Theoretical Studies of Forwarder Productivity with Limited Impact on Soils

Abstract

Wheeled forest machines currently dominate the logging industry in Russia and in the world. Every year in Russia, the share of machine-made wood harvesting using Scandinavian technology increases, which involves felling trees, delimbing, and bucking them at a swath. Moreover, this technology is used not only for conventional two-machine systems with harvester and forwarder. In some regions of Siberia three-machine systems are gaining popularity. They consist of a feller-buncher, a swath processor, and a forwarder for skidding obtained logs. The issue of increasing the efficiency of forwarders is relevant for the timber industry. Its solving is possible on the basis of a comprehensive assessment of design solutions with the use of modern modeling and process optimization tools at the stage of development design. This approach requires deep theoretical and experimental research and is of great scientific and practical interest. When determining the maximum volume of skidded wood, the following machine limitations are considered: by bearing capacity; by tangential traction force; by the traction of the mover with the soil (tangential traction force should not exceed the traction force of the mover with the driving surface – the soil of the logging site). Besides this, there are recommendations to limit the weight of the skidder with the load, based on the permissible track depth after the first pass of the machine; it is believed that this figure should not exceed 20 cm. This statement is supported by the results of studies of the track development under the cyclic influence of the wheel mover (that is when the forwarder repeatedly passes the same section of the portage). This raises the question of forwarder productivity in the skidding operation with the regard to the track depth limitation. For citation: Burmistrova O.N., Prosuzhih A.A., Khitrov E.G., Kunitskaya O.A., Luneva E.N. Theoretical Studies of Forwarder Productivity with Limited Impact on Soils. Lesnoy Zhurnal [Russian Forestry Journal], 2021, no. 3, pp. 101–116. DOI: 10.37482/0536-1036-2021-3-101-116