A CONTROL SYSTEM OF THE TIRE INFLATION PRESSURE FOR RUNNING OF A WHEEL SYSTEM VEHICLE ON SOFT TERRAIN

摘要

The purpose of this study is to inquire into the primary factor closely for running of a wheel system vehicle on soft terrain. So far the inflation pressure of an off-the-road tire was used as in constant under operation, and when the equivalent elastic modulus of a tire was higher than that of terrain the tire was regarded as a rigid wheel. The object of the test is 1000-R20 off-the-road tire to be set an initial inflation pressure of 550 kPa. The experiments on pure rolling were made running tests on soft terrain for 3-pattern inflation pressure (550 kPa, 450 kPa, and 350 kPa). The sinkage, the deflection of tire and the stress distribution were measured. It was observed that the sinkage is accompanied by the set of the inflation pressure of the tire. Furthermore, it was clarified that even though the equivalent elastic modulus of a tire was higher than that of terrain, the tire shows the behavior of elastic wheel. As a result, the running performance of vehicle could be controlled by using the set of inflation pressure.