Methods and Goals of the Mechanics of Off-the-Road Locomotion

This paper is concerned with the complete vehicle and the interaction between vehicle characteristics and terrain properties. Various approaches taken to solve the problem of off-the-road locomotion are presented. Mickelthwaits’s work is described and supplemented by equations, as is the work of Uffelmann, Bekker, Eklund, the Corps of Engineers’ Waterways Experiment Station, Nutall, Vincent and Hicks, and Dickson. The ultimate objective of all the foregoing approaches is the establishment of the relationship between a vehicle and soil, and the measurement of those elements affecting that relationship.