: The principal objective of this paper was to evaluate the steering characteristics of a tandem tracked vehicle, each side of which features two tandem tracks, when crawling on extremely cohesive soft soil. The tandem tracked vehicle is assumed to be a rigid-body with 6-dof. The dynamic analysis program of the tandem tracked vehicle was developed via Newmark's method and the incremental-iterative method. A terra-mechanics model of extremely cohesive soft soil was implemented according to the relationships of normal pressure to sinkage, of shear resistance to shear displacement, and of dynamic sinkage to shear displacement. In order to simplify the characteristics of contact interaction between track segments and cohesive soft soil, the characteristics of soil are equated to the properties of intact soil. In an effort to evaluate the steering characteristics of a tandem tracked vehicle crawling on extremely cohesive soft soil, a series of dynamic simulations were conducted for a tandem tracked vehicle model with respect to the front and rear steering angle, the steering ratio, and the initial velocity.

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: This paper presents data from performance tests carried out to assess a manganese nodule crusher. Manganese nodules should be crushed into smaller pieces in order to assure the slurry flow of the lifting system. Both artificial nodules and real manganese nodules are used to evaluate nodule breaking ability of the crusher. The crushing performance of the crusher depends on the flow rate and pressure of the power transmission device. The size of the crushed manganese nodules also depends on the shape of the crushing drum. In this paper, several comparative tests are carried out to evaluate and improve the crushing performance and find the optimal design point of the crusher.

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