Terrain evaluation for mobility purposes

Abstract This paper describes a study of the effects of terrain on military activities by the Area Evaluation Section, Soils Division, of the Waterways Experiment Station, primarily under the project entitled ‘Military Evaluation of Geographic Areas’. Most of the effort so far has been concentrated on a study of the environment as it affects vehicle mobility. It is approached by dividing the environment into classes of related attributes called ‘environmental factors’. The families of the factors dealt with so far are surface geometry, surface composition, hydrologic geometry and vegetation. The individual factors in these families almost invariably reduce to geometric considerations when their effect on vehicle movement is examined. Consequently the problem is to select from the very large number of possible measurements only those which produce an effect on vehicle mobility. Two tests carried out to investigate this problem are discussed and the results of these indicate that critical tree spacing appears to be more closely related to vehicle length nd not to the turning radius. Some recommended characteristics for a good cross-country vehicle are presented; however, much additional testing must be done to ensure the development of good vehicle-terrain relations.