Evaluation of Influence of Wheel Surface Shapes on Tractive Efficiencies of Planetary Rovers in Various Soil Environments
نویسندگان
چکیده
Wheels of planetary rovers typically have grousers on their surface to provide grip for climbing in loose soil and scrambling over rough terrain. In this study, the influence of grousers on the traveling performances of wheeled rovers is evaluated in various soils. First, the influence of the number of grousers was quantitatively determined by conducting experiments using wheels with different number of grousers in sandboxes covered with Toyoura sand/lunar regolith simulant. Next, the influence of grouser height was evaluated by conducting experiments using wheels with different grouser heights. Finally, the experimental results are discussed from the point of view of terramechanics. According to the experimental results, it was confirmed that the number of grousers and grouser height that a wheel must be at least required for high traveling performance will be almost the same for soils having similar pressure-sinkage characteristic.
منابع مشابه
Experimental study and analysis on driving wheels’ performance for planetary exploration rovers moving in deformable soil
Planetary rovers are different from conventional terrestrial vehicles in many respects, making it necessary to investigate the terramechanics with a particular focus on them, which is a hot research topic at the budding stage. Predicting the wheel–soil interaction performance from the knowledge of terramechanics is of great importance to the mechanical design/evaluation/optimization, dynamics s...
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