Abstract:

Experiments on the traction ability of lunar rover's driving wheel on different soils were carried out in an indoor soil trough test system. Results show that, when the wheel slip ratio is in the range of 0 to 80%, both Drag-bar Pull (DP) and Traction Efficiency (TE) increase with the number of simulant regolith press. When the simulant regolith is pressed two times, the DP and TE increase 38.9% and 69.9% respectively. When the soil is press four times, the DP and TE increase 66.7% and 171.6% respectively. The traction ability on cement road is better than on the simulant regolith; when the slip ratio is 20%, the DP on cement road is 8.2 times of that on simulant regolith. The traction ability of the driving wheel on simulant regolith is similar to but slightly better than that on quartz sand; when the slip ratio is 10%, the DPs on simulant regolith and on quartz sand are 36.8 N and 33.1 N respectively.

Key words: vehicle engineering, traction ability, terra-mechanics for lunar surface, soil bin test, simulant regolith