COMPUTER EXPERIMENT TECHNIQUE FOR DETERMINING THE LOAD CAPACITY AND DIMENSIONS OF THE CARRYING COMPARTMENT OF A FOREST VEHICLE
The research purpose involved the formation of objective information on the weight of a hauled bundle of logs for wood enterprises and forest machinery manufacturers; contributing to the rational choice of specific models of forwarders and justification of their basic parameters for the natural and production conditions of the Northwestern Federal District. The research is based on a computer experiment and a large amount of actual data on the forms of tree trunks obtained with the help of the data recorders of harvesters. The Republic of Karelia was the collecting point of actual data on the forms of trunks. The following forwarder models were considered: John Deere 1210Е, John Deere 1110Е, Ponsse Elk, Ponsse Wisent, Аmkodor 2661-01, Rottne F13D, Rottne F15D, and Rottne F18D. The results have shown that the weight of a bundle varies within wide limits. On average, the weight of a bundle made up of 6.1 m long spruce sawlog is 4.5 t, and 4.0 m long spruce pulpwood is2.8 t. All the considered models have a stock of load capacity in transporting a bundle made up of 4 m long pulpwood. All the models of forwarders have insufficient load capacity in transporting a bundle made up of 6.1 m long sawlog. We recommend providing load capacity of at least 16 t for a cross-sectional area of the carrying compartment 4 m<sup>2</sup>, and not less than 19 t for the area of 4.8 m<sup>2</sup> for logging machines designers. It is necessary to upload the carrying compartment of forwarders not more than to three-fourths when transporting a bundle made up of 6.1 m long assortment. This will highly likely allow to exclude the overloading of scheduled capacity over the rated load capacity of a forest transport vehicle.