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Soil and Vegetation Disturbance of Tracked and Wheeled Offroad Vehicles

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  Paper number  031055,  2003 ASAE Annual Meeting . (doi: 10.13031/2013.15675)
Authors:   Qinghe Li, Paul D. Ayers, Chunxia Wu, Alan B. Anderson
Keywords:   Soil and vegetation disturbance; off-road vehicles; turning radius; GPS

Traffic of off-road vehicles can disturb soil, decrease vegetation development and increase soil erosion. This paper investigates soil disturbed width of tracks or wheels of off-road vehicles. Theoretical models were developed to predict disturbed width for both tracked vehicles and wheeled vehicles. It is found that disturbed width is not only controlled by vehicle dimensions, but also influenced by soil conditions and vehicle dynamic properties (turning radius, velocity). Field tests of tracked (M1A1, M548) and wheeled (M1025) vehicles were conducted to validate these models. A Global Position System (GPS) based vehicle tracking system was used for tracking vehicle positions and deriving vehicle dynamic properties. Field data of terrain-vehicle interactions in different vehicle dynamic conditions were collected. Theoretical models fit the field data well ( 2 R values are between 0.61 and 0.70), and can be used to predict disturbed width of off-road vehicles.

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