Pub Date : 2025-10-10DOI: 10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101097
Loraine ten Damme , Matthias Stettler , Renato P. de Lima , Thomas Keller
Construction activities can induce soil compaction due the use of heavy vehicles and repeated vehicle passes. Driving on access material reduces the risk of compaction, but data on soil stress reduction are lacking. This study investigated the effect of three access materials (0.5 m thick sand track, 0.3 m thick timber mattresses, and 0.1 m thick composite mats) on soil stress, relative to driving on unprotected soil. Mean normal stress was measured at 0.2 and 0.4 m soil depths for tracked and tyred construction vehicles (bulldozer, excavator, dump truck, and tractor-trailer). We used finite element modelling to investigate the effect of material’s thickness and stiffness on soil stress reduction. Measurements revealed that driving on access material reduced soil stress by 21–77 % and 0–60 % at 0.2 and 0.4 m depths, respectively. Stress reduction increased with increasing mean ground pressure and was larger for tyred than for tracked vehicles. The tested access materials reached a comparable effect, but simulations indicated that additional stress reduction could be achieved by increasing the stiffness or thickness of the material. Thus, more rigid or thicker material achieve greater soil stress reductions. These characteristics should be balanced against costs, transport, and ease of handling of the material.
{"title":"The benefit of using access materials for soil stress reduction depends on the material’s properties and vehicle mean ground pressure","authors":"Loraine ten Damme , Matthias Stettler , Renato P. de Lima , Thomas Keller","doi":"10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101097","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101097","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Construction activities can induce soil compaction due the use of heavy vehicles and repeated vehicle passes. Driving on access material reduces the risk of compaction, but data on soil stress reduction are lacking. This study investigated the effect of three access materials (0.5 m thick sand track, 0.3 m thick timber mattresses, and 0.1 m thick composite mats) on soil stress, relative to driving on unprotected soil. Mean normal stress was measured at 0.2 and 0.4 m soil depths for tracked and tyred construction vehicles (bulldozer, excavator, dump truck, and tractor-trailer). We used finite element modelling to investigate the effect of material’s thickness and stiffness on soil stress reduction. Measurements revealed that driving on access material reduced soil stress by 21–77 % and 0–60 % at 0.2 and 0.4 m depths, respectively. Stress reduction increased with increasing mean ground pressure and was larger for tyred than for tracked vehicles. The tested access materials reached a comparable effect, but simulations indicated that additional stress reduction could be achieved by increasing the stiffness or thickness of the material. Thus, more rigid or thicker material achieve greater soil stress reductions. These characteristics should be balanced against costs, transport, and ease of handling of the material.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50023,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Terramechanics","volume":"121 ","pages":"Article 101097"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145267816","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-10DOI: 10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101098
Tamiru Tesfaye Gemechu , Jun Zhou , Guoliang Lai , Ibrar Ahmad , Luke Toroitch Rottok , Yade Li , Tabinda Naz Syed , Muhammad Aurangzaib
Accurate terrain classification is essential for the effective and efficient operation of autonomous robots and off-road vehicles. This study proposes a novel multi-sensor fusion technique for off-road terrain classification using a robotic platform that matches the practical features of an electric tractor. The method employs proprioceptive signals from the vehicle body and all four wheels, including wheel torque, wheel speed, wheel slippage, and vibration. A high-speed counter was programmed using the STEP 7 Microwin environment and uploaded onto an S7-200 PLC to measure wheel torque and speed. An inertial measurement unit and a three-axis digital accelerometer were used to record vibrations from the vehicle body and wheel bracket, respectively. MATLAB Simulink was employed to synchronise sensors data. Signal pre-processing, segmentation, Savitzky-Golay filtering, feature-level fusion, and the Random Forest algorithm were incorporated into the developed terrain classification model. The proposed Random Forest-based model, validated using K-fold cross-validation, achieved up to 90% test accuracy. Performance on unseen labelled data demonstrated consistent classification accuracy between 80% and 90%, indicating strong generalisation across terrain types. Real-time testing with unseen and unlabelled data demonstrated the model’s robustness and stability, enabling reliable terrain prediction with minimal latency, suitable for real-world off-road autonomous vehicle applications.
{"title":"Real-time terrain classification for all-wheel drive robotic electric tractors using multi-sensor fusion and machine learning","authors":"Tamiru Tesfaye Gemechu , Jun Zhou , Guoliang Lai , Ibrar Ahmad , Luke Toroitch Rottok , Yade Li , Tabinda Naz Syed , Muhammad Aurangzaib","doi":"10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101098","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101098","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Accurate terrain classification is essential for the effective and efficient operation of autonomous robots and off-road vehicles. This study proposes a novel multi-sensor fusion technique for off-road terrain classification using a robotic platform that matches the practical features of an electric tractor. The method employs proprioceptive signals from the vehicle body and all four wheels, including wheel torque, wheel speed, wheel slippage, and vibration. A high-speed counter was programmed using the STEP 7 Microwin environment and uploaded onto an S7-200 PLC to measure wheel torque and speed. An inertial measurement unit and a three-axis digital accelerometer were used to record vibrations from the vehicle body and wheel bracket, respectively. MATLAB Simulink was employed to synchronise sensors data. Signal pre-processing, segmentation, Savitzky-Golay filtering, feature-level fusion, and the Random Forest algorithm were incorporated into the developed terrain classification model. The proposed Random Forest-based model, validated using K-fold cross-validation, achieved up to 90% test accuracy. Performance on unseen labelled data demonstrated consistent classification accuracy between 80% and 90%, indicating strong generalisation across terrain types. Real-time testing with unseen and unlabelled data demonstrated the model’s robustness and stability, enabling reliable terrain prediction with minimal latency, suitable for real-world off-road autonomous vehicle applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50023,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Terramechanics","volume":"121 ","pages":"Article 101098"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145267815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-20DOI: 10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101096
Mattias Lehto, Håkan Lideskog, Magnus Karlberg
Object detectors for autonomous forestry operations have previously been developed mainly by training on physical manually annotated data, which is both time-consuming and costly. Since the ground truth in the virtual model is known, the training data can be auto-annotated, enabling the creation of larger training datasets, while also improving time and cost efficiency. In this work, a virtual environment in Unity is used in co-simulation with a real-time digital twin of a physical forestry vehicle, to generate realistic auto-annotated training data, as captured by an onboard stereo camera. First, it is shown that a log detector trained on physical data can detect logs in the virtual environment. Second, new detectors are trained, using different shares of virtual and physical data. It is shown that a detector trained using only virtual data, can learn to detect logs in the physical world. Moreover, virtual pre-training is shown to improve the performance of physically trained and tested detectors, both at low availability of physical training data, and in terms of domain generalization. A detailed detector performance analysis also highlights further potential and opportunities for future improvements. Furthermore, the real-time capable virtual models enable future machine learning tasks utilizing different levels of Hardware-in-the-Loop.
{"title":"Log detection for autonomous forwarding using auto-annotated data from a real-time virtual environment","authors":"Mattias Lehto, Håkan Lideskog, Magnus Karlberg","doi":"10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101096","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101096","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Object detectors for autonomous forestry operations have previously been developed mainly by training on physical manually annotated data, which is both time-consuming and costly. Since the ground truth in the virtual model is known, the training data can be auto-annotated, enabling the creation of larger training datasets, while also improving time and cost efficiency. In this work, a virtual environment in Unity is used in co-simulation with a real-time digital twin of a physical forestry vehicle, to generate realistic auto-annotated training data, as captured by an onboard stereo camera. First, it is shown that a log detector trained on physical data can detect logs in the virtual environment. Second, new detectors are trained, using different shares of virtual and physical data. It is shown that a detector trained using only virtual data, can learn to detect logs in the physical world. Moreover, virtual pre-training is shown to improve the performance of physically trained and tested detectors, both at low availability of physical training data, and in terms of domain generalization. A detailed detector performance analysis also highlights further potential and opportunities for future improvements. Furthermore, the real-time capable virtual models enable future machine learning tasks utilizing different levels of Hardware-in-the-Loop.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50023,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Terramechanics","volume":"121 ","pages":"Article 101096"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145096530","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-06DOI: 10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101095
Mingyang Yuan , Ze Zhang , Hang Li , Zhiyuan Wang , Xiangxi Meng
Soil adhesion is one of the basic physical properties of soil, which is manifested as the ability of soil to adhere to foreign objects. Soil adhesion can cause additional energy consumption in mechanical operations in agriculture, engineering, transportation and other fields, which is an important scientific problem to be studied and solved urgently. In this paper, three kinds of rubber tires with different surface roughness were used as test materials, and soil samples from six regions were selected as test soil samples. The adhesion force of rubber-soil interface under different normal loads was tested, and the variation law of soil peak adhesion force and the peak moisture content to reach peak adhesion force under the combined action of various influencing factors were analyzed and discussed. The mechanism of peak moisture content change under load was proposed. The test results show that the adhesion force of the rubber-soil interface increases with the increase of surface roughness, normal load and clay content. This experiment further promoted the study of soil adhesion and helped to solve the energy consumption problem caused by soil adhesion in the transportation field.
{"title":"Study on the adhesion law of rubber-soil interface under the influence of multiple factors","authors":"Mingyang Yuan , Ze Zhang , Hang Li , Zhiyuan Wang , Xiangxi Meng","doi":"10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101095","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101095","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Soil adhesion is one of the basic physical properties of soil, which is manifested as the ability of soil to adhere to foreign objects. Soil adhesion can cause additional energy consumption in mechanical operations in agriculture, engineering, transportation and other fields, which is an important scientific problem to be studied and solved urgently. In this paper, three kinds of rubber tires with different surface roughness were used as test materials, and soil samples from six regions were selected as test soil samples. The adhesion force of rubber-soil interface under different normal loads was tested, and the variation law of soil peak adhesion force and the peak moisture content to reach peak adhesion force under the combined action of various influencing factors were analyzed and discussed. The mechanism of peak moisture content change under load was proposed. The test results show that the adhesion force of the rubber-soil interface increases with the increase of surface roughness, normal load and clay content. This experiment further promoted the study of soil adhesion and helped to solve the energy consumption problem caused by soil adhesion in the transportation field.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50023,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Terramechanics","volume":"121 ","pages":"Article 101095"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145005316","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-02DOI: 10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101086
J.Y. Wong
This paper provides a concise comparison of the features and applications between the cone penetrometer technique and the bevameter technique. The developments of the bevameter technique since its inception in the 1960s are reviewed. Its roles in characterizing terrain engineering properties for evaluating off-road vehicle mobility are highlighted. A framework for the recommended practice for the bevameter technique is proposed for the consideration of the professional community in the terramechanics field.
{"title":"The bevameter technique – Its developments and a proposed framework for its recommended practice","authors":"J.Y. Wong","doi":"10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101086","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101086","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper provides a concise comparison of the features and applications between the cone penetrometer technique and the bevameter technique. The developments of the bevameter technique since its inception in the 1960s are reviewed. Its roles in characterizing terrain engineering properties for evaluating off-road vehicle mobility are highlighted. A framework for the recommended practice for the bevameter technique is proposed for the consideration of the professional community in the terramechanics field.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50023,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Terramechanics","volume":"121 ","pages":"Article 101086"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144926732","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-02DOI: 10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101087
Luca Zerbato , Angelo Domenico Vella , Enrico Galvagno , Alessandro Vigliani , Silvio Carlo Data , Matteo Eugenio Sacchi
Modelling the interaction between tyres and unconsolidated soft surfaces has assumed a crucial role in predicting off-road vehicle performance in different machine areas such as planetary exploration and agriculture. The direct measurement of the soft soil/tyre contact parameters is a challenging task, addressed by expensive experimental campaigns and specific tools such as sensor-equipped wheels. In this paper an alternative cost-effective approach is proposed to estimate the contact parameters for semi-empirical formulations. The method relies on the experimental measurement typically available on the CAN bus of passenger vehicles. Specifically, the algorithm is tested with data gathered during acceleration manoeuvres performed on two different soft surfaces, i.e., snow and sand. The experimental signals are used to feed a 5 Degree Of Freedom (DOF) virtual vehicle equipped with a custom semi-empirical soil contact model. An optimisation problem with the target of minimising the differences between experimental and numerical traction performance is designed for the estimation of the sinkage module, cohesion, friction angle, elastic recovery and the multi-pass factor. Finally, the estimated parameters are validated using different experimental signals and data from literature, demonstrating the robustness of the methodology.
{"title":"A vehicle dynamics-oriented estimator for soft soil/tyre contact parameters from experimental testing","authors":"Luca Zerbato , Angelo Domenico Vella , Enrico Galvagno , Alessandro Vigliani , Silvio Carlo Data , Matteo Eugenio Sacchi","doi":"10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101087","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101087","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Modelling the interaction between tyres and unconsolidated soft surfaces has assumed a crucial role in predicting off-road vehicle performance in different machine areas such as planetary exploration and agriculture. The direct measurement of the soft soil/tyre contact parameters is a challenging task, addressed by expensive experimental campaigns and specific tools such as sensor-equipped wheels. In this paper an alternative cost-effective approach is proposed to estimate the contact parameters for semi-empirical formulations. The method relies on the experimental measurement typically available on the CAN bus of passenger vehicles. Specifically, the algorithm is tested with data gathered during acceleration manoeuvres performed on two different soft surfaces, i.e., snow and sand. The experimental signals are used to feed a 5 Degree Of Freedom (DOF) virtual vehicle equipped with a custom semi-empirical soil contact model. An optimisation problem with the target of minimising the differences between experimental and numerical traction performance is designed for the estimation of the sinkage module, cohesion, friction angle, elastic recovery and the multi-pass factor. Finally, the estimated parameters are validated using different experimental signals and data from literature, demonstrating the robustness of the methodology.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50023,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Terramechanics","volume":"121 ","pages":"Article 101087"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144926735","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-04DOI: 10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101081
Mahdi Maleki , József Kövecses
The analysis of tire dynamics is essential in simulating vehicle behavior. The forces exerted on a tire depend on the interaction between the tire and the terrain at the contact patch, and the tire structure directly influences this interaction. Complex models, such as finite element or lumped-parameter models, are typically required to represent tire flexibility accurately. However, these models are computationally expensive, making them unsuitable for real-time simulation.
In this work, we develop a reduced model for flexible tire-terrain interaction. A reduced model is a lower-fidelity representation that captures essential features of a complex system at a significantly lower computational cost. Our model efficiently represents the influence of tire flexibility on vehicle dynamics by computing the effective stiffness of the tire and combining it with a rigid body wheel model.
We observe that the contact patch size, which depends on tire deformation, directly affects traction forces. A larger contact patch enables the generation of greater frictional force before slipping. In the proposed model, effective stiffness is used to determine the contact patch size, which then scales the friction coefficient accordingly.
Simulation results demonstrate efficient real-time performance with high accuracy, making the model well-suited for diverse vehicle simulation applications.
{"title":"Efficient flexible tire-terrain interaction modelling","authors":"Mahdi Maleki , József Kövecses","doi":"10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101081","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101081","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The analysis of tire dynamics is essential in simulating vehicle behavior. The forces exerted on a tire depend on the interaction between the tire and the terrain at the contact patch, and the tire structure directly influences this interaction. Complex models, such as finite element or lumped-parameter models, are typically required to represent tire flexibility accurately. However, these models are computationally expensive, making them unsuitable for real-time simulation.</div><div>In this work, we develop a reduced model for flexible tire-terrain interaction. A reduced model is a lower-fidelity representation that captures essential features of a complex system at a significantly lower computational cost. Our model efficiently represents the influence of tire flexibility on vehicle dynamics by computing the effective stiffness of the tire and combining it with a rigid body wheel model.</div><div>We observe that the contact patch size, which depends on tire deformation, directly affects traction forces. A larger contact patch enables the generation of greater frictional force before slipping. In the proposed model, effective stiffness is used to determine the contact patch size, which then scales the friction coefficient accordingly.</div><div>Simulation results demonstrate efficient real-time performance with high accuracy, making the model well-suited for diverse vehicle simulation applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50023,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Terramechanics","volume":"120 ","pages":"Article 101081"},"PeriodicalIF":3.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144771905","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-28DOI: 10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101077
Suhas A. Kowshik, Andrew Fisseler, Arun R. Srinivasa, J.N. Reddy
We propose a Gaussian process machine learning model (GPM) for real-time simulation of tire-terrain interactions, especially under off-road conditions. Compared to purely empirical models or classical Neural Networks, the GPM requires much less input data for training, has greater ability to explain, and is able to quantify uncertainty in predictions. The model can seamlessly incorporate any combination of physics-based numerical simulations, empirical or semi-empirical models, and experimental data and produce real-time predictions of the interaction parameters (such as normal and shear forces, tire sinkage, etc.) along with uncertainty estimates on its predictions. The key idea is to use empirical models such as the steady-state Becker-Wong model as the baseline and “learn” the difference due to the dynamic response of the tire from detailed physics-based models or experimental data or any combination. We show that the result is able to make highly accurate predictions of the tire response in real-time. Such simplified models can be useful for training autonomous off-road vehicles under various conditions. They are also useful for virtual testing of different vehicle designs on different terrain.
{"title":"Physics informed Gaussian process models for real-time simulation of tire terrain interactions for off- road conditions","authors":"Suhas A. Kowshik, Andrew Fisseler, Arun R. Srinivasa, J.N. Reddy","doi":"10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101077","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101077","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We propose a Gaussian process machine learning model (GPM) for real-time simulation of tire-terrain interactions, especially under off-road conditions. Compared to purely empirical models or classical Neural Networks, the GPM requires much less input data for training, has greater ability to explain, and is able to quantify uncertainty in predictions. The model can seamlessly incorporate any combination of physics-based numerical simulations, empirical or semi-empirical models, and experimental data and produce real-time predictions of the interaction parameters (such as normal and shear forces, tire sinkage, etc.) along with uncertainty estimates on its predictions. The key idea is to use empirical models such as the steady-state Becker-Wong model as the baseline and “learn” the difference due to the dynamic response of the tire from detailed physics-based models or experimental data or any combination. We show that the result is able to make highly accurate predictions of the tire response in real-time. Such simplified models can be useful for training autonomous off-road vehicles under various conditions. They are also useful for virtual testing of different vehicle designs on different terrain.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50023,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Terramechanics","volume":"120 ","pages":"Article 101077"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144714394","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this paper, a procedure for calibrating a discrete element (DE) computational soil model for use in prediction of ground vehicle mobility is presented. The procedure relies on using the results of two small-scale physical soil experiments: (1) confined uniaxial compression; and (2) unconfined shear strength under different levels of normal stress and normal prestress. The confined uniaxial compression is an approximate hydrostatic compression test that is used to calibrate the DE bulk density, plastic strain, and elastic strain as a function of hydrostatic stress. The unconfined shear strength test is used to calibrate the DE inter-particle friction coefficient and adhesion stress as a function of the soil plastic strain. The test devices and experimental test procedures are presented in the paper. The DE model calibration procedure is demonstrated in the paper using two types of soils: silt–clay and sand-silt. The model is then validated by comparing its results for those two types of soil to experiment results for the following 3 tests: (1) confined shear strength test; (2) full-scale tracked vehicle drawbar-pull test; and (3) single tire drawbar-pull test. Within the middle of the slip range, the simulation results agree within ± 10 % on average with the experimental results for validation tests (2) and (3).
{"title":"Calibration and validation of a discrete element model for sand and fine grain soil for use in vehicle mobility applications","authors":"Tamer Wasfy , Omar Elmaraghi , Omkar Ghike , Ashwin Gaonkar , Hazim El-Mounayri , Paramsothy Jayakumar , Srinivas Sanikommu","doi":"10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101082","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101082","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In this paper, a procedure for calibrating a discrete element (DE) computational soil model for use in prediction of ground vehicle mobility is presented. The procedure relies on using the results of two small-scale physical soil experiments: (1) confined uniaxial compression; and (2) unconfined shear strength under different levels of normal stress and normal prestress. The confined uniaxial compression is an approximate hydrostatic compression test that is used to calibrate the DE bulk density, plastic strain, and elastic strain as a function of hydrostatic stress. The unconfined shear strength test is used to calibrate the DE inter-particle friction coefficient and adhesion stress as a function of the soil plastic strain. The test devices and experimental test procedures are presented in the paper. The DE model calibration procedure is demonstrated in the paper using two types of soils: silt–clay and sand-silt. The model is then validated by comparing its results for those two types of soil to experiment results for the following 3 tests: (1) confined shear strength test; (2) full-scale tracked vehicle drawbar-pull test; and (3) single tire drawbar-pull test. Within the middle of the slip range, the simulation results agree within ± 10 % on average with the experimental results for validation tests (2) and (3).</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50023,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Terramechanics","volume":"120 ","pages":"Article 101082"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144711151","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-17DOI: 10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101076
Kenji Nagaoka, Yuto Yoshida
This paper proposes a new approach to understanding the wheel-soil interaction, which is an indirect estimation method of soil stress distributions beneath a traveling wheel soil using a photoelastic method. Thus far, several photoelastic methods have been discussed for the wheel-soil terramechanics, but it is difficult for the previous configuration to simulate the dynamic behaviors of natural soil, e.g., compaction, failure, or wheel ruts. Accordingly, achieving both the stress visualization and the dynamic behaviors of soil is a significant challenge to make the photoelastic method more practical. To cope with this challenging issue, we have developed a novel experimental setup consisting of a photoelastic wheel (top layer), soil (middle layer), and a photoelastic plate (bottom layer). By vertically sandwiching the soil between the photoelastic wheel and plate, the soil stresses can be indirectly estimated to satisfy the boundary stress conditions. To achieve this approach, we conducted calibration tests of the photoelastic wheel and plate, and then identified the force vector and contact patch corresponding to the visualized stresses. In this paper, we demonstrate that it is possible to indirectly estimate how the stress propagates and attenuates in the soil by the proposed method.
{"title":"A novel soil stress estimation method of wheel-soil interaction using photoelasticity","authors":"Kenji Nagaoka, Yuto Yoshida","doi":"10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101076","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jterra.2025.101076","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper proposes a new approach to understanding the wheel-soil interaction, which is an indirect estimation method of soil stress distributions beneath a traveling wheel soil using a photoelastic method. Thus far, several photoelastic methods have been discussed for the wheel-soil terramechanics, but it is difficult for the previous configuration to simulate the dynamic behaviors of natural soil, e.g., compaction, failure, or wheel ruts. Accordingly, achieving both the stress visualization and the dynamic behaviors of soil is a significant challenge to make the photoelastic method more practical. To cope with this challenging issue, we have developed a novel experimental setup consisting of a photoelastic wheel (top layer), soil (middle layer), and a photoelastic plate (bottom layer). By vertically sandwiching the soil between the photoelastic wheel and plate, the soil stresses can be indirectly estimated to satisfy the boundary stress conditions. To achieve this approach, we conducted calibration tests of the photoelastic wheel and plate, and then identified the force vector and contact patch corresponding to the visualized stresses. In this paper, we demonstrate that it is possible to indirectly estimate how the stress propagates and attenuates in the soil by the proposed method.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":50023,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Terramechanics","volume":"120 ","pages":"Article 101076"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144653674","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}