Soil Mechanics–Based Testbed Setup for Lunar Rover Wheel and Corresponding Experimental Investigations

Jiang, Mingjing; Dai, Yongsheng; Cui, Liang; Xi, Banglu

doi:10.1061/(asce)as.1943-5525.0000782

Cited by 11 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Therefore, ten representative operating conditions were planned as tabulated in Table 1. Note that test No's 1-5 with various rotational velocities w and vertical loads W have been presented in the previous research (Jiang et al, 2017a). For each test condition, at least two tests were conducted as a repeatability check.…”

Section: Experimental Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, DEM simulations of wheel performance in an extraterrestrial (lunar) environment were performed to compare the wheel-soil interactions in the terrestrial environment (T) with those in the extraterrestrial environment. Compared with our previous work (Jiang et al, 2017a), which proposed a design guideline for rover wheel testbeds and presented the comparisons between the experimental and analytical results, this current work focuses on the validation of the DEM simulation and the effects of the gravitational acceleration. In addition, more tests conditions are included in this paper, such as different ground void ratios and wheel forms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Experimental and DEM analyses on wheel-soil interaction

Jiang

Dai

Cui

et al. 2018

Journal of Terramechanics

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Section: Experimental Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental and DEM analyses on wheel-soil interaction

Jiang

Dai

Cui

et al. 2018

Journal of Terramechanics

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“…Its advantages are adjustable test parameters, high precision, low cost, short cycle, and so forth. In many studies at home and abroad, the interaction between wheel soil and soil has been studied by soil bin test (Jiang et al, 2017; Roozbahani et al, 2014; Tiwari et al, 2009; Yahya et al, 2007).…”

Section: Traction Performance Predictionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bekker proposed an equation to describe the shear stress of brittle soil, while Janosi (1961) thought that the most common ground was plastic ground and proposed a formula for calculating the shear stress for plastic ground. Recently, these terramechanics‐based wheel soil interaction models have been successfully applied to the traction performance analysis of planetary rovers (Ding et al, 2015; Huang et al, 2019; Jiang et al, 2017; Sutoh et al, 2012). Irani et al (2011) present a validated dynamic terramechanics model for rigid wheels with grousers that may be used for planetary and terrestrial mobile robots operating in loose sandy soil.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling of flexible metal wheel for pressurized lunar rover and traction performance prediction

Zhu

Shen

Hao

et al. 2023

Journal of Field Robotics

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The pressurized lunar rover has become one of the most important equipment in lunar exploration and resource utilization missions. On the terrain of soft lunar regolith, the rover wheels are easy to slip, sink, or even fail to move. To improve the traction performance of the rover on soft lunar soil, it is necessary to study the interaction between the wheels and the lunar soil. The deformation of the flexible wheel provides a larger contact area, which results in greater tractive force. Moreover, flexible wheels have better comfort and stability than rigid wheels, which are needed for manned rovers. However, there are few studies on the wheel soil interaction model of the heavy flexible wheel for the pressurized lunar rover. In this paper, a metal flexible wheel soil interaction model for pressurized lunar rovers was established, and the traction performance of the flexible wheel was predicted by using this model. Then, the accuracy of the wheel soil interaction model was verified by the soil bin test. The experimental results showed that the average error between the theoretical value of sinkage and the experimental value was 13.9%, and the average error between the theoretical and experimental value of drawbar pull was 11.5%, indicating that the model has high prediction accuracy. The new model can be used to predict the traction performance of flexible wheels and the experimental results can provide a reference for the flexible wheel design lunar rovers.

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“…Since then, almost every improvement to the theory has been done on the basis of experimental tests in Earth-based laboratories (e.g., [11][12][13][14] and a good overview is given by [15]). However, none of the previous authors studies account with possible effects a different gravity will induce in real experiments.…”

Section: Limitations Of Vehicle-terrain Interaction Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving Limitations of Rover Missions in the Moon and Planets by Unifying Vehicle–Terrain Interaction Models

Lopez-Arreguin

Montenegro

2020

Adv. Astronaut. Sci. Technol.

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This paper extends the analysis of empirical methods for describing vehicle-terrain interactions in lunar terrain. Given analytical formulation to predict mobility performance in extraterrestrial environments requires reliable in situ testing campaigns, this imposes fundamental restrictions to conceive a more consolidated theory, and further any possibility to use improved empirical methods to design better space hardware. Hence, we propose an analytical approach to extrapolate data taken in parabolic flights to model vehicle performance in multiple gravity regimes. The extrapolation technique and respective reported uncertainties can be used, therefore, to tune fitting parameters of a set of general formulas in the domain of Terramechanics, allowing to have empirical estimates of the wheel mobility in cases where testing is inherently very complex. Finally, by the analysis of previous Moon and Mars rover missions with the fitted equations, we report an empirical design criterion that allows to generate first estimates of the optimal wheel dimensions, taking into account the eventual longitudinal slip of the rover and including the desired mass of the payload. The introduced rules for geometry optimization can be important for future space rover missions in remote soils.

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Soil Mechanics–Based Testbed Setup for Lunar Rover Wheel and Corresponding Experimental Investigations

Cited by 11 publications

References 27 publications

Experimental and DEM analyses on wheel-soil interaction

Experimental and DEM analyses on wheel-soil interaction

Modeling of flexible metal wheel for pressurized lunar rover and traction performance prediction

Improving Limitations of Rover Missions in the Moon and Planets by Unifying Vehicle–Terrain Interaction Models

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