Video

Video by Christopher Kieffer

Power of ERDC podcast Ep. #23: Arctic Mobility

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Engineer Research and Development Center

April 26, 2023 | 45:10

Dr. Orian Welling and Michael Parker from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) talk about how the organization is helping the Department of Defense improve Arctic mobility during an April 26, 2023 episode of the Power of ERDC podcast. Welling is a research mechanical engineer and chief of the Force Projection and Sustainment Branch at ERDC's Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL). Parker is a research mechanical engineer at CRREL and is ERDC's cold regions mobility lead. Welling and Parker talk about how their unique backgrounds contribute to this research (6:41, 30:16), why the Army needs to study Arctic mobility (4:13), the unique challenges of the spring thaw (34:47), and how the expertise of CRREL’s mobility team (8:57) and the laboratory’s world-class specialized facilities (11:27) enable this capability. They also discuss specific projects, such as work on winter tires (16:54), mobility models (25:56) and cold weather autonomy (21:21). The Power of ERDC podcast is a behind-the-scenes look at ERDC’s involvement in solving some of the nation’s toughest engineering challenges.