Wan Ishak

Tractive performance of a designed and developed segmented rubber tracked vehicle on Sepang peat terrain during straight motion: theoretical analysis and experimental substantiation

The vehicle field tests were conducted on three different types of peat terrains: terrain type I, terrain type II and terrain type III with two loading conditions at travelled speeds of 6 km/h and 10 km/h. The different tractive efforts of the vehicle were found during field testing due to the hydrodynamic effect, different cohesiveness and the internal frictional angle. The significant difference of the vehicle slippages were found due to the variation of the moisture content of the terrain. The least variability between the measured data over the predicted data substantiates the validity of the mathematical model.

Simulated steerability of a segmented rubber tracked vehicle during turning on sepang peat terrain in Malaysia

A simulation study on the steerability of a segmented rubber tracked vehicle on low-bearing-capacity peat terrain is performed by considering the position of the vehicles turning pole. A set of mathematical equations in the analytical model is used to predict all the important operating parameters of the vehicle during turning to establish the vehicles steerability. Seven road wheels are used on each side of the track in order to avoid the track deflection between two consecutive road wheels. A road wheel diameter of 0.22 m and road wheel spacing of 0.225 m are employed to keep the track on the terrain as a rigid footing. The simulation of vehicle steerability in this study is focused on considering the vehicles speed of 10 km/h. The turning pole coincides with the same level of the amount of eccentricity of nominal ground pressure and the resultant turning moment resistance.

Traction mechanics of the designed and developed segmented rubber track vehicle for Sepang peat terrain in Malaysia during turning motion: theoretical and experimental analysis

The traction mechanics of the vehicle was developed based on the track-terrain interaction mechanism. The simulation results indicated that the vehicle with full payload turning on peat terrain should be turning 2m radius at least for the fulfilment of vehicle floatation ability; 4m radius or less for the fulfilment of vehicle turning ability; and at 4m radius at least for the fulfilment of vehicle turning stability. The vehicle was tested on the three different terrains: terrain type I, terrain type II, and terrain type III. The maximum percentage of tractive effort variation was found for terrain type I because of the lowest moisture content.