Military Vehicles Research Articles

New Hybrid Turbochargers Solutions for Special Military Vehicles with Internal Combustion Engines

Abstract The internal combustion engines performance can be increase. The residual gases can be recovered through turbo charging systems because is an important reserve of exhaust gas energy, which can be capitalized. The turbo charging solution is one of the most popular technical solutions for increasing the energy performance of internal combustion engines. The solutions proposed for the theoretical and experimental research is the hybrid turbocharger. The hybrid turbocharger has a double function: to compress the fresh air and to generate electric energy for the vehicle. The compressed fresh air is compress by the rotor wheel of the compressor. The generator which produces the electrical energy is linearly coupled to the rotor on the compressor shaft outside zone. The electrical energy can be used for consumption of the military vehicles or can be stored in to the battery of the vehicle. The military vehicle must have a internal combustion engine or a hybrid engine equipped with a hybrid turbocharger. The article aim is to present the results of the hybrid turbocharger. The simulation was realised with the AMESim Software developed by Siemens. To simulate the exhaust gas energy was used a CIMAT test bed which can provides high pressure air.

Considerations on the Bearing Capacity of Existing Prestressed Concrete Bridges

Abstract Military actions generally unfold rapidly in different operational environments for which the commanding officer has assess the bearing capacity of the prestressed concrete bridges existing in the country’s road network. The bearing capacity is the maximum weight of the predetermined constitution convoy, which may safely circulate on the bridge, in stable conditions, considering the physical condition of the bridge. The paper shows that the bearing capacity will be assessed only through a technical analysis performed by an authorized expert together with a military engineer specialized in genius. This experts report will compare the initial condition of the bridge to the present one. The initial condition is based on the research of the execution design; the year of elaboration; the standard loadings at the moment; proprieties of the used building materials; execution modality, possible alterations occurring during execution as to the initial project. These data, together with the road traffic census, can be obtained from the company administrating the road network where the bridge is located. The current state to be assessed through analysis, calculation and static loading tests, showing if the capacity of the bridge can to support the increase of traffic military vehicle loading and reduction of the bearing capacity due to fatigue phenomena in the reinforcement. The paper proposes that authorities draw up and approve a standard concerning the verification periodicity of the bearing capacity in the existing prestressed concrete bridges.

STUDY ON MENTAL HEALTH AND EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING OF CONFLICT-AFFECTED ADOLESCENTS AT EASTERN UKRAINE

Children and adolescents are one of the most vulnerable population groups suffered from the war. During adolescence, an individual’s psyche is being transformed and proved to be especially sensitive. This process of transformation becomes complicated and burdened with psychological trauma experienced in the situation of an armed conflict. Impact of everyday stress factors grows as combined with traumatic war events: watching military vehicles, shooting, killing, wounding, loss of family members and home, as well as general social, economic, and psychological problems. Not every psychological trauma results in mental disorder, however, those stresses often cause painful emotions and lead to maladjustment. The effective programs of psychosocial support to conflict-affected adolescents should take into account their individual characteristics and the specific situational context. For this purpose, we conducted psychodiagnostics study on mental health and emotional well-being of adolescents living near the front line in Eastern Ukraine. Totally, 222 high school students from Donetsk region aged 15 to 17 participated in the survey. The following questionnaires were used: Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), Child Psychosocial Distress Screener (CPDS) assessing distress, emotional and behavioural problems of children and adolescents aged 8-18, and Mental Health Assessment Instrument (MHAI) screening mental health symptoms and disorders at conflict-affected populations. The study findings showed that the majority (94,7%) of the respondents experienced war traumatic events, having at least one symptom of psychological problems; 25,5% were experiencing depression, 34,9% did PTS, 7,8% had anxiety and 7,7% had problems with alcohol use. Women were more likely than males to experience stress and had mental health problems, while men had problems with prosocial behavior. Both genders had difficulties in peer relationships and behavior. The existing psychological problems were aggravated by hyperactivity, difficulties in behavior and relationships with peer and indicated worsened mental health and emotional well-being of conflict-affected adolescents in the Eastern Ukraine, risk of mental disorders and asocial behavior. These data should be taken into account for effective psychological support for this category of adolescents. &nbsp

Synthetic Aperture Radar Image Classification: a Survey

In this review paper, several studies and researches were surveyed for assisting future researchers to identify available techniques in the field of classification of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images. SAR images are becoming increasingly important in a variety of remote sensing applications due to the ability of SAR sensors to operate in all types of weather conditions, including day and night remote sensing for long ranges and coverage areas. Its properties of vast planning, search, rescue, mine detection, and target identification make it very attractive for surveillance and observation missions of Earth resources. With the increasing popularity and availability of these images, the need for machines has emerged to enhance the ability to identify and interpret these images effectively. This is due to the fact that SAR image processing requires the formation of an image from the measured radar scatter returns, followed by a treatment to discover and define the image's composition. After reviewing several previous studies that succeeded in achieving a classification of SAR images for specific goals, it became obvious that they could be generalized to all types of SAR images. The most prominent use of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) was successful in extracting features from the images and training the neural network to analyze and classify them into classes according to these features. The dataset used in this model was obtained from the Moving and Stationary Target Acquisition and Recognition (MSTAR) database, which consists of a set of SAR images of military vehicles, for which the application of the CNN approach achieved a final accuracy of 97.91% on ten different classes.

A Convergence Study on Improvement of Emission Regulation in Military Vehicle

A Convergence Study on Improvement of Emission Regulation in Military Vehicle

On using a hybrid power plant on military tracked and wheeled vehicles

One of the areas for improving military tracked and wheeled vehicles is considered, nmely the use a hybrid power plant. A problem is determining the effectiveness of using a hybrid power plant in military vehicles. An analysis of foreign samples the military tracked and wheeled vehicles with an integrated hybrid power plant and their technical characteristics is carried out. A selection of traction electrical equipment for the construction a hybrid power plant for a tank and an armored personnel carrier was made. The technical characteristics of traction electric motors are considered: SUMO HD HV3500-9P company DANA (Canada), EMRAX 348 company Enstroj (Slovenia); traction Li-ion battery company WB Electronic (Poland), SUMO HP HV900-3P motor generator (LSG130 generator) DANA company (Canada). A study was done on the composing а components of the hybrid power plant in engine and transmission compartment and the hull of the T-72 tank, BMT-72 heavy infantry fighting vehicle and BTR-4MV1 armored personnel carrier. The study was conducted by modeling and comparative analysis. The simulation was carried out in a computer-aided design system Creo Parametric 2.0. As a result of the study, the technical characteristics of the BMT-72 and BTR-4MV1 products were determined with the introduction of a hybrid power plant on them. It was found that the use of a hybrid power plant on the BMT-72 product did not lead to improvement in speed characteristics and increase the power reserve, in addition to ensuring movement on traction batteries up to21 kmon a dry dirt road. The use of a hybrid power plant on armored personnel carrier BTR-4MV1 improves its maneuverability when applying a power transmission scheme from a traction motor to each wheel separately, provides movement on traction batteries up to53 kmon a dry dirt road. The total power reserve will be no less than the base product, since the capacity of the fuel system did not decrease. The estimated maximum speed of an armored personnel carrier with a hybrid power plant corresponds to the maximum speed of the base product and is110 km/h. The introduction a hybrid power plant on military tracked vehicles weighing 40-50 tons is not advisable due to insufficient electric power, large overall dimensions a traction batteries and large mass of the product. A promising direction is the introduction a hybrid power plant on military wheeled vehicles weighing up to 30 tons. To implement a hybrid power plant on armored personnel carrier according to the scheme of transferring power from the traction electric motor to the wheel, it is necessary to develop a gearbox design with two gears.

Economic and Environmental Impact of Military Electrical Vehicle Conversion and Solar Electricity Production

Military vehicles carry out defence and training functions; however, they also participate extensively in military operations apart from war, such as supporting citizens in emergency situations. Nonetheless, they continue to contribute to pollution, and carbon emissions in Chile have doubled in recent years. Thus, this study seeks a partial solution to this problem, extending the useful life of an archetypal military vehicle, i.e. AIL Storm internal combustion engine vehicle (ICEV), 4.0L gasoline, through its conversion into an electric vehicle (EV) using lithium-ion batteries. AIL Storm ICE emissions are compared with an equivalent EV conversion prototype, analysing the CO2 emissions of the EV charged from the Chilean electricity grid or from a solar photovoltaic charging station, taking advantage of the high levels of solar radiation in Chile. This studied model obtains a travel cost of 0.04USD/km in the “electric grid charge mode” and 0.02USD/km in the “Solar power station charge mode”, affecting the environment with 155kgCO2 emissions per year of use. In the future, technologies to manufacture or assemble lithium batteries must be developed in the Chilean market. Given the availability of this mineral in Chile, this step would reduce costs and make electric mobility more attractive and affordable.

О качестве советской военной продукции в период Великой Отечественной войны (1941–1945 гг.)

<span>Автором предложен методологический подход к оценке качества советской военной продукции в период Великой Отечественной войны, который включает три взаимосвязанные характеристики сравнимых по своему назначению «военных машин»: конструктивно-технические, производственно-технологические и эксплуатационные. Показаны достоинства и недостатки работы отделов технического контроля и военной приемки на предприятиях военно-промышленного комплекса СССР и оценен риск проникновения в действующую армию изделий со скрытым производственно-технологическим браком</span><span class="myHorizontalScaleForEmDashSpaceBefore"> </span><span>–</span><span class="myHorizontalScaleForEmDashSpaceAfter"> </span><span>наиболее высокий для авиационной и бронетанковой промышленности и промышленности боеприпасов. Доказывается, что по совокупности выделенных критериев качества советское стрелковое и артиллерийско-минометное вооружение по сравнению с аналогичными видами вооружений противника не было ни ущербным, ни превосходящем его. Тогда как качество советской авиационной и бронетанковой техники характеризуется большими и малыми конструктивными недостатками, нестабильностью (особенно в начальный период войны) производственно-технологического процесса и низкими, по сравнению с аналогичной военной техникой противника, эксплуатационными возможностями (моторесурс). Отставание в качестве военной техники приходилось уравновешивать большим количеством сравнительно недолговечных в эксплуатации и более дешевых в изготовлении «военных машин», из-за чего некоторые из них, например, самолеты-штурмовики Ил-2, становились изделиями «одноразового использования».</span>

Rare earth metals utilization opportunities in the development of Indonesia defense industry technology

Industrial technology developments that entered the era of 4.0, other than to utilize the development of technology which based on the internet of things, big data, artificial intelligence, cloud, etc., also need to be supported by advanced material technology capabilities, namely rare earth metals. In the defense industry, rare earth metals used in defense and security equipment such as military vehicle coating materials that are able to dodge or absorb waves of enemy radar detection, jet engine components of aircraft fighter, missile weapons systems, electronic components, subsea detectors, satellite devices and material for radar, etc. This research was conducted through literature review and using the SWOT analysis method on the opportunities for the use of rare-earth metals in Indonesia defense industry products. The data used are secondary data, which includes data on the distribution of rare earth metals in Indonesia and the specifications of the use of rare-earth metals in the defense industry. Based on the defense requirements for defense products and the percentage of rare earth metals content in the territory of Indonesia, one of the opportunities for the use of rare-earth metals for defense industry products is in the application of anti-radar layers.

A review for design and dynamics control of unmanned ground vehicle

The unmanned ground vehicle is supposed to replace humans for various applications in both civilian and military area, including transport, delivery, shuttle, clean, patrol, scout, and battle. It has been widely expected that the unmanned ground vehicle will greatly change the human life and the land combat form in the near future. The key techniques of the unmanned ground vehicle are environment perception, motion planning, chassis dynamics control, and cloud control. In this paper, the state of the art of the development of the military and civilian unmanned ground vehicle is introduced, and many classic ones are reviewed in detail in different application categories. The overall design and X-by-wire dynamics control technique of the civilian and military unmanned ground vehicle are reviewed. The X-by-wire technique plays an important role in improving the maneuverability, mobility, and handling performance of the unmanned ground vehicle. Therefore, the chassis dynamics control is considered as a core technique of the X-by-wire unmanned ground vehicle. In addition, as a research trend of the unmanned ground vehicle dynamics control, the cloud-based dynamics control approach of future unmanned ground vehicle based on big data and cloud control techniques is described according to the authors’ work.

Effect of sitting posture on pelvic injury risk under vertical loading

Underbody blast (UBB) attacks on military vehicles can result in severe pelvic injuries to the vehicle occupants. The aim of this study was to evaluate the biomechanical responses of the pelvis to UBB-like vertical loading in different seated postures. High-rate axial loading were performed on six defleshed human cadaveric pelves, whilst a three-dimensional finite element model of a human pelvis was created and used to simulate the high-rate loading with the model responses validated against experimental measurements. Three pelvic orientation corresponding to normal, upright, and relaxed seated postures, along with three different sacral slope angles representing the range of relative pelvis and sacrum positions known to exist across the population, were studied. The results showed that a decrease in posterior pelvic tilt slightly reduced the severity of sacral fracture, while an increase in sacral angle extended the region of anterior sacral fracture but reduced the extent to which the dorsal sacrum fractured. Across all seated postures, the predicted fractures of the ischial tuberosity, ischium, pubic rami and sacrum coincided with the typical pelvic fracture patterns observed in UBB events. The present study suggests that adopting an upright initial seated posture prior to an UBB event may reduce the risk of pelvic injuries.

Feature Extraction Method for DCP HRRP-Based Radar Target Recognition via $m-\chi$ Decomposition and Sparsity-Preserving Discriminant Correlation Analysis

Dual-circular polarimetric (DCP) high-resolution range profile (HRRP) provides similar target information to the full polarimetric HRRP and has the same data volume as the dual-linear polarimetric HRRP, thus it is significant to investigate the capability of DCP HRRP for target recognition. In this paper, a novel feature extraction method is proposed for the DCP HRRP-based target recognition. First, due to the good capability of characterizing the target polarimetric structure, the $m - \chi $ decomposition is exploited to obtain three scattering components of targets corresponding to the odd-bounce, even-bounce and randomly polarized scattering mechanisms along the radar line-of-sight (LOS), respectively. However, these three scattering components are infeasible to be directly utilized for target recognition due to the high dimensionality and redundancy. Considering this, a novel feature fusion method named as sparsity-preserving discriminant correlation analysis (SPDCA) is proposed to fuse the three scattering components. The SPDCA method can obtain the low-dimensional projection feature with good class separability by preserving both the global structure and local sparsity property of the original data. Besides, the redundancy of the three scattering components is eliminated by the SPDCA method. The results of experiments conducted on the simulated data of 10 civilian vehicles and real data of 3 military vehicles demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed feature extraction method.

Balancing Lifecycle Sustainment Cost with Value of Information during Design Phase

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">The complete lifecycle of complex systems, such as ground vehicles, consists of multiple phases including design, manufacturing, operation and sustainment (O&S) and finally disposal. For many systems, the majority of the lifecycle costs are incurred during the operation and sustainment phase, specifically in the form of uncertain maintenance costs. Testing and analysis during the design phase, including reliability and supportability analysis, can have a major influence on costs during the O&S phase. However, the cost of the analysis itself must be reconciled with the expected benefits of the reduction in uncertainty. In this paper, we quantify the value of performing the tests and analyses in the design phase by treating it as imperfect information obtained to better estimate uncertain maintenance costs. A multi-attribute decision framework for military ground vehicles acquisition is employed to illustrate the methodology and the value of performing the analysis early in the system’s lifecycle. Attributes considered are maintenance cost and operational availability, while the utility is calculated for a risk averse decision maker. Numerical methods are employed to calculate the value of sample information and reflect an increase in expected utility (EU) after collecting the information. While less than the value of perfect information that completely eliminates outcome uncertainty, results demonstrate a positive value for testing. This value determines the maximum amount that should be spent on testing given the anticipated benefits.</div></div>

Facility for Complete Characterization of Suspension Kinematic and Compliance Properties of Wheeled Military Vehicles

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">As part of their ongoing efforts to model and predict vehicle dynamics behavior, the US Army’s Ground Vehicle Systems Center procured a facility in two phases. The facility is called the Suspension Parameter Identification and Evaluation Rig (SPIdER) and has a capacity covering all of the military’s wheeled vehicles, with vehicle weights up to 100,000 lbs (45,400 kg), up to 150 inches wide, with any number of axles. The initial phase had the ability to measure bounce and roll kinematic and compliance properties. The SPIdER is the companion machine to the Vehicle Inertia Parameter Measuring Device (VIPER) which measures the inertia properties of vehicles of similar size. In 2015, the final phase of the SPIdER was completed. This phase includes ground plane wheel pad motion so that lateral, longitudinal, and aligning moment compliance and kinematic properties can be measured. These capabilities greatly enhance the SPIdER’s features, giving it the ability for making complete suspension and steering system kinematic and compliance measurements. Horizontal forces and aligning moments can be applied up to the limits of tire slip. Longitudinal forces are applied at the ground plane. The vehicle is driven onto the SPIdER and the body is restrained to a rigid T-bed. The test sequence can be performed in a few hours, and is done with the vehicle body stationary and the ground plane moving under the tires. The slight vehicle body motions are measured and this motion is accounted for in the calculations of suspension parameters. This paper describes the new capabilities of the SPIdER, including an overview of the new design features, control schemes, and measured quantities. Results from a sampling of various SPIdER tests are presented.</div></div>

Repeated exposure to nanosecond high power pulsed microwaves increases cancer incidence in rat.

High-power microwaves are used to inhibit electronics of threatening military or civilian vehicles. This work aims to assess health hazards of high-power microwaves and helps to define hazard threshold levels of modulated radiofrequency exposures such as those emitted by the first generations of mobile phones. Rats were exposed to the highest possible field levels, under single acute or repetitive exposures for eight weeks. Intense microwave electric fields at 1 MV m-1 of nanoseconds duration were applied from two sources at different carrier frequencies of 10 and 3.7 GHz. The repetition rate was 100 pps, and the duration of train pulses lasted from 10 s to twice 8 min. The effects on the central nervous system were evaluated, by labelling brain inflammation marker GFAP and by performing different behavioural tests: rotarod, T-maze, beam-walking, open-field, and avoidance test. Long-time survival was measured in animals repeatedly exposed, and anatomopathological analysis was performed on animals sacrificed at two years of life or earlier in case of precocious death. Control groups were sham exposed. Few effects were observed on behaviour. With acute exposure, an avoidance reflex was shown at very high thermal level (22 W kg-1); GFAP was increased some days after exposure. Most importantly, with repeated exposures, survival time was 4-months shorter in the exposed group, with eleven animals exhibiting a large sub-cutaneous tumour, compared to two in the sham group. A residual X-ray exposure was also present in the beam (0.8 Gy), which is probably not a bias for the observed result. High power microwaves below thermal level in average, can increase cancer prevalence and decrease survival time in rats, without clear effects on behaviour. The parameters of this effect need to be further explored, and a more precise dosimetry to be performed.

Wavelength-Resolution SAR Ground Scene Prediction Based on Image Stack.

This paper presents five different statistical methods for ground scene prediction (GSP) in wavelength-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. The GSP image can be used as a reference image in a change detection algorithm yielding a high probability of detection and low false alarm rate. The predictions are based on image stacks, which are composed of images from the same scene acquired at different instants with the same flight geometry. The considered methods for obtaining the ground scene prediction include (i) autoregressive models; (ii) trimmed mean; (iii) median; (iv) intensity mean; and (v) mean. It is expected that the predicted image presents the true ground scene without change and preserves the ground backscattering pattern. The study indicates that the the median method provided the most accurate representation of the true ground. To show the applicability of the GSP, a change detection algorithm was considered using the median ground scene as a reference image. As a result, the median method displayed the probability of detection of and a false alarm rate of , when considering military vehicles concealed in a forest.

Research progress in advanced polymer matrix composites for armor protection systems

With the changes of modern warfare modes and the development of missiles and weapons, the battlefield survivability of military vehicles is facing severe challenges. Vehicles must have high protection performance and better mobility. However, both of them are contradictory each other. The advanced resin-based composites has excellent mechanical properties and strong designability, and is one of the main technical means to solve the above problems, but it also encounters a bottleneck. In view of these situations, this paper summarizes the development of advanced composites in recent years, and discusses in detail the protection mechanism of advanced composite materials, material selection and manufacturing processes, and the latest developments and future application trends of advanced composite materials for armor protection systems.

Analysis of Force Mitigation by Boots in Axial Impacts using a Lower Leg Finite Element Model.

Lower extremity injuries caused by floor plate impacts through the axis of the lower leg are a major source of injury and disability for civilian and military vehicle occupants. A collection of PMHS pendulum impacts was revisited to obtain data for paired booted/unbooted test on the same leg. Five sets of paired pendulum impacts (10 experiments in total) were found using four lower legs from two PMHS. The PMHS size and age was representative of an average young adult male. In these tests, a PMHS leg was impacted by a 3.4 or 5.8 kg pendulum with an initial velocity of 5, 7, or 10 m/s (42-288 J). A matching LS-DYNA finite element model was developed to replicate the experiments and provide additional energy, strain, and stress data. Simulation results matched the PMHS data using peak values and CORA curve correlations. Experimental forces ranged between 1.9 and 12.1 kN experimentally and 2.0 and 11.7 kN in simulation. Combat boot usage reduced the peak force by 36% experimentally (32% in simulation) by compressing the sole and insole with similar mitigations for calcaneus strain. The simulated Von Mises stress contours showed the boot both mitigating and shifting stress concentrations from the calcaneus in unbooted impacts to the talus-tibia joint in the booted impacts, which may explain why some previous studies have observed shifts to tibia injuries with boot or padding usage.

DEPENDABILITY FOR THE MILITARY VEHICLES IN THE SAFETY ASPECTS

The article discusses the essence of dependability for the military vehicles, the knowledge of which ensures success in the mission and provides an appropriate level of the crew safety while executing combat tasks. The paper also includes an analysis of factors affecting the dependability for the military vehicles.

DETERMINATION OF PERFORMANCE INDICATORS OF THE TRUCK KrAZ-6510TE

In any economy there is a need for the bulky goods transportation which cannot be divided into smaller parts. Such cargoes include building structures, elements of industrial equipment, tracked or wheeled construction and agricultural machinery, heavy armored military vehicles. In any case, tractor-semitrailer should provide fast delivery of goods with minimal fuel consumption. In order to guarantee the goods delivery, tractor-semitrailers must be able to overcome the existing roads broken grade and be capable to tow a semi-trailer in off-road conditions. These properties are especially important for military equipment transportation. The important factor that determines a tractor-semitrailer mobility is its gradeability. The purpose of this work is to improve a tractor-semitrailer mobility with tractor units manufactured at PJSC “AutoKrAZ” by increasing the tractor-semitrailer gradeability. The customer requirements for a new tractor are determined by the maximizing the grade to 18°. The analysis of the characteristics of modern tractor-semitrailers for heavy haulage has shown that the highest rate of this grade is 16.7°. The factors determining the limiting gradeability value were analyzed, based on the tractor-semitrailer with a KrAZ-6510TE tractor and a semi-trailer with a full weight of 80 t. It has been developed a mathematical model to investigate the tractor and semi-trailer axles vertical reactions distribution on the tractor-semitrailer friction performances. The mathematical model has allowed to calculate the gradeability value that the tractor-semitrailer can overcome in case of wheels and road surface friction value and the tractive force magnitude from the engine. The mathematical model adequacy was confirmed by comparing the calculations results with the data of factory tests. The analysis showed that on a dry road the KrAZ-6510TE tractor with a 80 t gross weight semitrailer is capable to climb a gradient of 14,35 ° with its coupling mass full use condition. The engine's maximum torque allows the tractor-semitrailer to overcome a gradient of 10.45° It has been determined the ways to improve the design of the KrAZ-6510TE tractor to increase its gradeability. Keywords: tractor, tractor-semitrailer vehicle mobility, tractor-semitrailer vehicle gradeability.