A Rig for Testing the Soft Soil Performance of Track Systems

Abstract

For a given level of performance the track and suspension system of a military tracked vehicle must be as light and compact as possible to maximize weight and volume available for crew and payload (armour protection, weapon and communication systems, ammunition, fuel, etc). Although track systems have been used on military vehicles for some seventy years method for predicting their performance in soft soil - and actual performance measurements - are limited and, even with its shortcomings, the nominal ground pressure term remains the performance comparator most commonly used by vehicle designers. This is partly because of the complexity of devising, proving and using improved methods and partly because military vehicle testing and training areas tend to be on sandy frictional soils where tracked vehicles rarely exhibit mobility problems.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 1984
Accession Number
ADP004272

Entities

People

  • E. B. Maclaurin

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Armored Vehicles
  • Bearing Capacity
  • Coefficients
  • Communication Systems
  • Drive Sprockets
  • Drives
  • Dynamic Response
  • Final Drives
  • Measurement
  • Military Vehicles
  • Pressure Distribution
  • Resistance
  • Self Propelled
  • Sprockets
  • Tracked Vehicles
  • Traction
  • Vehicles

Readers

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Aerospace Test and Evaluation
  • Systems Analysis and Design