Off-road tractive performance assessment of a wheeled vehicle

Terramechanics is a field which investigates the interaction of soil, formation of traction and motion limits for a vehicle to be used on terrain. Behavior of soil and interaction between soil and tires are the most important subjects to determine design criterias affecting the performance of off-road vehicles on terrain. Semi empirical methods have been developed with the assumption of soil as an elastic-plastic material in order to understand real behavior of soil. The purpose of this study is modeling the mobility of a vehicle on a deformable soil and predicting the performance of a vehicle by using semi empirical soil mechanic equations. Pressure-sinkage and shear stress-deformation equations are combined with the vehicle performance model. Performance characteristics such as acceleration and maximum speed are calculated with the created mathematic model for a vehicle on a specific terrain. Algorithm, which is created with the combination of vehicle performance model and terramechanics equations, the effects on soil traction are assessed for tire dimensions, inflation pressure and vehicle mass.