A 1.5-meter channel runs along the bank foot of Lake Kasumigaura, Ibaraki Prefecture. From fields and rice paddies that surround the area, soil drains into this channel and accumulates in the bottom. Unless removed, the accumulated soil degenerates the functions of the channel, and in the long run, possibly drain into .Lake Kasumigaura.With such anticipation, the Ministry of Construction has introduced the "Bank-foot channel cleaning work truck," a compact, highly mobile 11-ton truck installed with apparatuses necessary from absorbing to dewatering soil accumulated. Major advantages of the truck are: a suction robot, operated by wireless controller, runs pulling a suction hose by own driving system; and all apparatuses mounted on the truck are automatically-operated.Each apparatus was designed based on calculation and experiment, and specifications were designed to satisfy each function. Special attention was paid to the design of the suction robot, as well as to the balance between apparatuses mounted on a limited space on the truck bed.After factory testing, we conducted a site test, and confirmed that the truck has a soil collection capacity even higher than expected. However, repeated testing has shown that the truck requires further improvement. We intend to institute changes that will enhance its functions.

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The effects of data conditioning on the mass and drag coefficients (Cm & Cd) are reviewed by two geometric and one numerical interpretations. Two geometric analyses of data conditioning proposed by Dean demonstrate that when the Dean eccentricity parameter E equals unity, the data are equally well-conditioned for determining Cm & Cd. For simple harmonic data, the Dean eccentricity parameter may be shown to be proportional to the Keulegan-Carpenter parameter, K; ie., E=4K/2ir2. When E 1.0, then K=11.40 and the Dean error ellipse is a circle with zero eccentricity. The matrix condition number of the 2 x 2 matrix used to determine Cm & Cd in a best leastsquares sense becomes unity when K=13.16 and E=1.15. Two sets of experimental data are compared with the two geometric and one numerical analyses.