Method for determining road rut depth and power related to rutting upon wheel rolling

Abstract

Wheeled tractors as well as wheeled excavation and road-building machines are widely used in road construction and municipal services. The group of wheeled vehicles with numerous and varied purposes and designs includes vehicles used for the general transportation of various types of bulk freight and special-purpose vehicles.A distinguishing feature of these types of wheeled vehicles is their ability to operate not only on asphalt-concrete roads but on deforming soil surfaces as well.Upon wheel rolling on the ground, the consumption of power required to ensure the machine movement increases sharply, and issues related to cross-country ability arise. In this relation, it becomes necessary to consider various aspects of machine movement in these conditions, in particular, determine the power spent on rutting and the rut depth, which is the purpose of the present study.The use of the “indented wheel” model allowed us to obtain relatively simple relationships and calculate the rut depth and the power spent on wheel rolling on deforming soil. The results of calculations using the derived equations are in good agreement with experimental data, which indicates the practical applicability of the obtained relationships.