Shelter Deployment at Former Army Camp Tuto, Greenland

• Main Authors: Aall, Christian D, Lever, James, Mercer, Jennifer, Weale, Jason
• Other Authors: ENGINEER RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER HANOVER NH COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Structural Engineering and Building Technology; *SHELTERS; ANCHORS(STRUCTURAL); COLD REGIONS; DEPLOYMENT; GREENLAND; INFLATABLE STRUCTURES; LOW TEMPERATURE; POLAR REGIONS; REUSABLE EQUIPMENT; SITES; SPACE(ROOM); SURVIVABILITY; WEATHER STATIONS; DURABILITY; EPOLAR(ENGINEERING FOR POLAR OPERATIONS LOGISTICS AND RESEARCH); EXTREME COLD WEATHER; INFLATABLE SHELTERS; NSF(NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION); RAPIDLY DEPLOYED BUILDINGS; LINERS; Frozen Lake; Greenland; Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA602392; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA602392

On behalf of the National Science Foundation, the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) and the Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC) collaborated to test a commercially produced, expedient shelter to assess whether it could meet needs for reusable storage space, temporary lodgings, or other infrastructure uses in extreme cold-weather locations. We obtained an inflatable shelter and deployed it on a frozen lake near former Army Camp Tuto in northwest Greenland. The shelter consisted of pressurized airbeams supporting a stretched-fabric skin, and we securely anchored it into the ice. Although nominally rated to withstand 65 mph wind gusts and 25 F air temperatures, the shelter disintegrated during a storm when these conditions occurred concurrently. The skin fabric succumbed to cold cracking from the combination of extreme cold temperatures and flapping during high winds. The airbeams were more durable, and we recovered them intact and still inflated. These results suggest that additional development and testing is needed to ensure that expedient shelters developed for less demanding environments can survive the extreme conditions commonly encountered in Polar Regions. The original document contains color images. Prepared in collaboration with the Expeditionary Basing and Collective Protection Directorate, U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC), Natick, MA.