Tractive performance evaluation for unmanned amphibious traction vehicles on beach areas

The primary function of an unmanned amphibious traction vehicle (UATV) is to tow a pipeline from an offshore supply vessel to a designated area on an island to provide a fuel supply for equipment used on the island. Therefore, tractive performance is the most important performance aspect for the UATV. Previous studies of the tractive performance of tracked vehicles have focused on a single track without considering the vehicle dynamics. This paper studies the tractive performance of the UATV on beach areas based on a combination of vehicle dynamics, terramechanics theory and simulation technology. First, a method for numerical calculation of the tractive performance is proposed. Second, a method for setting the load spring to simulate a towed load is proposed in a simulation, the drawbar pull data are obtained, and the influence of the towing points on the drawbar pull is studied. Finally, an innovative experimental method to measure the drawbar pull of the UATV is presented and the drawbar pull is then measured. It is found that the drawbar pull of the UATV can be increased by 530 N by adjusting the positions of the towing points. The error between the simulation data and the test data is only 7.02%, which verifies the accuracy and the reliability of the research method. This paper provides a new evaluation method and an experimental method to study the tractive performance of tracked vehicles.