Effect of belt width and grouser wear on the tractive characteristics of rubber-tracked vehicles

Extensive field tests were conducted using a Caterpillar Challenger 45 rubb er-tracked tractor to study the effect of belt width and grouser wear on tr active characteristics of rubber-tracked tractors. The results of this stud y indicated that belt width does not significantly influence traction chara cteristics of a belted tractor whereas grouser wear significantly influence s both the maximum net traction coefficient and the maximum gross traction coefficient. However, grouser wear did not influence the maximum tractive e fficiency significantly. Moreover, the results indicated that maximum gross traction coefficient is linearly related to the maximum net traction coeff icient with a coefficient of determination of over 98%.