Terramechanical analysis of rover wheel mobility over simulated Martian terrain at various slip conditions and vertical loads

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2013.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Puszko, Gregory D
Other Authors: Karl Iagnemma.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/83739
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author Puszko, Gregory D
author2 Karl Iagnemma.
author_facet Karl Iagnemma.
Puszko, Gregory D
author_sort Puszko, Gregory D
collection MIT
description Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2013.
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spelling mit-1721.1/837392019-04-11T03:16:31Z Terramechanical analysis of rover wheel mobility over simulated Martian terrain at various slip conditions and vertical loads Puszko, Gregory D Karl Iagnemma. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering. Mechanical Engineering. Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, 2013. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages 44-45). Unmanned Mars rovers are presented with the unique challenge of requiring autonomous driving control over rough, adverse territory. A software package, dubbed Artemis, was developed in order to model the expected forces and torques on a rover's drive wheels while traveling across unfamiliar Martian terrain. However, experimental testing must be done in order to validate this theoretical model. A test rig was developed by MIT's Robotic Mobility Group to measure the forces and torques on a single rover wheel as it traverses across a soil simulant of the Martian surface, and compared that measured data to the hypothetical results predicted by Artemis. A significant portion of this work is dedicated toward the determination of the proper soil simulant to use in the test rig. Several compositions of Mauricetown NJ70 material and SilCoSil 250 Ground Silica were tested in a direct shear test in order to distinguish the properties of the material at various concentrations. With its high residual stress, low peak strength, and large internal friction angle, a mixture of 75% NJ70 with 25% SilCoSil by weight was selected as the Martian soil simulant. The experimental data revealed that as slip values and vertical loads on the rover wheel increases, values for drawbar force, wheel torque, and sinkage generally increase as well, which are the same trends predicted by the Artemis software package. Supplementary testing will need to be completed for additional slip levels and vertical loads to further substantiate the results of the Artemis software. Moreover, additional testing should be done to characterize the test soil's properties, to directly compare the results of the Artemis model to the experimental figures. by Gregory D. Puszko. S.B. 2014-01-09T19:49:59Z 2014-01-09T19:49:59Z 2013 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/83739 864600325 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 45 pages application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Mechanical Engineering.
Puszko, Gregory D
Terramechanical analysis of rover wheel mobility over simulated Martian terrain at various slip conditions and vertical loads
title Terramechanical analysis of rover wheel mobility over simulated Martian terrain at various slip conditions and vertical loads
title_full Terramechanical analysis of rover wheel mobility over simulated Martian terrain at various slip conditions and vertical loads
title_fullStr Terramechanical analysis of rover wheel mobility over simulated Martian terrain at various slip conditions and vertical loads
title_full_unstemmed Terramechanical analysis of rover wheel mobility over simulated Martian terrain at various slip conditions and vertical loads
title_short Terramechanical analysis of rover wheel mobility over simulated Martian terrain at various slip conditions and vertical loads
title_sort terramechanical analysis of rover wheel mobility over simulated martian terrain at various slip conditions and vertical loads
topic Mechanical Engineering.
url http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/83739
work_keys_str_mv AT puszkogregoryd terramechanicalanalysisofroverwheelmobilityoversimulatedmartianterrainatvariousslipconditionsandverticalloads