title: Physical soil properties and slope treatments effects on hydraulic excavator productivity for forest road construction.
abstract: Effects of moisture, porosity and soil bulk density properties, grubbing time and terrain side slopes on pc 220 komatsu hydraulic excavator productivity were investigated in Miana forests road construction project which located in the northern forest of Iran. Soil moisture and porosity determined by samples were taken from undisturbed soil. The elements of daily works were measured with a digital stop watch and video camera in 14 observations (days). The road length and cross section profiles after each 20 m were selected to estimate earthworks volume. Results showed that the mean production rates for the pc 220 komatsu excavators were 60.13 m3 h(-1) and earthwork 14.76 m h(-1) when the mean depth of excavation or cutting was 4.27 m3 m(-1), respectively. There was no significant effects (p = 0.5288) from the slope classes' treatments on productivity, whereas grubbing time, soil moisture, bulk density and porosity had significantly affected on excavator earthworks volume (p < 0.0001). Clear difference was showed between the earthwork length by slope classes (p = 0.0060). Grubbing time (p = 0.2180), soil moisture (p = 0.1622), bulk density (p = 0.2490) and porosity (p = 0.2159) had no significant effect on the excavator earthworks length.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forestry, Faculty of Natural Resources, Mazandaran University, Sari, Mazandaran Province, Islamic Republic of Iran.
authors.forename: Aidin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Parsakho
authors.forename: Seyed Ataollah
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Hosseini
authors.forename: Hamid
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jalilvand
authors.forename: Majid
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lotfalian
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D007492:Iran; D012987:Soil; D014186:Transportation
chemical_list: D012987:Soil