Expeditionary Matting/Soil Stabilization System (EMS3)

Soil stabilization matting is used to provide a temporary roadway for wheeled vehicles in areas otherwise rendered impassable due to soil conditions. As vehicles traverse unimproved terrain the travel conditions quickly degrade as each vehicle digs deeper trenches in soft soil. The problems with current matting systems are the lack of strength to support the loads imposed by military equipment, failure to meet the required rates of roadway deployment and they exceed logistic system weight/volume limitations. Through an understanding of the behavior of the subsoil and the subsoil/matt interaction, TRI/Austin will design three alternative matt systems that will be easy to install, are relatively inexpensive, will permit significant large mass traffic, and that will be logistically efficient. All of these systems will be based on existing technology and commercial-off-the-shelf materials. The three alternative matt systems will be evaluated mechanically in the laboratory and with drive-over tests. The alternatives will be ranked for performance, cost, weight, volume, and ease of installation. The results of the matt development and evaluation effort will be presented to the U.S.M.C. technical representatives with recommendations for system selection and a detailed transition plan delineating the development efforts needed to get the selected system to TRL 8.