A TECHNIQUE FOR ESTIMATING THE SLOPE-CLIMBING ABILITY OF WHEELED VEHICLES IN SAND

IN A TESTING PROGRAM JOINTLY SUPPORTED BY THE ARMY AND THE NAVY, THE U.S. ARMY ENGINEER WATERWAYS EXPERIMENT STATION HAS CONDUCTED APPROXIMATELY 2500 TESTS OF THE ABILITY OF WHEELED MILITARY VEHICLES TO CLIMB SLOPES OF LOOSE SAND. TESTS WERE CONDUCTED ON A VARIETY OF BEACH AND DUNE SANDS. TEST PROCEDURES AND TECHNIQUES ARE DESCRIBED BRIEFLY. THE STRENGTH OF THE SAND ON THE SLOPES WAS MEASURED BY MEANS OF A CONE PENETROMETER. THE SLOPE-CLIMBING PERFORMANCE OF EACH OF THE FIVE SIZES OF VEHICLES TESTED IS SHOWN TO BE DETERMINED PRINCIPALLY BY THE STRENGTH OF THE SAND AND BY TIRE SIZE AND INFLATION PRESSURE. THE EFFECT OF EACH OF THESE VARIABLES ON PERFORM- ANCE IS DISCUSSED BRIEFLY. AN EMPIRICAL METHOD EMPLOYING FIRM-SURFACE TIRE-PRINT DATA, WHEEL LOAD, AND SAND STRENGTH IS PRESENTED AS A MEANS OF PREDICTING THE SAND SLOPE-CLIMB- ING CAPACITY OF CONVENTIONAL ALL-WHEEL-DRIVE VEHICLES. /NTIS/

• Corporate Authors:

  U.S. Army Waterways Experiment Station

  3909 Halls Ferry Road
  Vicksburg, MS  United States  39180-6199
• Authors:
  • Freitag, D R
  • Knight, S J
• Publication Date: 1962-10

Media Info

• Pagination: 16 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Cone penetrometers; Forecasting; Sand; Slopes; Testing; Vehicle performance; Vehicles; Wheel loads
• Old TRIS Terms: Sand slopes
• Subject Areas: Highways; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00219484
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: No 4-535 Misc Paper
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 20 1973 12:00AM