Register now! The ISTVS/ISU Symposium On Terramechanics in Agricultural Soil - Vehicle Systems at ISU, Ames, Iowa aims to enhance the awareness of the ISTVS as an international society in the field of vehicle-terrain systems. Conducting the mini-symposium is expected to engage undergraduate and graduate students who are interested in off-road vehicle systems, engineers in the private industry in agriculture and construction equipment manufacturers, tire and track manufacturers for agriculture and construction machines, digital technology developers for these industries and farmers on Agricultural Soil-Vehicle Systems.
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March 13, 2025 | Mohamed A. A. Abdeldayem | Simulation-Driven Optimization for Digital Twins of Earth-Moving Machinery
SOIL MACHINE DYNAMIC LABORATORY, IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
This talk focuses on the virtual performance analysis of bulldozer blades and subsoilers to optimize design, train AI, and advance automation for earth-moving vehicles. It integrates high-fidelity elasto-plastic cohesive DEM soil models, similitude scaling, and validation experiments to predict energy and dynamic soil interactions. The findings show strong agreement between scaled DEM simulations and experimental data. This approach supports digital twin development, enhances electric-powered off-road vehicle design, and accelerates AI-driven automation in earth-moving operations.
Read MoreIn Memoriam Dr Zoltán Jánosi
We regret to share the news of the passing of Dr. Zoltán Jánosi late last year. Dr. Jánosi remained remarkably vibrant—both in body and mind—until his passing at the age of 96 on November 21, 2024. His death is a profound loss to the terrain and soil mechanics research community. His legacy and memory will continue to be cherished by all who knew him and worked with him.
Read MoreWelcome from the new ISTVS President
Following the Society’s rotating presidency scheme, at the Yokohama conference I assumed the President’s role which I hope to hold for the next three years. In the closing session in Yokohama I gave a rundown of my thoughts on my upcoming term. I see the next few years as being very promising for our Society. Given my space robotics background, please allow me to be a bit subjective—I would like us to benefit from the surge of activities in lunar exploration we are witnessing from governmental and commercial actors.
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A celebration of ISTVS 2024 in Yokohama
Thank you to all who joined us for ISTVS 2024, 21st International and 12th Asia-Pacific Regional Conference. 110 participants from all over the world came together in Yokohama, Japan, for this year’s ISTVS conference—it was a great pleasure to meet you all.
Read MoreProf. Heinz Dieter Kutzbach passes away
Read MoreWe regret to inform you that on Thursday, 07.11.2024 Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. h.c. Heinz Dieter Kutzbach passed away at the age of 84. Prof. Kutzbach was since a long-time member of the ISTVS. He was involved with tractor tire-soil interaction right into his retirement years. Like all former members of his research team, I was very strongly influenced by him during my time at the department. He led us with both great professional competence and personal warmth and gave us the freedom to shape our own research projects. […]
FISITA 2025 World Mobility Conference - Call for Papers
ISTVS is pleased to share an announcement of a Call for Papers from our colleagues at FISITA for their 2025 World Mobility Conference in Barcelona. We have links to the event website and the full CFP PDF — and include highlights from the CFP. Event website | Full CFP PDF
Read MoreWe mourn the passing of Brigadier General (ret.) Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Guenter Hohl
It is with great sadness that ISTVS announces that Brigadier General (ret.) Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Guenter Hohl, EAEC President, FISITA Vice President, and ISTVS Fellow, passed away on 8 August 2024.
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2024 Technical Tour Announced
The 2024 technical tour will visit the demonstration site for smart construction vehicles with information and communication technology (ICT) at the Komatsu IoT Center in nearby Chiba. Participants will receive an overview of smart construction, observe a demonstration, and have the opportunity to test drive an ICT construction vehicle.
Read MoreOff-Road Brawn with AI Brains
Professor Vladimir Vantsevich, ISTVS Journal of Terramechanics co-Editor-in-Chief, sent in a link on his research institute, the Autonomous Vehicle Mobility Institute (AVMI) at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). AVMI is featured in a recent issue of the school magazine, WPI Journal: https://wp.wpi.edu/journal/articles/off-road-brawn-with-ai-brains/ — the article is a very proficient introduction to the field of terramechanics!
Read More12th Machine-Ground Interaction Consortium (MaGIC) meeting
From Dan Negrut:
Read MoreTogether with my lab mate Radu Serban, I would like to invite you to attend the 12th edition of the Machine-Ground Interaction Consortium (MaGIC) meeting. This face-to-face event will be held on September 11-12 at UW-Madison. This year, we will emphasize AI and Digital Twin technologies in terramechanics, mechatronics, autonomy, and bio-robotics, touching on both terrestrial and extraterrestrial applications. This is a very informal event that seeks to bring together individuals from industry, academia, and research labs.
AVMI Research Scientist Open Positions
We are pleased to share these open positions working with ISTVS Journal of Terramechanics Editor-in-Chief Vladimir Vantsevich at the the Autonomous Vehicle Mobility Institute, Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
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August 21, 2024 | Dr. Brad Hansen and Mr. Michael Parker | ERDC Soft Soil and Cold Regions Mobility Research
This talk will explore how the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center - ERDC (previously known as WES) approaches mobility for ground vehicles operating in adverse conditions. In particular, this presentation talks about mobility research on soft soils and cold regions from Dr. Brad Hansen and Mr. Michael Parker
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Nominations open for ISTVS member awards
Nominations Open | At the 21st International and 12th Asia-Pacific Regional Conference of the ISTVS (ISTVS2024), the achievements of two esteemed members of our community will be honored with these ISTVS awards: the Bekker-Reece-Radforth Award and the Söhne-Hata-Jurecka Award for Young Engineers/Scientists.
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Letter from Dr. Corina Sandu, ISTVS President
On behalf of the ISTVS, the Board of Directors, and myself, thank you for being part of our society! Many exciting activities have happened since last year’s letter. As we continue to adapt to new modalities of work and innovating ways to interact, 2023 left its mark and 2024 is well on its way! I'm pleased to share these updates on the activities of your Society.
Read MoreJune 19, 2024 | Zeinab El-Sayegh, Ph.D. | Influence of Sand Moisture Content on Truck Tire Performance
Zeinab El-Sayegh, PhD, PEng, Department of Automotive and Mechatronics Engineering, Ontario Tech University, will introduce the concept of virtual soil moisturization and its impact on the performance of 315/80R22.5-sized truck tires. The truck tires are simulated using multiple layers and materials in a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) environment. Moist sand, composed of layered water and sand particles, is simulated using the Smoothed-Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) technique. The tire-sand interaction is defined by a hybrid FEA-SPH interaction model, and the tire's tractive performance—including tractive effort, motion resistance coefficient, and tire sinkage—will be presented.
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