Terrain Accessibility Prediction for a New Multi axle Armoured Wheeled Vehicle

Abstract

Better terrain accessibility of military vehicle makes it possible to project force at desired points in a theatre of operation. The factors responsible for terrain accessibility are slope, obstacles and soil. Torque requirement for meeting vehicle speed and gradient requirement is understood and can be analytically arrived at. It can be met by appropriate choice of engine and transmission using. There is dearth of information as well as a common metric in quantification of terrain accessibility especially soft soil trafficability. Approach adopted in this study is that of characterisation of vehicle in terms of mobility characteristic and mobility limit parameters and comparing them with vehicle in-service worldwide. Simple empirical relation has been preferred over complex analytical approach for mobility prediction and gradient climbing capability in sand has been predicted and compared with other vehicles. parametric study for tyre sizes vis-a-vis mobility parameters have been obtained and results have been presented for chosen vehicle configuration. Second part of this study is obstacle crossing capability study for standard set of obstacles. Vehicle model has been built in multi-body environment and parameters of significance viz., wheel displacement to verify correctness of model and acceleration at CG for ride comfort and ground reactions for evaluation of dynamic loads on axles have been obtained. Vehicle drivetrain configuration to achieve desired terrain accessibility in terms of soft-soil trafficability and obstacle crossing has been demonstrated.