Page 124 - Moving the Earth_ The Workbook of Excavation
P. 124
ROCK, SOIL, AND MUD
3.18 THE WORK
FIGURE 3.11 How geotextile works. (Courtesy of
Civil Engineering, ASCE.)
provides practically no support for machinery unless its weight is distributed over a large area
by platforms.
Work Delays. Mud is an impediment to work in many ways. Deep mud causes equipment to bog
down and to become useless until pulled out, and a film of mud may render firm footing danger-
ously slippery. Mud sticks to shovel buckets and truck bodies instead of dumping, and builds up
in chains and tracks until they jam. It holds objects lying on it by powerful suction so that they
become difficult or impossible to lift. When frozen, it can lock together and immobilize the most
powerful machines. And it is much heavier than the same amount of dry soil.
