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Rapid Mobile Geotechnical Measurement System for Amphibious Operations
Navy SBIR 2009.1 - Topic N091-085 ONR - Mrs. Tracy Frost - [email protected] Opens: December 8, 2008 - Closes: January 14, 2009 N091-085 TITLE: Rapid Mobile Geotechnical Measurement System for Amphibious Operations TECHNOLOGY AREAS: Ground/Sea Vehicles, Sensors, Battlespace ACQUISITION PROGRAM: Oceanographer of the Navy, Mine Warfare, Amphibious Warfare OBJECTIVE: Amphibious operations are often planned and conducted with inadequate knowledge of the bearing capacity/strength of soils in landing areas to characterize trafficability in littoral penetration points, including such shallow subaerial or submerged areas as tidal flats, beaches, marshes, river banks and wetlands. While a remote sensing approach to trafficability assessment is ultimately the most desirable, the present state-of-the-art remote sensing capability is insufficient to reliably infer trafficability without additional in situ measurements. This topic seeks new technologies for rapid, in situ measurement of geotechnical properties to calibrate remote sensing observations for amphibious operations planners. At present, military engineers assess the stability of the ground for construction projects using either cone penetrometers or bearing plate tests, both of which may expose human operators to hazardous conditions. While such measurements are routine for roads and airstrips, commercially available sensors do not support bearing strength measurements in soft muddy substrates, submerged regions, and the highly variable soils extending from the waterline to the exits off the beach. Direct measurements of bearing strength or shear strength in such environments are desired, but it may also be possible to infer substrate strength from more easily measured properties, such as water content, density, and liquidity index, among others. The technical risk and long time horizon to realize functional bearing strength sensors for missions such as Ship to Objective Maneuver and Logistics Over the Shore may be significantly reduced using today's micro-sensors. Likewise, new developments in unmanned vehicles may ease difficulties in sensor deployment and risk to human operators by using, for example, unmanned aerial vehicles to deploy sensors. DESCRIPTION: Design and fabricate a small, self-contained geotechnical measurement system, which may be expendable and/or air-deployed, that will provide quantitative bearing strength measurements and/or other geotechnical parameters related to trafficability that can be assimilated into environmental modeling systems. PHASE I: Develop and document concept and preliminary design for a self-contained system capable of providing geotechnical parameters necessary to determine trafficability in a range of environments typically encountered in amphibious operations. Document how the system would operate; what parameters or quantities will be measured by the system and the relationship of the measured quantities to sediment bearing strength and perhaps other descriptors of trafficability; any technical issues; and provide a preliminary concept of operations for the system. Innovative approaches to deployment of such systems are encouraged. PHASE II: Develop and document critical design of the prototype system described in Phase I. Fabricate a prototype. Demonstrate the prototype system in one or more field experiments. Document how the system would operate; what parameters or quantities will be measured by the system and the relationship of the measured quantities to sediment bearing strength and perhaps other descriptors of trafficability; any technical issues; and provide a preliminary concept of operations for the system. PHASE III: Support one or more Navy and/or USMC field experiments to demonstrate system operation and output. Complete the transition of the technology to allow its use by amphibious operations mission planners and operators. The transition method for the technology at the conclusion of the SBIR project is for the technology to be tested and demonstrated in an operational environment. PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL/DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: An easily deployed geotechnical measurement system will have application to commercial and military construction industries as well as environmental engineers. REFERENCES: 2. Jenkins, S.A., 1985, Clandestine Methods for the Determination of Beach Trafficability, SIOREF-85-27, Scripps Institution of Oceanography Reference Series. 3. Johnson, B.A., 1986, Geotechnical Diver Tools, Military Engineer, August 1986, 453-456. 5. Stoll, R. D. and T. Akal 1999: XBP - A tool for rapid assessment of seabed sediment properties, Sea Technology, Vol 40, No. 2, pp. 47-51. KEYWORDS: bearing strength; geotechnical; trafficability; cone penetrometer;
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