The Effects of Speed and Turning Radius on Terrain Impact Severity of Off-road Vehicles

The traffic of off-road vehicles can damage soil and vegetation cover, and increase soil erosion. This paper studies the effects of speed and turning radius of off-road vehicles on soil impact severity. Due to different soil failure modes caused by wheeled vehicles and tracked vehicles, speed and turning radius have strong interaction on soil impact severity for wheeled vehicles, but little interaction on soil impact severity for tracked vehicles. The effect of speed of tracked vehicle is not as significant as wheeled vehicle on impact severity. For the tracked vehicle tested, a small turning radius can always cause severe impact on terrain even when the speed is low. Wheeled vehicles negotiating a sharp turn will cause severe terrain damage only when the speed is high.