Investigation of Beach Sand Trafficability Enhancement Using Sand-Grid Confinement and Membrane Reinforcement Concepts. Report 2. Sand Test Sections 3 and 4.

Containerization of Army cargo for use in overseas theaters of operation is progressing. The discharging of containers from containerships and moving them across beaches in logistic over-the-shore operations is a problem that the Army must be capable of handling. This report is the second of a series investigating new concepts for beach sand trafficability enhancement for container hauling trucks. The objectives of this phase were to further investigate the beach sand trafficability enhancement potential of various sand-grid concepts and to test new membrane reinforcement and asphalt stabilization concepts. Two test sections containing a total of 10 test items were constructed and subjected to test traffic. The tests included eight sand-grid items and two sand-asphalt items. One sand-grid item and one sand-asphalt item contained membrane reinforcement. The sand-grid items included rectangular, hexagonal, and square aluminum grids. One test section was trafficked using channelized traffic and the other using a distributed traffic pattern similar to actual truck traffic on a highway.