1. ERDC Knowledge Core
2. Pre - Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC)
3. Waterways Experiment Station (WES) - (3/1/1937 - 9/30/1999)
4. Waterways Experiment Station
5. Technical Publication
6. Technical Memorandum

Title:	Trafficability of snow. Report 1, Vehicles in snow : a critical review of the state of the art
Authors:	Stevens Institute of Technology. United States. Army. Office of the Chief of Engineers. Nuttall, C. J. (Clifford J.) Finelli, J. P.
Keywords:	Snow Trafficability Snow metamorphism
Publisher:	U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station. Engineer Research and Development Center (U.S.)
Description:	Technical memorandum Introduction: Early in 1954, the Waterways Experiment Station (WES), Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg, Miss., was charged with the task of developing means for predicting the trafficability of snow-covered terrain in a fashion similar in operational concept to the prediction methods developed and under development by that facility for soil terrains. As part of their approach to this problem, WES contracted with Stevens Institute of Technology (Experimental Towing Tank, Motor Vehicle Research Division -- ETT), Hoboken, N. J., to review published material on over-snow vehicle performance, and from the literature and the ETT off-road vehicle background to: 1) summarize the state of the art of relating snow conditions to vehicle performance 2) conclude as to the suitability of existing vehicles for over-snow use 3) recommend new approaches in the design of over-snow vehicles 4) recommend revisions or additions to present procedures and techniques for tests of vehicle performance in snow. This report purports to do these things. The study, as intended, has been entirely a desk operation; i.e., no new laboratory or field work has been done in connection with it. Material from all branches of the Armed Services and from numerous civilian sources, dealing both with specific snow-vehicle work and the current state of knowledge of snow characteristics or properties, was reviewed. A selected bibliography of pertinent material will be found at the end of this report. Personal discussions with numerous individuals, in particular at the Snow, Ice, and Permafrost Research Establishment {SIPRE), Corps of Engineers, accounted for some of the information and many of the ideas discussed herein. In a condensed review of this sort it is difficult to be scrupulous about the ancestry of ideas and concepts, particularly when presented almost entirely in interpretive combinations. The informed reader will undoubtedly find some credits which are questionable, and more often, a questionable lack of credits. During the months of this review the writers were constantly impressed by the scale of the effort which has gone into study of the snow-vehicle problem over the past ten years or so, mostly without commensurate results. It is hoped that the present modest effort, perhaps by doing no more than clarifying the reasons for some past failures, may prove useful in the planning of future work. In order to insure accurate communication with the reader of this report for the short time he will spend with it, the authors feel it necessary to discuss, in the snow-vehicle context where possible, several concepts which appear to them to be central. This will be undertaken, as briefly as possible, before proceeding to the snow-vehicle problem per se. In the process certain widely used terms will be defined for present purposes and some of the philosophy of vehicle development objectives will be touched upon.
Rights:	Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/11681/21421
Appears in Collections:	Technical Memorandum