Analysis of off-road vehicle performance on deformable terrain

Resumen

Terramechanics is the study of soil properties, specifically the interaction of wheeled or tracked vehicles on various surfaces. It is not a novel topic and the first studies date from the 50’s and the main papers are [1], [2] and [3]. However, nowadays there is still interest in the subject, as shown in [4], [5] and [6]. Areas such as spatial and military trafegability have special interest in terramechanics due to its need to keep moving at any cost. The importance of this study lies in the fact that the rolling resistance is strongly dependent on the behavior of the soil when it is considered deformable with plastic behavior. So, the objective of this paper is to present the rolling resistance of a tire on soft ground. To do so, the following components may be analysed: soil compaction, the displacement of soil particles and the bulldozing effect. We will focus on the two first parameters.