Title
FEM and DEM simulations of tire-soil and drill-soil interactions in off-road conditions for mechanical design validation of a space exploration rover
Date Issued
16 July 2021
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
conference paper
Author(s)
Castañeda, Elvis
Pineda Leon, Roberto
Grupo de Investigación en Bioastronáutica y Mecatrónica Espacial
Publisher(s)
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Abstract
With the increasing development of computational sciences in aerospace technologies, numerical methods have become a useful tool for engineering researchers. Tractive performance studies and soil-tool interactions analysis have been widely favored by the finite element method (FEM) and the discrete element method (DEM). In order to validate the current design of a tire tread and drill for its use in a space exploration rover named "Pachacutec", a research has been conducted by Kamayuc Team in the Smart Machines Laboratory at Universidad Nacional de Ingenieriá. The research consisted in characterize a granular terrain to simulate tire-soil and drill-soil interactions in off-road conditions using DEM and FEM models. Parameters such as tractive force, axial load and terrain compaction were analyzed to predict both tire and drill real performance. The results shows that the tire tread was able to provide the necessary traction for the movement and stability of the rover. In addition, the material assigned to the drill resulted in a high mechanical strength, ensuring its safe operation. To develop a further work, the authors suggest to recollect Martian regolith simulant from a Mars Analog and reproduce the same methodology proposed in this study to validate the mechanical design in these conditions.
Start page
454
End page
461
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ingeniería mecánica Mecánica aplicada
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85115434028
Resource of which it is part
2021 12th International Conference on Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, ICMAE 2021
ISBN of the container
9781665433211
Conference
12th International Conference on Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, ICMAE 2021 Virtual, Athens 16 July 2021 through 19 July 2021
Sponsor(s)
Kamayuc Team was funded in 2018 in order to build a Martian Exploration Rover to compete in the European Rover Challenge (ERC) and the University Rover Challenge (URC) events. It is a multidisciplinary research group from Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos and the Universidad Nacional Pedro Ruiz Gallo. The rover’s name is Pachacuteq (dimensions: 1.12 x 1.04 m at the base, 0.98 m high, 45 kg mass). It is a teleoperated mobile robot, capable of performing many tasks aimed at terrain space exploration. ERC and URC demand that Pachacuteq fulfill numerous tasks, such as off-road driving and soil samples extraction. Airless tires made of polyurethane foam and an extractor drill made of steel were designed so as to succeed in these missions and made it possible to reach the finals of the European Rover Challenge 2020. After that, during 2020-2021, work has been done on new improved designs for these two components, focusing mainly on geometric parameters to increase their reliability and efficiency. To validate both designs, it was necessary to perform computer simulations that show the interaction of these geometries with a granular soil. Thanks to Kamayuc Team at the Smart Machines Laboratory of Centro de Tecnolog a de la Informaci n y las Comunicaciones (CTIC) of the Universidad Nacional de Ingenier a, Peru. Also, to the Space Physics and Engineering Division of the Bioastronautics and Space Mechatronics Research Group (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7173-3960).
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus