A Study on the Structural Integrity Assessment of the Output Housing in Transmissions of a Tracked Vehicle

Transmission of a tracked vehicle designed for multiple functions such as steering, gear-shifting, and braking is a core component of heavy vehicle to which the power is transferred based on combined technology of various gears, bearing, and fluid machineries. Robustness and durability of transmission, however, have been issued due to a large number of driving units and sub-components inside its body. Particularly, transmission housing is important structure which supports the transmission, and is made of aluminum alloy. Thus, structural robustness against such mechanical loading or vibration must be attained. Structural reliability evaluation through FEM analysis can save time and cost of the actual tests. In this study, structural evaluation is conducted on output housing of transmission, which is core component of tracked vehicle, using the simulation program. In addition, transmission dynamo test is performed to evaluate structural robustness of the output housing against the vibration which can be produced during the transmission operation.