential for developing military en-
neer School helped with planning and executing
gineering and combat models for simulations, as
the test and evaluation program to assess various
well as new methods and materials for military
techniques for military use. The 229th Engineer
applications.
SCE Co. of the Wisconsin National Guard con-
structed the trails as well as performed the traf-
ficking and evaluation as part of their annual train-
STABILIZATION TECHNIQUES
ing exercise, which is described in the Mission
Statement (App. F). Two private companies, Terra
The following stabilization techniques were
Mat Corporation and Uni-Mat International, Inc.,
chosen for field evaluation based on their appli-
cability to military use, expediency, ease of con-
donated their time and materials to have their
struction, and their mechanical interaction with
products evaluated for military use. For CRREL, it
thawing ground to distribute loads and provide
was an opportunity to work directly with our mili-
vehicle traction. The type of stabilization materi-
tary customer, incorporating feedback on construc-
als used and their placement in the field are listed
tion and performance into our evaluation and pro-
viding excellent field data on the mobility of
in Table 1 and are described subsequently.
Table 1. Summary of stabilization techniques tested.
Test location
Wooded
Stabilization technique
trail
Slopes
Corner
Pretest
Test conditions
Chunkwood
X
X
X
20 to 40 cm
(8- to 16-in.-) thick test
sections added in NOGO
situation (see App. H)
Tire mats (Terra Mat)
X
X
X
Hand-assembled wood pallets
X
X
Commercial wood mats (Uni-Mat)
X
X
PVC fascine
X
Covered with chunkwood,
tire mats and wood mats
Tire chips
X
X
X
X
Slash
X
X
X
a) Double-sided geonet
X
X
X
Bare
b) Polypropylene (TS 1000) with
X
X
X
10- to 30-cm (8- to 15-in.)
gravel cover
c) Polypropylene (TS 1000)
X
with chunkwood, tire chips
and slash cover
d) Woven slit film
X
X
Wooded trail--used to wrap
polypropylene
wrap chunkwood for lateral
e) Geogrid
X
f) Nonwoven polyester
X
X
0- to 13-cm (5-in.) gravel
(Trevera)
cover on wooded trail
g) Polypropylene-reinforced
X
X
X
Bare
with polyester fibers
(Polyrock)
Gravel (conventional road)
X
Gravel added in NOGO
situations after chunkwood
was used up
2
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