A new method for researching terramechanics problems of underwater tracked vehicles

Abstract

In the process of mining the seabed resources, underwater tracked vehicles (UTVs) penetrate and shear the seabed during walking. Traditionally, the bevameter technique is widely chosen to research the above processes. However, the bevameter technique does not reflect the track-soil interaction, which includes ignoring the grousers’ effect in the penetration process and the connection between these two processes. In order to better simulate the track-soil interaction, here, a new method is proposed based on the torsional penetrometer that can integrate the penetration process and the shearing process into a continuous simulation, while the grousers’ effect is reflected. Furthermore, the corresponding formulas of key driving indicators are derived. To verify the validity of the new method, a set of comparative tests were carried out. The results indicated that the peak pressure of the new method was 20% bigger than those of the traditional method due to the consideration of the grousers’ effect, the peak shear stress and residual stress of the new method were respectively 33% and 30% bigger due to the continuous simulation, all of which showed the new method’s reliability and applicability.