New basics for efficient cable road design

The transport of timber with cable yarders is of great importance in the Swiss forestry. Planning a cable line is a complex and demanding task. Each cable road that is built must be documented as a project (EKAS 2017). Today's project planning tools calculate the rope mechanics with highly simplified methods based on empirical principles.

The project evaluates how scientific findings in cable mechanics, developments in remote sensing and mathematical optimization algorithms can contribute to more efficient cable road planning. Main research questions are comparative sag calculations according to the methods of Pestal and Zweifel, an algorithm for minimizing the number of supports and support heights, a more precise calculation of the occurring forces as well as the analysis of remote sensing data and detection methods for support tree identification.

The new methods will be tested and evaluated in practice together with selected forest contractors and forest enterprises.