Research On The Steering Properties Of The Articulated Rubber-Tired Vehicle

The strong mobile performance of the Explosion-proof rubber-tired vehicle greatly enhance the production efficiency of the coal mining industry, which prompted the rapid development of the design and studies for articulated rubber-tired vehicle at abroad. Due to the late start of study specific to the mining articulated rubber-tired vehicle, the current design theory of it is not yet perfect and remains in imitation stage. Also, the model of it is single that is vulnerable to satisfy different kinds of productive demands as well as various road conditions. As an important part of the rubber-tired vehicle the articulated steering mechanism is directly related to the maneuvering performance of a vehicle. Therefore, this study focus on their steering related technologies. The main findings are as follows:Taking a single degree of freedom articulated rubber tire vehicle for the study, by analyzing its pivot steering mechanics model under full load condition, Comprehensively considering the interaction between tire and road wheel angle, the influence of road wheel angle, speed and other factors on the steering resistance,the variation law between the pivot steering resistance and steering wheel angle has been deduced according to virtual displacement principle. The results showed that when the steering wheel angle in its maximum 45 °the pivot steering resistance has reached the maximum of 24.68kN*m, and the pivot steering resistance grow non-linear with the increase of the steering wheel angle.The multi-body steering virtual prototype model of the fully loaded articulated rubber-tire vehicle was established. The simulation analysis is conducted under extreme road conditions such as triangular projection, rectangular pit, washboard road traffic and other obstacles for the effect of steering on vehicle performance. The results show that the vehicle steering in a rectangular pit road is in its most uneven load distribution and worst stability. The load difference of the left and right tires in the rear axle is at its maximum 0.54 kN. The steering yaw rate of the front frame centroid reached 58.71rad/s, the right rear wheel angle is at its maximum 15.63 °.When extracted the stress data of the steering mechanism in the front and rear body connection thus the hinge plate at its rectangular pit condition, the results show that the front frame and the contact pin appears at the maximum stress 207 MPa. It can be concluded that in this case the dynamic stress of the hinge plate being relatively big, resulting in stress concentration, is the main reason for rupture damage to the hinge plate.Improve the articulated steering mechanism to two degrees of freedom, establish the two degrees of freedom simulation model of the steering, the centroid yaw rate value reduced to 46.35 rad/s when the front frame over the rectangular pit, the maximum value of stress reduced to 157 MPa. It can be concluded that the dynamic stress and stability of the steering mechanism in the improved vehicle improved to some extent compared with the condition of a single degree of freedom, which verify the he reliability and advantages of the steering mechanism with two degrees of freedom.The results of this article can provide some theoretical basis for the design of the steering mechanism in articulated rubber-tired vehicle.