Cranfield goes off-road

has launched its Off-Road Dynamics Facility (ORD) at its Silsoe site in Bedfordshire. The facility – the only one of its type in the

– studies the relationship between machines and the soil environment in controlled conditions. The facility was officially opened by Richard Parry-Jones CBE, Vice President and Chief Technical Officer at the Ford Motor Company.

The National Soil Resources Institute (NSRI), part of the School of Applied Sciences at Cranfield, developed the £1.5 million facility to expand capability in the area of machine and soil interaction. The ORD will provide important research information to a number of diverse industries, including motorsport, aviation, agriculture, defence, telecommunications and sports surfaces.

Backed by Land Rover, Claas, Case New Holland (CNH) and Deutz, the ORD facility is based around four unique pieces of equipment developed at Cranfield.

They include a “whole vehicle” controlled moisture soil lane – the first in the UK. The soil lane consists of a large open top tank built into the structure of the building to provide a 45 metre long, 5 metre wide trough into which soil can be placed in a highly controlled and repeatable manner. The significant width and depth of the soil volume allows the testing of complete off-road vehicles, components or equipment without significant variation. The water level in this vast bin can be controlled to simulate a range of conditions from the saturated sea-bed encountered in sub-sea cable laying, through to hard compact dirt roads and airstrips