Corrugated iron runway

Gravel road in Fremont (California) with stronger corrugated iron-like bumps.

Gravel road with corrugated iron-like bumps.

So-called "corrugations" in Kalbarri National Park, Western Australia .

As gravel track (from the English often borrows washboard slope ) refers to a dirt road , the transverse to the direction of ground waves similar to a corrugated metal pattern has.

The wave-like appearance resembles ripples that form when fluids flow over finely divided solids ( loose sediments ) and surround them on the surface.

properties

The prerequisite for the creation of the structure are heavy vehicles that drive sufficiently quickly over a road whose surface layer is loosely piled up. A depression on the road causes intensive ground contact with the vehicle's wheel. When driving out of the depression, the wheel moves upwards as if on a ramp in order to prepare another depression in the ground after a short jump. The speed (greater than 3 km / h), mass, wheel width and density of the loose floor covering determine the size and position of the bumps.

literature

Nicolas Taberlet, Stephen W. Morris, Jim N. McElwaine: Washboard Road: The dynamics of granular ripples formed by rolling wheels. Physical Review Letters. Vol. 99, No. 6, 2007, Item No. 68003, doi: 10.1103 / PhysRevLett.99.068003 (alternative full text access : arxiv : 0711.3872 )

Web links

Commons : Corrugated iron slopes - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

How are washboard slopes created? Summary of the article by Taberlet and colleagues in the Physical Review Letters (2007) on the German-language website pro-physik.de
Is it because of the drivers that unpaved roads are turning into "corrugated iron roads"? Article by Christoph Dösser in the Zeit-Online-column Is it right? , also referring to the article by Taberlet and colleagues