Terramechanics and soil–wheel interactions for road vehicle applications

The current research concerns the analysis and development of a soil-wheel interaction model intended for application in road vehicles, in order to support virtual vehicle development processes. As a first step, a review of the literature is conducted which reveals the absence of a reliable tyre model for off-road applications. In addition, it highlights two critical performance items for the soil-wheel interaction; tractive effort and rolling resistance. The rolling resistance is generated by soil compaction, horizontal soil displacement and tyre flexibility, while the tractive effort is generated by the soil shearing behaviour at the soil-wheel interface. Existing models for soil compaction (i.e. pressure-sinkage) are initially evaluated for their accuracy and applicability using literature data, but their performance is unsatisfactory. In addition, a large experimental campaign is conducted using two soil types and various experimental processes such as pressure-sinkage on flat and curved plates, shear tests, rolling wheel tests. [Continues.]