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# 2908 - DRAWBAR PULL EXPERIMENT AND ANALYSIS OF GROUSERED-TRACK UNIT ON SANDY TERRAIN

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Paper presented at ISTVS 2025 | 55th Conference of the International Society for Terrain-Vehicle Systems <https://doi.org/10.56884/Z4B59GCP>
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**Authors:** *Ryota Azuma, Tatsuya Maeda, Kosuke Horie, Shinichiro Miyai, Shunsuke Sugimura, Genya Ishigami*

**Keywords:** Grousered-track unit; Drawbar pull coefficient; Slip ratio; Sandy terrain

**Abstract:**

Tracked vehicles are commonly used on construction sites because of their high vehicle stability and traversability with large ground contact area. Grousers attached to the track shoe enhances vehicle stability and traversability, mitigating the risk of slipping on rough terrain. While many past studies investigated the mechanical effect of a single grouser shoe, experimental test of an entire grousered-track unit remain limited due to non-uniform the stress distribution of the track unit on the ground. In this study, we developed an experimental apparatus with a grousered-track unit and conducted drawbar pull experiment on sandy terrain. We measured the slip ratio and sinkage of the track unit with various traction load corresponding to the drawbar pull of the track unit. The relationship between the drawbar pull coefficient, which is the ratio of the drawbar pull to the vertical load of the track, and the slip ratio was examined. The experiments confirmed that the slip ratio remains constant when the drawbar pull coefficient is approximately 0.4 or lower. Within this range, the track unit maintains small sinkage and a stable driving state. However, when the drawbar pull coefficient exceeds approximately 0.45, the slip ratio sharply increases as larger traction load cases the track unit to an unstable driving state by repeating the move-and-stop motion. This trend was observed regardless of the varied vertical load. These findings suggest that the relationship of the slip-drawbar pull coefficient and the threshold for stable/unstable driving state are useful for evaluating the traversability of the grousered-track unit.


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