2022 Digital Event Series

The ISTVS welcomes you to a free digital event series — alternating informal student-led research seminars and terramechanics bites by established researchers.

The events are generally on Wednesdays at a time chosen to make it possible for all international colleagues to attend. Links to recordings of the events will be sent so register whether or not you’re sure you can attend.

Use the registration links to sign up. Our event platform is Hopin: you’ll be asked to create an account which you can use for all events in this digital series.

Series Playlist » YouTube

N E X T U P

March 16 | Terramechanics Bite
11:00 EDT / 16:00 CET / 00:00 JST

Dr. Theunis Botha
Vehicle Dynamics Group
University of Pretoria

Camera-based measurements in terramechanics
and off-road tyre research

The presentation will present camera-based measurement techniques developed at the University of Pretoria’s Vehicle Dynamics Group. The methods allow useful measurements to be obtained for vehicle research with the presentation focused on off-road terrain and vehicles.

Dr. Theunis Botha is a senior lecturer at the University of Pretoria and works in the Vehicle Dynamics Group (VDG). He obtained his Ph.D. in 2014 with his thesis entitled “Digital Image Correlation: Applications in Vehicle Dynamics” which focused on using camera-based measurements to obtain useful measurements in vehicle dynamics. His research focus is on camera-based measurements, control systems and state and parameter estimation with a focus on vehicle applications. In the field of terramechanics his research has studied the measurement of road profile and rut depths of deformable terrain using camera measurements. He has also developed measurement techniques that allow the measurement of tyre deformation and strain on the inside of tyres which aims to develop measurement techniques that can further aid the terramechanics research community.

P A S T E V E N T S

March 09 | Terramechanics Bite

Dr. Peter Kiss
Nihal D. Salman

Research results and laboratory at the
Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Dr. Peter Kiss will introduce the Vehicle Technology Laboratory at the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (MATE) and research activity in terramechanics and land locomotion. 

Ph.D. candidate Nihal Salman will discuss a state-of-the-art report of ongoing research on load-bearing capacity of soil as a homogeneous finite half-space.

Dr. Peter Kiss is Professor of Biosystems Engineering at the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Head of the Vehicle Technology Department and Laboratory. He graduated as a mechanical engineer. His research and education fields are: internal combustion engines, on-road and off-road vehicles, vehicle mobility, vehicle energetics and terramechanics. He currently supervises five Ph.D. students: two students in engine technology researching exhaust gas after-treatment systems, and three students carrying out research in terramechanics. He has been a member of the ISTVS since 1991. He was 2nd and 1st vice-president of the Society between 2008 and 2014 and president of the Society between 2014 and 2017. He is an Editorial Advisory Board member of the Journal of Terramechanics and National Secretary for Hungary. He organized three ISTVS conferences in Budapest in 1991, 2006, and 2017.

Co-lecturer Nihal D Salman is also a Ph.D. candidate in terramechanics at the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She has a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in mechanical engineering. She was a lecturer for six years at the Middle Technical University, Iraq. Her area of expertise comprises the bearing capacity of soil, pressure sinkage, finite and infinite half-space, and soil strength measuring techniques. She has been a member of the Iraqi Engineers Union since 2011. In 2017, she was awarded a Hungarian government scholarship through the Stipendium Hungaricum Scholarship Program to study in the Ph.D. program in Hungary. She participated in the ISTVS conference in 2019 as a delegate. Nihal has authored eight articles from her Ph.D. research work, published in high-quality peer reviewed journals.

Dr. Paul Ayers | ISTVS Fellow
Biosystems Engineering Professor Emeritus
University of Tennessee

February 19 | Terramechanics Bite
11:00 EST / 17:00 CET / 01:00 JST

Development of a physics-based dynamic visco-elastic vehicle-soil interaction model for rut depth, energy and power determinations

The Next Generation NATO Reference Mobility Model (NG-NRMM) provides an opportunity for utilization of physics-based Vehicle Terrain Interaction models. This presentation provides the framework for possible vehicle-soil interaction components to assist model development. The physics-based components include tire placement, surface loading, stress distribution, time-dependent soil compression (multi-pass), preconsolidation stresses, soil rebound, lateral displacement, slip sinkage, soil bulldozing. By summing soil force and displacements, and utilizing time components, soil mobility energy and power can be determined.

Dr. Paul Ayers is a Biosystems Engineering Professor Emeritus at the University of Tennessee. He has been evaluating vehicle movement patterns and terrain impacts of military vehicles since 1990. Some of his studies include the development of a vehicle terrain impact model, and analyzing and modeling the influence of speed, turning and soil conditions on terrain impacts for tracked and wheeled vehicles, including multi-pass.  Dr. Ayers has used GPS to determine military vehicle movement patterns and georeferenced site-specific vehicle impacts (vegetation removal and rutting) at multiple military installations. He demonstrated the use of GPS-based vehicle tracking to identify new off-road trail development and the column movement of vehicle platoons. From 2015 to 2020, he was the United States Secretary for the International Society for Terrain Vehicle Systems (ISTVS) and was recently named ISTVS Fellow.

Dr. George Mason, ISTVS Fellow
Center for Advanced Vehicle Systems
Mississippi State University

January 26 | Terramechanics Bite
11:00 EST / 17:00 CET / 01:00 JST

A general discussion of the uses of mapping and geographical information systems (GIS) to build an off-road simulation environment. We present the typical input data fields for models such as the NATO Reference Mobility Model (NRMM) and websites that contain information useful in defining the attributes. We discuss some of the temporal and spatial issues and future work in GIS.

David Jelinek | Undergraduate Researcher
Center for Advanced Vehicle Systems
Mississippi State University

Compilation and Analysis of Test Data to Characterize Wheel Performance in Fine-Grained Soils

This presentation will overview expansion of the DROVE dataset (database records for off-road vehicle environments) with fine-grained soil wheel test data. An extensive database was compiled and digitized to improve availability for use in off-road tire performance research. Contributed data originates from field/laboratory tests characterizing tractive performance of wheels operating in dry sands. The overview extends from measurement acquisition to the digitization process and current applications. Important variables describing tire-mobility are summarized, and the context and methods behind their collection are provided. Variables measured during each test include the soil’s cone index, vertical load, and the wheel’s dimensions, torque, drawbar pull, motion resistance, sinkage, and slip. The process of digitization into the archive and an analysis of data follows. Expansion of the dataset is necessary for development of empirical and evaluation of physics-based vehicle-terrain interface (VTI) models. Current efforts to improve accuracy of models using the DROVE database include calibration of DEM (Discrete Element Method) model parameters and modifications to VTI algorithms.

January 19 | Student Research Seminar
11:00 EST / 17:00 CET / 01:00 JST » View