THE APPLICABILITY OF A TERRAIN CLASSIFICATION AND EVALUATION SYSTEM TO ROAD AND MILITARY ENGINEERING PROBLEMS IN AUSTRALIA

FOLLOWING ATTEMPTS TO MODIFY EARLIER LAND CLASSIFICATIONS FOR ENGINEERING USE, THE PATTERN UNIT COMPONENT EVALUATION (PUCE) SYSTEM OF TERRAIN CLASSIFICATION HAS BEEN PROPOSES, BASED UPON EASILY RECONIZABLE AND DEFINABLE NATURAL FEATURES. THE SYSTEM RELATES ENGINEERING PROPERTIES TO THE TERRAIN AND ACTS AS A :(1) BASE FOR THE VALID EXTRAPOLATION OF TERRAIN PROPERTIES FORM ONE AREA TO ANOTHER, AND (2) FILE INTO WHICH ALL KNOWLEDGE OF ENGINEERING SIGNIFICANCE CAN BE COLLATED, STORED AND RETRIEVED FOR FUTURE USE. THE CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM HAS FOUR LEVELS OF GENERALIZATION. VIZ. PROVINCE, TERRAIN PATTERN, TERRAIN UNIT, TERRAIN COMPONENT, ALL OF WHICH ARE DEFINED. A BASIC PREMISE OF THE SYSTEM IS THAT ONCE THE PROPERTIES OF ONE EXAMPLE OF ANY MEMBER OF A CLASS HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED, THEN THOSE PROPERTIES REMAIN SIMILAR OVER ALL OCCURRENCES OF THAT MEMBER HENCE, WHILE THE TERRAIN REMAINS CONSISTENT, PREDICTION OF PROPERTIES CAN BE MADE ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS OF THEIS PRINCIPLE MAY BE MANY AND VARIED. PREDICTION IN TERMS OF APPROPRIATE LEVEL IN THE CLASSIFICATION COULD BE MADE OF: ROUTE LOCATION, GRADE LINE LOCATION EARTHMOVING QUANTITIES, EARTHMOVING EQUIPMENT, BRIDGING AND CULVETTING FREQUENCIES BEHAVIOR OF NATURAL MATERIALS AS SUBGRADE, LOCATION OF NATURAL MATERIALS FOR USE AS PAVEMENT CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS, AND BEHAVIOR OF NATURAL MATERIALS AS PAVEMENT CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS. THE MILITARY ENGINEER MAY FACE SIMILAR PROBLEMS IN CONSTRUCTION OF THE MANY FACILITIES REQUIRED BY AN ARMY. IN ADDITION HE MUST MAKE AN ASSESSMENT OF THE TRAFFICABILITY OF THE NATURAL SURFACE. THE PUCE PROGRAMME OFFERS A BASIS FOR THE RECORDING AND EXTRAPOLATION OF EXPERIENCE OF GROUND MOBILITY ON LARGE AND SMALL AREAS OF TERRAIN. /AUTHOR/

• Record URL:
  http://arrbknowledge.com
• Corporate Authors:

  ARRB

  Melbourne, Victoria  Australia 
• Authors:
  • Aitchison, G D
  • Grant, K
• Conference:
  • Australian Road Research Board Conference Proc
• Publication Date: 1968

Media Info

• Serial:
  • Volume: 4
  • Issue Number: Pt1

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Building materials; Classification; Land; Paving; Route choice; Terrain; Trafficability
• Old TRIS Terms: Land classifications
• Subject Areas: Design; Environment; Highways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00203502
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 26 1970 12:00AM