Analysis of Tire Tractive Performance on Deformable Terrain by Finite Element-Discrete Element Method

Abstract

The goal of this study is to develop a practical and fast simulation tool for soil–tire interaction analysis, where finite element method (FEM) and discrete element method (DEM) are coupled together, and which can be realized on a desktop PC. We have extended our formerly proposed dynamic FE–DE method (FE–DEM) to include prac- tical soil–tire system interaction, where not only the vertical sinkage of a tire, but also the travel of a driven tire was considered. Numerical simulation by FE–DEM is stable, and the relationships between variables, such as load–sinkage and sinkage–travel dis- tance, and the gross tractive effort and running resistance characteristics, are obtained. Moreover, the simulation result is accurate enough to predict the maximum drawbar pull for a given tire, once the appropriate parameter values are provided. Therefore, the developed FE–DEM program can be applied with sufficient accuracy to interaction problems in soil–tire systems.