Prediction of Wear Rate for Rubber Track by Using Frictional Energy Analysis

The wear of rubber track being in contact with the road surface is an important subject because it decreases the traction performance and the operating efficiency of tracked vehicle. For the above reasons, many attempts have been made to quantitatively calculate the rubber track. However, it depends on the experimental methods which are highly time- and cost-consuming. Therefore, the numerical simulation approach is highly desirable, but it needs to model the complex geometry and the material behavior in details as well as the interaction with the road surface. In this study, the rubber track and its material behavior are elaborately modeled since these factors are very important in the prediction of the wear rate of the rubber track. Accordingly to the studies on the rubber wear by previous investigations, it has been found that the wear is greatly influenced by the frictional energy. The frictional energy of rubber track is computed by utilizing the 3D finite element analysis of the rubber track, and the wear rate is evaluated making use of the frictional energy and a wear model.

마찰 에너지 해석을 통한 러버 트랙(Rubber Track)의 마모율 예측