Handling of tracked vehicles at low speed

Determining the handling characteristics of tracked vehicles is significantly more complex than wheeled vehicles. This is because of the non-linear behaviour of the interaction between the tracks and ground during turning. In many cases a full dynamics model of the steering of a tracked vehicle is too complex and time consuming to generate and gives little or no insight into the mechanics of skid steer. This is especially true during the initial design phase, or the examination of a modification, when the designer needs a method, which allows the trade offs to be examined quickly. The work presented here is based on the method used at the Royal Military College of Science (RMCS) to teach the fundamentals of tracked vehicle steering and is suitable for low speed predictions only. Comparison of the method with experimental data shows that the radius of turn is determined with reasonable accuracy but only an upper bound is put on the sprocket torque. Modifications of this technique to include side force generation have been used successfully elsewhere to determine the behaviour of half-tracks and articulated track vehicles.