Track tension estimation in tracked vehicles under various maneuvering tasks

In this paper, track tension monitoring methodology is developed so that th e track tension can be estimated under various maneuvering tasks such as lo ngitudinal driving on sloping and/or rough roads, filming on flat or slopin g roads, etc. The real-time information of the track tension is very import ant for tracked vehicles because the track tension is closely related to th e maneuverability and the durability of tracked vehicles. In the case of lo ngitudinal driving, a modified 3 DOF dynamics model is derived for tracked vehicles and is utilized for estimating the tractive force and track tensio n. In the case of turning, kinetic models for six road-wheels are obtained and used for calculating the track tension around the sprocket. This method does not require tuning of the turning resistance, which makes it difficul t to estimate the track tension in turning. The estimation performance of t he proposed methods is verified through simulations of the Multi-Body Dynam ics tool. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the propo sed method under various maneuvering tasks of tracked vehicles.