INFLUENCE OF TRACK SHAPE RATIO ON TURNING CHARACTERISTICS OF A TRACKED VEHICLE RUNNING ON FRESH CONCRETE

Abstract

A simulation method was developed to investigate the possibility of economical adaptation of ordinary machinery to the work on fresh concrete by changing only track shape ratio. The simulation is then verified by an experiment on a model vehicle running on fresh concrete of slump of 5.5cm with different traction force and with steering ratio of 1.6. Using the simulation, the influence of the track shape ratio on turning characteristics of tracked vehicle was investigated. The result of the investigation shows that, for a typical turning motion, the effective tractive effort decreases while the turning radius and turning moment increases with the increment of the track shape ratio.