Investigation of all-wheel-drive off-road vehicle dynamics augmented by visco-lock devices

A peculiarity of AWD off-road vehicles is that their behaviour depends not only on the total power, provided by the engine, but also on its distribution among the drive axles/wheels. In turn, this distribution is largely regulated by the drivetrain layout and its torque distribution devices. At the output of the drivetrain system, the torque is constrained by the interaction between the wheels and the soft soil. For off-road automotive applications, the design of drivetrain systems has usually been largely dominated by the mobility requirements. With the growing demand to have a multipurpose on/off road vehicle with improved manoeuvrability over deformable soil, particularly at higher speed, the challenges confronting vehicle designers have become more complex. The thesis presents a novel integrated numerical approach to assess the dynamic behaviour of all-wheel-drive vehicles whilst operating over deformable soil terrain. [Continues.]