ABSTRACT
When a rigid tracked vehicle of weight W , track belt contact length D, track width B, and amount of eccentricity of center of gravity of vehicle e is in a stationary condition on a hard terrain as shown in Figure 5.1, a ground reaction P acts on the track belt at the position of the amount of eccentricity e0D and the distribution of the contact pressure takes on the shape of a trapezoid within the bounds |ei| 1/6. In this case, the amount of sinkage of the track belt is negligibly small for a hard terrain. The contact pressures at the front and rear ends of the track belt pf and pr can be expressed as follows providing that we assume that the hard terrain is a pure linearly-elastic material:
pf = pm(1 − 6e0) (5.1) pr = pm(1 + 6e0) (5.2) pm = W2BD (5.3)
where pm is the average contact pressure. On the other hand, the distribution of the contact pressure becomes a triangle to the rear-side for e0 > l/6 and to the front side for e0 <−1/6.
Figure 5.1. Contact pressure distribution under track belt on hard terrain (at rest).
