LIS T-y .n SOCIETY OF AUTOMOTIVE INGINEERS, INC. 485 Lexington Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10017 Environmental Effects on the Design of Engineer Construction Equipment Paul E. Jaquish, Jr. and Glenn B. Erickson Allison Div., General Motors Corp. SOCIETY OF AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERS Automotive Engineering Congress Detroit, Mich. January 8-12,1968 680096 Downloaded from SAE International by Purdue University, Tuesday, August 21, 2018680096 Environmental Effects on the Design of Engineer Construction Equipment Paul E. Jaquish, Jr. and Glenn B. Erickson Allison Div., General Motors Corp. THE DESIGN OF MILITARY construction equipment is dealt with in this paper, specifically an integrated military equipment system which can perform earthmoving construc­ tion on a global basis. The military construction mission is unique from an oper­ ational standpoint, although the nature of construction does not vary significantly between military and commercial construction. ENVIRONMENT TOTAL ENVIRONMENT - To place in perspective the military, as well as the commercial design task, let us con­ sider the variation of environments affecting each system. These are summarized in Table 1. The operational environment for military equipment is completely different from, and considerably more difficult than, the commercial operational environment. The physical environment for military and commercial earthmoving equipment is similar. Both must operate at any time in any locale throughout the world. A New Operational Environment - For many years, com­ mercial equipment has met the operational as well as physi­ cal requirements of military construction. In recent conflicts, as military operations became more global, the support of many makes and many models has became increasingly difficult; however, the commercial Table 1 - Variation of Environmental Factors Affecting Military and Commercial Earthmoving Equipment Environment Physical Operational Factors Soils Vegetation Climate Skills Combat Transport Deployment Service Supply Military Any Any Any General Yes Air Fast Limited Limited Commercial Any Any Any Specialized No Ground Slow Unlimited Unlimited Note: This paper reflects the personal views and opinions of the authors and should not in any way be construed to represent the official position of any element of the Armed Forces or General Motors Corp. ABSTRACT- An analytical technique has been developed which uses operational and physical environmental factors as design criteria for earthmoving equipment. A computer program that employs these factors is used in the design optimization of an integrated family of military construction equipment. Total environmental factors considered include: soils, vege­ tation, climate, transport, deployment, operation, service, supply, etc. Analytical design studies already conducted have produced a hypothetical equipment system that per­ forms its mission at substantially less cost than existing mili­ tary equipment systems. Downloaded from SAE International by Purdue University, Tuesday, August 21, 2018equipment was still acceptable. Today military operations call for air mobile or air transportable equipment, and exist­ ing commercial equipment is not able to meet this require­ ment. Future operational concepts call for strategic forces that can be quickly deployed to any part of the world. (1, 2)* The tactical operations would be typified by special forces moving quickly by air from combat area to combat area. The increased use of air transport will demand an ever increasing number of aircraft landing facilities, supply depots, cantonments and service roads. The strategic forces to sup­ port the mobile operation will, in addition, require increas­ ing amounts of construction. The mobility concept for transportation of military con­ struction equipment has necessitated a complete re-evalua­ tion of the nature of military construction, th