DEVELOPMENT OF IN-TRACK SENSOR SYSTEM FOR THREE DIMENSIONAL MEASUREMENT OF PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION ON LOOSE SOIL

摘要

Tracked vehicle has been widely used for off-road mobility system since the track achieves stable traveling performance and provides better traction power as compared to tire-driven system. The traction performance of the tracked vehicle has been empirically analyzed based on a pressure distribution beneath the track. While most of conventional model has assumed that the pressure is uniformly distributed in the longitudinal direction and in the lateral cross section of the track, there have been few papers devoting to an analysis on the non-uniform pressure distribution in the both directions of the track or that in sloped terrain. Therefore, in this research, an in-track sensor system is developed that can measure the pressure distribution beneath the track in various traveling conditions. In this system, a tiny 3-axis force sensor is installed on the surface of each track shoe which can measure three-dimensional pressure distribution. The in-track sensor also varies its pitch angle relative to terrain surface, enabling a measurement of the pressure distribution in sloped terrain as well. The experimental measurement with the in-track sensor found that the pressure distribution normal to the track shoe highly correlates with the mechanical component of the track and the soil failure phenomenon.