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https://hdl.handle.net/11681/47022| Title: | Trafficability predictions in tropical soils : four soils in the Panama Canal Zone, report 1 |
| Authors: | U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station |
| Keywords: | Soils--Tropics Trafficability Soil moisture Panama Canal (Panama) |
| Publisher: | U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station |
| Series/Report no.: | Miscellaneous Paper (U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station) ; no. 4-355; Report 1 |
| Abstract: | The study of soil trafficability prediction was extended to a humid tropical climate to determine whether the prediction system as developed for soils in temperate climates could also be successfully applied to soils in tropical climates. Four sites in the Panama Canal Zone were selected for study, and soil moisture and strength data were collected weekly from these sites for a period of eighteen months. The average prediction relations previously derived from data measured in a temperate climate (United States) and in a tropical climate (Puerto Rico) were then applied to the data collected in Panama. From a comparison of the predicted and measured soil-moisture values it is concluded that: a. The average soil-moisture predictions developed from U.S. and Puerto Rico data can be used with some success on the soils of Panama or of regions having a similar climate. b. The quality of moisture content-strength relations for tropical-climate soils is considerably lower than similar relations derived for temperate-climate soils. A brief study of available data on the topography and soils of the Panama Canal Zone permits the following conclusions regarding the trafficability of the region: a. The fine-grained upland soils of the Canal Zone usually retain high strength at high moisture contents. The lowland soils become wetter and strengths become critical from a trafficability standpoint. b. Upland soils are generally trafficable during the wet season, but wheeled vehicles may fail to climb slopes because of slipperiness. The lowland soils are generally trafficable during the wet season only for low-ground-pressure tracked vehicles. |
| Description: | Miscellaneous Paper |
| Gov't Doc #: | Miscellaneous Paper No. 4-355; Report 1 |
| Rights: | Approved for Public Release; Distribution is Unlimited |
| URI: | https://hdl.handle.net/11681/47022 |
| Size: | 71 pages / 8.27 MB |
| Types of Materials: | PDF/A |
| Appears in Collections: | Miscellaneous Paper |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miscellaneous Paper No. 4-355 Report 1.pdf | 8.27 MB | Adobe PDF |  View/Open |