MODELLING A SINGLE-WHEEL TESTBED FOR PLANETARY ROVER APPLICATIONS

This paper presents a dynamic model for a smooth wheel travelling through loose sandy soil. Many models that are used for such wheel-soil interactions are typically static or quasi-static models. The new model builds upon these widely-used models by adding the dynamic effect of the soil deformation. The new model is validated using experiments that were carried on a new single wheel testbed which was constructed at Dalhousie University. During experiments with a smooth wheel it was noticed that the track of the wheel had repeatable ridges. Moreover, it was noticed that the corresponding torque and force data also had oscillations in it with the periods of the harmonic coinciding with the ridges in the sand left by the track of the wheel.