Since the founding of terramechanics as a distinct discipline more than five decades ago, much progress has been made in the field. Improved understanding of the physical nature of vehicle-terrain interaction and advances in the analysis of the mechanics of wheel/track-terrain interaction have led to the development of comprehensive and realistic computer-aided methods for performance and design evaluation of off-road vehicles. These methods take into account all major vehicle design parameters and pertinent terrain characteristics, and are user-friendly. The development of these computer-aided methods greatly facilitates the transfer of advanced knowledge in terramechanics to practicing engineers. Examples given in this paper of applying these computer-aided methods to the development and design of innovative, high-mobility military vehicles, and to the evaluation of the performance of the running gear of extraterrestrial rovers have demonstrated their capabilities and usefulness as engineering tools for practitioners. It should be noted that these computer-aided methods are primarily designed for evaluating vehicle performance at relatively low operating speeds and in the normal slip range. To predict vehicle mobility at high operating speeds and in the high-slip range, further research on the dynamic behaviour of the terrain and on the slip-sinkage phenomenon will be required. In recent years, the application of computational methods, such as the FEM and the DEM, to the study of vehicle mobility has attracted considerable interest. While progress has been made, the application of these methods to evaluating terrestrial or extraterrestrial vehicle performance is still in the nascent state. To develop these methods to the point that can be considered to be useful engineering tools for the practicing engineer in evaluating vehicle mobility in the field, they face considerable challenges. These include the development of reliable methods for determining the parameters of the elements to realistically represent the behaviour of natural terrain in its undisturbed state, and the extending of the application of these methods to the study of the interaction between an entire vehicle and the terrain. Furthermore, these computational methods are computationally intensive. Improvement in computation technology, including both hardware and software, to reduce the required computation time to a practical level is one of the key challenges to making these methods, particularly the DEM, engineering tools for the practitioner in the evaluation of vehicle mobility in the field.
Terramechanics and its applications to the evaluation of terrestrial and extraterrestrial vehicle mobility: theory into practice
International Journal of Vehicle Design ; 65 , 4 ; 384-410
2014
27 Seiten, Bilder, Tabellen, Quellen
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Englisch
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