A roll stability performance measure for off-road vehicles

The roll stability is significant for both road and off-road commercial vehicles, while the majority of reported studies focus on road vehicles neglecting the contributions of uneven off-road terrains. The limited studies on roll stability of off-road vehicles have assessed the stability limits using performance measures derived for road vehicles. This study proposes an alternative performance measure for assessing roll stability limits of off-road vehicles. The roll dynamics of an off-road mining vehicle operating on random rough terrains are investigated, where the two terrain-track profiles are synthesized considering coherency between them. It is shown that a measure based on steady-turning root-mean-square lateral acceleration corresponding to the sustained period of unity lateral-load-transfer-ratio prior to the absolute-rollover, could serve as a reliable measure of roll stability of the vehicle operating on random rough terrains. The robustness of proposed performance measure is demonstrated considering sprung mass center height variations and different terrain excitations. The simulation results revealed adverse effects of terrain elevation magnitude on the roll stability, while a relatively higher coherency resulted in lower terrain roll-excitation and thereby enhanced vehicle roll stability. Terrains with relatively higher waviness increased the magnitude of lower spatial frequency components, which resulted in reduced roll stability limits.     

Track-terrain modelling and traversability prediction for tracked vehicles on soft terrain

Skid-steered tracked vehicles are the favoured platform for unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) in poor terrain conditions. However, the concept of skid-steering relies largely on track slippage to allow the vehicle to conduct turning manoeuvres potentially leading to overly high slip and immobility. It is therefore important to predict such vulnerable vehicle states in order to prevent their occurrence and thus paving the way for improved autonomy of tracked vehicles. This paper presents an analytical approach to track-terrain modelling and a novel traversability prediction simulator for tracked vehicles conducting steady-state turning manoeuvres on soft terrain. Traversability is identified by predicting the resultant track forces acting on the track-terrain interface and the adopted models are modified to provide an analytical generalised solution. The validity of the simulator has been verified by comparison with available data in the literature and through an in-house experimental study. The developed simulator can be employed as a traversability predictor and also as a design tool to test the performance of tracked vehicles with different vehicle geometries operating on a wide range of soil properties.     

Measurement and mathematical analysis of agricultural terrain and road profiles

Dynamic forces acting on tractors and implements are caused by, among other things, the unevenness of roads and field. This paper describes methods for the measurement and the mathematical representation of road and terrain profiles. The profile is regarded as a stochastic curve so that autocorrelation and power spectral density functions can be determined. The paper discusses the characteristics of different “agricultural profiles” and indicates how these can be used for the mathematical simulation of the dynamics of agricultural equipment.     

Analysis of the vibration-excitation effect caused by deformable soil surfaces

Terrain roughness induces vibrations in the chassis of vehicles moving cross-country. These vibrations affect the comfort of the occupants detrimentally and, when a certain rough ride condition is exceeded, the vehicle can no longer be controlled by the driver. This study deals with the relationship between terrain roughness and the vehicle traveling over it. In the case of deforming soil, the so called original soil profile is altered significantly by the vehicle. This study determines the original as well as the modified profiles, the latter being caused by the vehicle traveling over the former. The vehicle's transfer function is used to compute the effective profile, which generates the actual vibrations of the vehicle. These investigations are presented for several soil types and for a number of vehicles whose mass and running gear design are known.     

Exploring cold regions autonomous operations

The US Army must update its vehicle fleet to be better equipped for potential future military conflicts in northern climates (US Army, 2017). This process involves considering manned, optionally manned, and unmanned vehicles as viable options in the future. Optionally manned and unmanned vehicles in the armed forces have substantial benefits because they can operate without direct driver input or are able to perform missions deemed too dangerous for troops. Optionally manned vehicles allow the driver to shift some, or all, focus away from the task of driving the vehicle. In some cases, these autonomous vehicles may perform better than a human driver by rapidly sensing and reacting to terrain changes. Onboard sensing and decision making are equally applicable to both fully autonomous and teleoperated vehicles. This work will focus on the terrain sensing, waypoint navigation, and teleoperation potential of an optionally manned or unmanned vehicle. Results from a vehicle demonstration on two different terrain conditions will provide the basis for additional terrain sensing and autonomous vehicle development work in the coming year.     

Determination the ability of military vehicles to override vegetation

Military operations usually include movement over existing roads and also through natural terrain. Wooded terrain is one of the most challenging environments which affect vehicle mobility. The ability of a vehicle to cross a forest area depends on the possibility of determining if the vehicle is able to manoeuvre between tree stems or can override individual trees. Overriding tree obstacles can be more effective if a vehicle needs a shorter time to cross some tree stems rather than manoeuvring around them. Vehicle movement to cross a forest stand depends on vegetation factors as the stem diameter, stem spacing, and also on tree root parameters, which determine the mechanical tree stability, and a vehicle’s ability to override the trees. Also, the technical parameters (width, length, turning radius, weight, traction force) of the selected military vehicle are important to classify the cross-country movement options. This study describes both the theoretical predictions of the movement of vehicles in forest stands and summarizes the results of one of the most extensive testing of vehicles’ ability to cross individual trees.     

Theoretical and practical aspects of the ride dynamics of off-road vehicles-part 2

This part of the paper emphasises the practical aspects of measuring vehicle motion and terrain profiles. Methods of inducing vibrations in vehicles under test in laboratory and field conditions are evaluated. Recent survey and evaluation of methods for measuring and analysing terrain profiles are discussed, as are ride and suspension performance measurements, and human response to vibration. Methods for quantifying vehicle ride are compared, and the Draft Revision of ISO 2631 is recommended as the best currently available approach.     

A spatial motion analysis model of tracked vehicles with torsion bar type suspension

A spatial motion analysis model for high-mobility tracked vehicles was constructed for evaluation of ride performance, steerability, and stability on rough terrain. Ordinary high-mobility tracked vehicles are equipped with independent torsion bar type suspension system, which consists of road arms and road wheels. The road arm rotates about the axis of torsion bar, and rigidity of the torsion bar and cohesion of damper absorb sudden force change exerted by interaction with the ground. The motion of the road arms should be considered for the evaluation of off-road vehicle performance in numerical analysis model. In order to obtain equations of motion for the tracked vehicles, the equations of motion for the vehicle body and for the assembly of a road wheel and a road arm were constructed separately at first. Two sets of equations were reduced with the constraint equations, which the road arms are mechanically connected to the vehicle body. The equations of motion for the vehicle have been expressed with minimal set of variables of the same number as the degrees of freedom for the vehicle motion. We also included the effect of track tension in the equations without constructing equations of motion for the tracks. Numerical simulation based on the vehicle model and experiment of a scale model passing over a trapezoidal speed bump were performed in order to examine the numerical model. It was found that the numerical results reasonably predict the vehicle motion.     

Prediction of impacts of wheeled vehicles on terrain

Traffic of off-road vehicles can disturb soil, decrease vegetation development, and increase soil erosion. Terrain impacts caused by wheeled off-road vehicles were studied in this paper. Models were developed to predict terrain impacts caused by wheeled vehicles in terms of disturbed width and impact severity. Disturbed width and impact severity are not only controlled by vehicle types and vehicle dimensions, but also influenced by soil conditions and vehicle dynamic properties (turning radius, velocity). Field tests of an eight-wheeled vehicle and a four-wheeled vehicle were conducted to test these models. Field data of terrain–vehicle interactions in different vehicle dynamic conditions were collected. Vehicle dynamic properties were derived from a global position system (GPS) based tracking system. The average prediction percentage error of the theoretical disturbed width model is less than 20%. The average absolute error between the predicted impact severity and the measured value is less than an impact severity value of 12%. These models can be used to predict terrain impacts caused by off-road wheeled vehicles.     

The effect of velocity on rigid wheel performance

A simulation model to predict the effect of velocity on rigid-wheel performance for off-road terrain was examined. The soil–wheel simulation model is based on determining the forces acting on a wheel in steady state conditions. The stress distribution at the interface was analyzed from the instantaneous equilibrium between wheel and soil elements. The soil was presented by its reaction to penetration and shear. The simulation model describes the effect of wheel velocity on the soil–wheel interaction performances such as: wheel sinkage, wheel slip, net tractive ratio, gross traction ratio, tractive efficiency and motion resistance ratio. Simulation results from several soil-wheel configurations corroborate that the effect of velocity should be considered. It was found that wheel performance such as net tractive ratio and tractive efficiency, increases with increasing velocity. Both, relative wheel sinkage and relative free rolling wheel force ratio, decrease as velocity increases. The suggested model improves the performance prediction of off-road operating vehicles and can be used for applications such as controlling and improving off-road vehicle performance.     

Calculating fractal parameters from low-resolution terrain profiles

Driver comfort on rough terrain is an important factor in the off-road performance of wheeled and tracked ground vehicles. The roughness of a terrain has typically been quantified by the U.S. Army as the root-mean-square elevation deviation (RMS) of the terrain profile. Although RMS is an important input into many mobility calculations, it is not scale invariant, making it difficult to estimate RMS from low resolution terrain profiles. Fractal parameters are another measure of roughness that are scale invariant, making them a convenient proxy for RMS. While previous work found an empirical relationship between fractal dimension and RMS, this work will show that, by including the cutoff length, an analytic relationship between fractal properties and RMS can be employed. The relationship has no free parameters and agrees very well with experimental data - thus providing a powerful predictive tool for future analyses and a reliable way to calculate surface roughness from low-resolution terrain data in a way that is scale invariant. In addition, we show that this method applies to both man-made ride courses and natural terrain profiles.     

Indoor testing of road vehicle suspensions

The paper presents a method for the indoor testing of road vehicle suspension systems. A car suspension is positioned on a rotating drum located in the Laboratory for the Safety of Transport at the Politecnico di Milano and it is excited as the wheel passes over a cleat fixed on the drum. The wheel accelerations, displacements and the forces/moments acting at the suspension-chassis joints are measured in the frequency range 0–120 Hz. Five special six-axis load cells have been designed and used. Transient wheel motions have been recorded. The influence of the running conditions on the relevant performance indexes related to the vibration behavior of the tire/suspension system has been assessed.     

A methodology for quantitatively assessing vehicular rutting on terrains

This paper presents a quantitative method for assessing the environmental impact of terrain/vehicle interactions during tactical missions. Area wide mobility analyses were conducted using three standard US military tracked and wheeled vehicles over terrain regions representing both fine-grained and course-grained soils. The NATO reference mobility model, Version 2, was used to perform the on- and off-road mobility analysis. Vehicle and terrain characterizations along with different climate scenarios were used as input parameters to predict vehicle rut depth performance for the different vehicles and terrain conditions. The vehicles’ performance was statistically mapped over these terrain regions for percent area traveled and the resulting rut depth created by each vehicle. A selection of tactical scenarios for each vehicle was used to determine rut depth for a range of vehicle missions. A vehicle mission severity rating method, developed at the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, was used to rate the selected missions and resulting rut depths.     

Estimation of net traction for differential-steered wheeled robots

We present a method for estimating the net traction and resistive wheel torques for a suspensionless, differential-steered robot on rigid or deformable terrain. The method, based on extended Kalman-Bucy filtering (EKBF), determines time histories of net traction and resistive wheel torques and wheel slips during steady or transient maneuvers. This method assumes good knowledge of the vehicle dynamics and treats the unknown forces and moments due to terrain response as random variables to be estimated. A proprioceptive sensor suite renders a subset of the unknown forces and associated wheel slip and slip angles observable. This methodology decouples semi-empirical terramechanics models from the net effect of the vehicle-terrain interaction, namely the net traction developed by the vehicle on the terrain. By collecting sensor data and processing data off-line, force-slip characteristics are identified irrespective of the underlying terramechanics. These characteristics can in turn support development or validation of terramechanics models for the vehicle-terrain system. For autonomous robots, real-time estimates of force-slip characteristics can provide setpoints for traction and steering control, increasing vehicle performance, speed, and maneuverability. Finally, force-slip estimation is the first step in identifying terrain parameters during normal maneuvering. The methodology is demonstrated through both simulation and physical testing using a 13-kg robot.     

Soviet and Japanese oversnow vehicles

The Soviet Union has an overwhelming need for oversnow and adverse terrain transport since by their own definition over 60% of their country is considered as Arctic. They have developed a wide range of configurations and types of vehicles to fit their production capabilities and needs. Their vehicles in general are not sophisticated but rather emphasize ease of maintenance and simplicity. Their research however is based on investigating even exotic vehicle configurations.

Japan on the other hand has limited its work to a small number of vehicles to fit their limited needs in the Northern Islands. Their research has been based mainly on the development and improvement of a snow/road track which can be used to meet their specialized military requirements.     

The influence of strong crosswinds on safety of different types of road vehicles

Strong crosswinds have a great influence on the safety of road vehicles. Different vehicle types may have different behavior under strong crosswinds, thereby leading to different dominant accident modes and accident risks. In order to compare the crosswind stability of road vehicles, a probabilistic method based on reliability analysis has been applied in this paper. The crosswind is simulated as a stochastic gust model with nonstationary wind turbulence. The vehicles are classified into several categories. For each vehicle type, a worst case vehicle model and the corresponding aerodynamic coefficients have been identified. Dominant accident modes and failure probabilities have been computed and are compared. The influence of road conditions (dry/wet) and wind directions on the crosswind stability has been taken investigated. The proposed model makes it possible to compare the effect of crosswind on different vehicle types based on a risk analysis.

     

Rough terrain profiling using digital image correlation

Road profiling is an important aspect of vehicle dynamics simulations especially over rough terrains. The accurate measurement of rough terrains allows for more accurate multi body simulations. Three dimensional road profiles are usually performed by utilising a line scan sensor which measures several points lateral to the road. The sensors range from simple road following wheels to LiDAR sensors. The obtained line scans are longitudinally stitched together using the orientation and position of the sensor to obtain a full three dimensional road profile. The sensor’s position and orientation therefore needs to be accurately determined in order to combine the line scans to create an accurate representation of the terrain. The sensor’s position and orientation is normally measured using an expensive inertial measurement unit or Inertial Navigation System (INS) with high sensitivity, low noise and low drift. This paper proposes a road profiling technique which utilises stereography, based on two inexpensive digital cameras, to obtain three-dimensional measurements of the road. The system negates the use of an expensive INS system to determine orientation and position. The data sets also require subsampling which can be computationally expensive. A simple subsampling routine is presented which takes advantage of the structure of the data sets to significantly speed up the process.