We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Sliding Stability of Cable-Assisted Tracked Equipment on Steep Slopes.
- Authors
Professor, Francisca Belart Assistant; Professor, Ben Leshchinsky Assistant; Sessions, John; Professor, Woodam Chung Associate; Assistant, Preston Green Graduate Research; II, Jeff Wimer Senior Instructor; Assistant, Brett Morrissette Senior Faculty Research
- Abstract
The increasing use of cable-assisted steep-slope harvesting has presented different operational, safety, and environmental opportunities and challenges. One of the primary benefits is the increased safety introduced when tethered equipment is used appropriately—notably, "appropriate" use is the use of cable tension for assistance, not stability. However, the stability of such equipment on realistic soils under wet or dry conditions is not well defined, blurring the transition between tethering as a safety measure or as an aid for traction. Therefore, we propose an approach that enables assessment of the stability and required tensions to ensure stable equipment operation under various configurations on steep slopes. A sensitivity analysis was performed, including two equipment track geometric parameters: track width and grouser depth, and soil properties by evaluating two distinctive soil types. Equipment geometry had a role in stability, but less than the influence of soil shear strength. For equipment properties, grouser depth presented the greatest effect on stability, concentrated between slopes of 36–70 percent. Greater soil moisture increases equipment stability in sandy loams and significantly decreases stability in clay loams. When the effects of soil properties are isolated, cohesion and angle of friction are the properties with the greatest effect on equipment stability.
- Subjects
HARVESTING; SOIL moisture; SANDY loam soils; CLAY loam soils; SHEAR strength of soils
- Publication
Forest Science, 2019, Vol 65, Issue 3, p304
- ISSN
0015-749X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/forsci/fxy064