Numerical modelling of flexible wheel-soil interaction for planetary rovers

行星漫游车柔性轮-土相互作用的数值模拟

• 批准号: 544080-2019
• 负责人: Newson, Timothy
• 金额: $ 1.82万
• 依托单位: University of Western Ontario
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Engage Grants Program
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2019-01-01 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=680974
• 关键词: Numerical; modelling; flexible; wheel; soil

Space exploration is rapidly evolving and NASA has made firm commitments to return to the Moon in the 2020s and Mars in the 2030s. This includes the provision of robotics to support new missions to explore the Moon, Mars, asteroids, and other bodies in the solar system. Much of this effort will require the use of planetary rovers, which are autonomous space vehicles designed to move across a planet's surface. The mechanical properties of the underlying soils control the tractive performance and loose terrain may result in immobilization, such as that experienced by the Mars exploration rovers. Various wheel-soil interaction (terramechanics) theories have been developed previously and have been applied to planetary vehicles since the Apollo program. The addition of rigorous numerical modelling for the interpretation of soil-wheel interaction would increase the current range of techniques for rover design that are available. In this study, the FEM software ABAQUS will be used to develop finite element models of a flexible wheel rolling across a drained soil medium, which will be validated with existing single wheel-soil laboratory test bed data. A parametric study will be conducted to assess the influence of wheel dimensions, soil parameters (stiffness and strength), relative wheel-soil compressibility and interface properties on deformation and stresses of the soil-wheel system during sinkage and rolling. This initiative will contribute to the development and optimization of rover technology and will help the sector respond to urgent needs. It will provide better understanding of rover wheel technology, which is vital for rover mobility performance evaluation and overall rover design.

太空探索正在迅速发展，美国国家航空航天局已经做出了坚定的承诺，将在本世纪20年代重返月球，在20世纪30年代重返火星。这包括提供机器人以支持探索月球、火星、小行星和太阳系其他天体的新任务。这项工作中的很大一部分将需要使用行星漫游车，这是一种旨在穿越行星表面的自主航天器。下面土壤的力学性质控制着牵引性能，松散的地形可能会导致固定，就像火星探测车所经历的那样。自从阿波罗计划以来，各种车轮-土壤相互作用(地面力学)理论已经被开发出来，并被应用到行星飞行器上。增加用于解释土壤-车轮相互作用的严格的数值模拟将增加现有的漫游车设计技术的范围。在这项研究中，将使用有限元软件ABAQUS建立柔性车轮在排水土壤介质中滚动的有限元模型，并用现有的单轮-土壤实验室试验台数据进行验证。将进行参数研究，以评估车轮尺寸、土壤参数(刚度和强度)、相对车轮-土壤压缩率和界面性质对土壤-车轮系统在下沉和滚动过程中变形和应力的影响。这一举措将有助于开发和优化月球车技术，并将帮助该部门对紧急需求作出反应。它将提供对月球车车轮技术的更好理解，这对月球车机动性性能评估和总体月球车设计至关重要。