Tire-ground interaction analysis A comparative study of DEM and SCM approaches within ProjectChrono environment

This thesis investigates tire-ground interaction using the open-source program Project Chrono, based on C++ programming language. To conduct the analysis, an existing tire test rig demo already present in Project Chrono was used, allowing for a comparison between two different terrain models: the granular terrain and the Soil Contact Model (SCM). The DEM approach was applied to a granular terrain while the SCM model is based on the semi-empirical Bekker-Wong formulation. The DEM simulation encountered significant hardware limitations due to its high computational demands. The number of particles used was considerably lower than the standard, leading to reduced accuracy. On the other hand, the SCM model offered a more computationally efficient alternative, ensuring a reasonable balance between performance and simulation results. Additionally, a vehicle dynamics analysis was conducted using an HMMWV model on SCM terrain, already present in the program. Various driving scenarios, including acceleration, braking, ramp steer, and step steer manoeuvres, were examined to evaluate vehicle’s characteristics.