Problem of friction

A car is stopped with its front wheels resting against a curb when its
driver starts the engine and tries to drive over the curb. Knowing that
the radius of the wheels is 280 mm, that the coefficient of static
friction between the tires and the pavement is 0.90, and that 60
percent of the weight of the car is distributed over its front wheels and
40 percent over its rear wheels, determine the largest curb height h
that the car can negotiate, (a) assuming front-wheel drive, (b) rear-
wheel drive.

Solution

*I think there a quantity missing from the problem, which is the

distance between the front wheel and the rear wheel. So here Ill
assume the distance to be L. As a result, I wont be able to work out
the exact number. But Ill show all necessary steps for solving the
problem.

This problem is basically about the balance of the torques.

Assume the height of the curb is h, the radius of the wheel is r and the
distance between the front wheel and the rear wheel is L.

First, consider the front-wheel drive case.

Front wheel Rear wheel

L
r rsinL
O
0.4Mg
rsin 0.6Mg
h f1

M is the mass of the car.

At the moment the car is just about to overcome the curb, there are
three torques exerted on the car with respect to the pivot point O.
They are the torque from the gravitational force at the front wheel
0.6Mgrsin
the torque from the gravitational force at the rear wheel
0.4Mg(rsin+L),

and the torque from the friction force due to the driving wheel
f1h=0.6Mg0.9h,
where 0.9 is the coefficient of the static friction.
The total torque with respect to the pivot point O should balance, i.e.
0.6Mgrsin0.4Mg(rsin+L)= 0.6Mg0.9h
Mgrsin+0.4MgL=0.54Mgh
rsin0.4L=0.54h
Note,
Cos=(r-h)/r
So, sin =(1/r)(2rh-h2)1/2
(2rh-h2)1/2+0.4L=0.54h
if L is given, you can solve h from the equation. (see attached
Mathematica file.)

Now, lets see the rear-wheel drive case.

Front wheel Rear wheel

L
r rsinL
O
0.4Mg
rsin 0.6Mg f2
h

Same as the previous case except that the torque from the friction is
now
f2h=0.4Mg0.9h.
So if the torques are balanced,
0.6Mgrsin0.4Mg(rsin+L)= 0.4Mg0.9h
Mgrsin+0.4MgL=0.36Mgh
rsin0.4L=0.36h
(2rh-h2)1/2+0.4L=0.36h
(see attached Mathematica file for solution.)