Real-time model for simulating a tracked vehicle on deformable soils

Abstract

Simulation is one possibility to gain insight into the behaviour of tracked vehicles on deformable soils. A lot of publications are known on this topic, but most of the simulations described there cannot be run in real-time. The ability to run a simulation in real-time is necessary for driving simulators. This article describes an approach for real-time simulation of a tracked vehicle on deformable soils. The components of the real-time model are as follows: a conventional wheeled vehicle simulated in the Multi Body System software TRUCKSim, a geometric description of landscape, a track model and an interaction model between track and deformable soils based on Bekker theory and Janosi–Hanamoto, on one hand, and between track and vehicle wheels, on the other hand. Landscape, track model, soil model and the interaction are implemented in MATLAB/Simulink. The details of the real-time model are described in this article, and a detailed description of the Multi Body System part is omitted. Simulations with the real-time model are compared to measurements and to a detailed Multi Body System–finite element method model of a tracked vehicle. An application of the real-time model in a driving simulator is presented, in which 13 drivers assess the comfort of a passive and an active suspension of a tracked vehicle.

An Analytical Model for Predicting Ground Pressure under a Rigid-Flexible Tracked Vehicle on Soft Ground

“…For a rigid-exible tracked vehicle with the number of roadwheels N, the number of rigid grouser R, and the number of exible tracks Q, when the track segments are in equilibrium conditions, the vertical and horizontal forces of the entire system are satis ed (equations (15)- (16)). Finally, the entire track system can be repeatedly analyzed via equations (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16). Figure 4: Force acting on the track segment between roadwheels.…”

Steering Stability Control for Four-Motor Distributed Drive High-Speed Tracked Vehicles

“…Therefore, the calculated output speed to the driving wheel is n c = 2452r/min. According to (23), the speed of the inner and outer driving wheels is calculated as: n 1 = 1260r/min, n 2 = 1392r/min. From the above calculations, it can be seen that the maximum speed n c of the driving wheel obtained from the structural characteristic parameters is greater than n 1 and n 2 , so the structural characteristic parameters can meet the speed requirements for high-speed steering.…”

Multibody simulation of a tracked vehicle with deformable ground contact model

“…Steel tracks are usually modelled with rigid links 18 connected by different types of joints: revolute joints, 14 bushing elements 19 or beams. 17 Impulsive forces may take place in tracked vehicles due to the contacts between the track links and the sprockets, the front idle wheels and the road wheels, as well as the ground. These forces cause numerical problems during the integration of the vehicle equations of motion.…”

“…14 Bekker and Janosi–Hanamoto laws are implemented to describe the normal and tangential forces between wheel or track and soil. 15–17 The first law describes the normal pressure distribution on the surface involved by the contact with tire or track, assuming the soil as a purely plastic medium. The second law defines the shear stress supported by the terrain determining the final drawbar pull of the vehicle.…”

“…Steel tracks are usually modelled with rigid links 18 connected by different types of joints: revolute joints, 14 bushing elements 19 or beams. 17…”