Analysis of the effect of soft soil’s parameters change on planetary vehicles’ dynamic response

The mobility of a planetary vehicle has numerous constraints imposed by the types of terrain. Navigation is difficult through uneven and rocky terrain, and becomes worse due to abrupt changes of ground level which may cause a fall to a lower ground level. This article examines the effect of the soil’s parameters change due to repetitive falls on the vehicle’s dynamic behavior. After each free fall of the vehicle there is a collision of the vehicle’s wheel with the ground. If the ground is made up of soft soil there is an increase in the soil compactness after each collision. The increase in the soil compactness causes a change in the soil parameters. These changes modify the algorithm’s parameters of the vehicle’s dynamic model. The dynamic model is a quarter vehicle model with single rigid wheel which falls on soft soil. Simplified forms of the Pressure-Sinkage models of Bekker and Reece for the sinkage of a rigid body into soft soil are incorporated in the numerical solution of the governing equations of motion. The dynamic interaction of a rigid wheel and soft soil has three stages: sinkage stage, wheel dwell stage, and wheel pullout from soil stage. By comparing the simulations results when the soil’s parameters are kept constant and when their changes are incorporated in the dynamic model showed that the difference in the dynamic response are not significant and can be neglected. There is a gradual change in the dynamic mechanical quantities when the soil’s parameters are kept constant, while the changes in the dynamic mechanical quantities between the second fall and the successive falls are small.