Longitudinal dynamics of a tracked vehicle: Simulation and experiment

In recent years virtual dynamic system simulation has become very important in the design and development stage, as new strategies can be examined without expensive measurements and with reduced time. This paper describes the development of a simulation model for transient analysis of the longitudinal dynamics of a heavy tracked vehicle. The driving inputs for this simulation model are obtained from a powertrain model. The main elements of the powertrain include the engine, Torque Converter (TC), transmission and drivetrain. Here the engine is modeled based on the engine maps from steady-state experiments. The TC is modeled based on its characteristic map from experiments. A fairly simple transmission model is used which is based on static gear ratios assuming small shift times. The final drivetrain model however includes the rotational dynamics of the sprocket. The simulation model developed is validated by comparing the predicted values with the measured data from experiments. The results have demonstrated that the developed model is able to predict fairly accurately the acceleration and braking performance of the heavy tracked vehicle on both soft and hard terrain.

► The proposed power train model can be used to study the acceleration and braking performance of a tracked vehicle.
► This model can easily be integrated into vehicle ride and handling simulation models.
► This model can also be used as a stand-alone model.
► This model can also be used in Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) simulation as it can be executed in real time.
► The integration of several sub-system models to form the power train model is a new attempt in this work.