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The forest industry around the world is facing common challenges in accessing wood fiber on steep terrain. Fully mechanized harvesting systems based on specialized machines, such as winch-assist forwarders, have been specifically developed for improving the harvesting performances in steep grounds. While the mechanization process is recognized as a safety benefit, the use of cables for supporting the machine traction needs a proper investigation. Only a few studies have analyzed the cable tensile forces of winch-assist forwarders during real operations, and none of them focused on large machines normally used in North America. Consequently, a preliminary study focused on tensile force analysis of large winch-assist forwarders was conducted in three sites in the interior of British Columbia during the fall of 2017. The results report that in 86% of the cycles, the maximum working load of the cable was less than one-third of the minimum breaking load. The tensile force analysis showed an expected pattern of minimum tensile forces while the forwarders were traveling or unloading on the road site and high tensile forces when operating on steep trails, loading or traveling. Further analysis found that the maximum cycle tensile forces occurred most frequently when the machines were moving uphill, independently of whether they were empty or loaded. While the forwarders were operating on the trails, slope, travel direction, and distance of the machines from the anchor resulted statistically significant and able to account for 49% of tensile force variability. However, in the same conditions, the operator settings accounted for 77% of the tensile force variability, suggesting the human factor as the main variable in cable tensile force behavior during winch-assist operations.

The growing interest in accessing steep terrain is pushing the expansion of the operating range of ground-based machines through winch-assist technology. However, cable tensile forces remain a major concern in the advancement of this technology. In this study, cable tensile forces in a winch-assist harvesting operation based on an anchor machine configuration were investigated. A harvesting machine tethered on ground slopes of up to 103% (45.9°) was observed over four days. Cable tensile forces were recorded at both the harvesting and anchor machines, at a frequency of 100 and 10 Hz, respectively. Cameras and GNSS devices enabled the execution of a time and motion study and the recording of machine positions. At the harvesting machine, peak tensile forces of up to 400 kN were recorded. Downhill movements of the harvesting machine were the cause of the highest peaks which, however, never exceeded the endurance limit of the cable. Numerous local variations in cable tensile forces exceeded 50 kN for just a few hundredths of a second, with a maximum variation of 300 kN in less than a second. Movements of the harvesting machine were the main cause of the major local variations. Depending on work element and harvesting machine movements, cable tensile forces were higher at either the harvesting or anchor machines; however, the highest peak tensile forces per work element and the related working loads were always recorded at the harvesting machine. Some implementation steps for improving the safety of winch-assist harvesting operations using anchor machines are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10342-021-01385-w [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the editor's updates and views for the "Western Journal of Applied Forestry" (WJAF) including the continuous quality and diversity of manuscripts, 46 manuscripts submitted for the 2011 issue, and the increase of submission in the Field Notes.

People who the author would like to thank for their assistance in the creation of the journal "Western Journal of Applied Forestry" are mentioned.