The objective of this projectis the assessment of pulverizer technology using the CMI/Terex RS-325Roto-Mixer for the construction of contingency semi-preparedairfields for C-130 and C-17 military aircraft.

This machine is utilized as aReclaimer/Stabilizer (commonly known as the Pulverizer machine) toprovide soil stabilization through pulverization, and injection ofwater and polymer emulsions to the soil for the construction of roadsand airfield pavement structures. This project is part of the JointRapid Airfield Construction (JRAC) program. JRAC has severaltechnologies that are currently under investigation, and new researchis being developed every day. The military engineers have to be ableto meet the Soldier needs of rapidly selecting, stabilizing, andconstructing contingency airfields in severe environments.

These airfields will beconstructed with equipment that must be transportable via the C-130aircraft. The RS-325 pulverizer was used during the 2004 JRACdemonstration in Ft. Bragg, NC to construct contingency airfields forthe C-130 aircraft in a time frame of 96 hours with state of the artequipment. This research project involves the assessment of thepulverizer technology using the RS-325 for the construction ofcontingency airfields for the C-17 aircraft. This research alsoinvolved the construction of a test section to evaluate theperformance and mixing requirements of the RS-325 pulverizer. Thetest section provided an evaluation of the mixing properties atdifferent depths with fibers, liquid polymers, and Portland cement(Type III).

This will allow monitoring,quantifying, and optimizing the mixing and stabilizing process usingthe RS-325 at different speeds and application rates in silty sand(SM) soils. The pulverizer will be mixing the top 10.12 in (25.4.30.5cm) of blended SM material, to simulate the stabilization conditionsfor a C-17 aircraft. Several challenges in this project wereidentifying when the pulverizer had properly mixed the total amountof stabilizers with the SM material, developing new measurementtechniques to determine the mixing efficiency and stabilizer contentfrom three different depth locations.

This paper will include theconstruction details of the test section, and data collectionfindings as well as some recommendations for the use of thepulverizer machine. The RS-325 pulverizer was the only pulverizermixer that fit into a C-130 aircraft without waivers, therefore theonly pulverizer that was evaluated in support of the JRAC research.