An Optimum Operation of a Bulldozer Running on a Weak Terrain

Establishing an automatically controlled system to obtain a maximum productivity of a bulldozer running on a weak terrain, the total traffic performance of a tracked vehicle could be clarified by use of a micro-computer in robotics from initial informations of terrain material and vehicle dimensions. Here, an useful estimation method of terrain properties: cohesion, angle of internal friction, modulus of shear deformation, pressure sinkage curve at rest and slippage state was presented by use of input data from several sensors which could measure the initial sinkage of vehicle, and the torques and the slip sinkages for three slip rations. Afterwards, an optimum drawbar-pull and an optimum slip ratio to get a maximum productivity in dozing operation of a small test bulldozer running on a weak remolded silty loam terrain could be determined from the relations between driving force, drawbar-pull, sinkage, eccentricity and slip ratio.