Coupled Multibody Dynamics and Discrete Element Modeling of Vehicle Mobility on Cohesive Granular Terrains

Abstract

Multibody dynamics and the discrete element method (DEM) are integrated into one solver for predicting the dynamic response of ground vehicles which run on wheels and/or tracks on cohesive soft soils (such as mud and snow). Multibody dynamics techniques are used to model the various vehicle components and connect those components using various types of joints and contact surfaces. A penalty technique is used to impose joint and normal contact constraints. An asperity-based friction model is used to model joint and contact friction. A soft cohesive soil material model (that includes normal and tangential inter-particle force models) is presented that can account for soil compressibility, plasticity, fracture, friction, viscosity, cohesive strength and flow. A Cartesian Eulerian grid contact search algorithm is used to allow fast contact detection between particles. A recursive bounding box contact search algorithm is used to allow fast contact detection between the particles and polygonal contact surfaces. The governing equations of motion are solved along with joint/constraint equations using a time-accurate explicit solution procedure. Numerical simulations of a typical vehicle going over a slopped soft soil terrain are presented to demonstrate the integrated solver. The solver can be used in vehicle design optimization.