J. Cent. South Univ. Technol.

(2010) 17: 129−135

DOI: 10.1007/s11771−010−0021−7

Wheel slip-sinkage and its prediction model of lunar rover

DING Liang(丁亮)1, 2, GAO Hai-bo(高海波)1, 2, DENG Zong-quan(邓宗全)1, 2, TAO Jian-guo(陶建国)1, 2

1. Aerospace Mechanism and Control Key Laboratory of Fundamental Science for National Defense,
Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China;
2. State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150001, China
© Central South University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010

Abstract: In order to investigate wheel slip-sinkage problem, which is important for the design, control and simulation of lunar
rovers, experiments were carried out with a wheel-soil interaction test system to measure the sinkage of three types of wheels in
dimension with wheel lugs of different heights and numbers under a series of slip ratios (0−0.6). The curves of wheel sinkage versus
slip ratio were obtained and it was found that the sinkage with slip ratio of 0.6 is 3−7 times of the static sinkage. Based on the
experimental results, the slip-sinkage principle of lunar’s rover lugged wheels (including the sinkage caused by longitudinal flow and
side flow of soil, and soil digging of wheel lugs) was analyzed, and corresponding calculation equations were derived. All the factors
that can cause slip sinkage were considered to improve the conventional wheel-soil interaction model, and a formula of changing the
sinkage exponent with the slip ratio was established. Mathematical model for calculating the sinkage of wheel according to vertical
load and slip ratio was developed. Calculation results show that this model can predict the slip-sinkage of wheel with high precision,
making up the deficiency of Wong-Reece model that mainly reflects longitudinal slip-sinkage.

Key words: lunar rover; slip-sinkage; loose lunar soil; stress distribution; slip ratio

Dune after getting stuck.

1 Introduction
In the 1990s, the second lunar exploration upsurge
was set off in the world. Lunar rovers are important
instruments that are expected to perform advanced
scientific tasks during the upcoming missions. The
“Chang’e-1” lunar orbiter of China was launched up
successfully in 2007 and a rover is planned to launch up
for exploring the moon before 2013. Researchers of the
world have been devoting their attention to the related
technologies of lunar rovers and its landers for several
years [1−3].
The surface of the moon is very rough, covered with
a thick soft regolith layer composed of dust and rock
clast. While moving on such a challenging terrain, severe
slip-sinkage will occur for rover’s wheels, making the
vehicle decrease tractive performance, deviate from
scheduled path, and even get stuck in the soil. Slip-
sinkage is an important failure form for the planetary
rovers moving on deformable terrain. YOSHIDA and
HIROSHI [2] described the process observed in
experiments. In 2005, it took 5 weeks for the
“Opportunity” Mars Rover to escape from the Purgatory
Terramechanics, with which the slip-sinkage
problem of planetary rover can be analyzed, is currently
a hot subject of research. Terramechanics theory is
widely used for the research of rovers, including
mechanical design [3−4], performance evaluation [4−5],
simulation [6−7], soil parameter identification [8−9],
mobility control [10−11], and path planning [12]. The
Mars Base Technology Program (MBTP) of National
Aeronautics and Space Administration in USA is now
supporting Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to research
on the related technologies for Mars rover based on
terramechanics.
Researching on the slip-sinkage problem is of great
importance for design, control and high-fidelity
simulation of lunar rover. At present, conventional
terramechanics models such as Bekker model [13] and
Wong-Reece model [14−15] developed for terrestrial
vehicles are usually directly used for analyzing the
wheel-soil interaction mechanics of planetary rovers.
However, the former model can only calculate the static
sinkage of a wheel, without considering the dynamic
sinkage caused by wheel slip; the latter can reflect the

Foundation item: Project(50975059) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China; Project(2006AA04Z231) supported by the National
High-Tech Research and Development Program of China; Project(ZJG0709) supported by Key Natural Science Foundation of
Heilongjiang Province of China; Project(B07018) supported by the Program of Introducing Talents of Discipline to University; Project
(SKLRS200801A02) supported by Chinese State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System Foundation
Received date: 2009−03−10; Accepted date: 2009−06−07
Corresponding author: DING Liang, PhD; Tel: +86−451−86402037; E-mail: liang.ding@hotmail.com
130 J. Cent. South Univ. Technol. (2010) 17: 129−135
slip-sinkage caused by longitudinal motion of soil to displacement of 0−150 mm with high linearity precision.
some extent, but it does not consider that resulting from
lateral flow of soil and soil digging by the lugs. Due to 2.2 Wheel and planetary soil simulant
the remarkable differences between terrestrial vehicles The experimental wheels were designed referring to
and planetary rovers in running environment, physical the current planetary rovers and technical specification of
dimension, load, velocity, and control mode, the China’s lunar rover. Three types of cylindrical metal
applicability of the conventional theory should be wheels with different dimensions (radius r by width b) of
examined and some new problems are brought forward. 135.0 mm×165.0 mm (Wh1), 135.0 mm×110.0 mm
YOSHIDA and ISHIGAMI [16], SHIBLY et al [17], (Wh2), and 157.4 mm×165.0 mm (Wh3) were used.
BROOKS et al [18], BAUER et al [19], and TAO et al Lugs of different heights (h=5, 10 and 15 mm) can be
[20] did theoretical and experimental investigation of installed to the smooth wheels with various numbers
terramechanics for planetary rovers. However, the slip- (nL=30, 24, 15, 8, …).
sinkage of rover wheel is still less considered. The volcanic ash has similar physical and chemical
Wheel-soil interaction experiment is the basis of properties with the lunar soil and can be used to make
terramechanics research. With the wheel-soil interaction lunar soil simulant. But the producing procedure is
test system developed for planetary rovers, experiments complex and the expense is high. Literatures show that
were carried out to measure the sinkage of three types of the mechanical properties of dry loose sand are similar to
wheels with different dimensions and wheel lugs under a those of planetary soil. So it was usually used as
series of slip ratios. The factors that can lead to slip planetary soil stimulant [17]. The lunar soil simulant
sinkage were analyzed based on the experimental results. used in this work was made from soft sand after
Finally, a model for calculating the entire sinkage of removing impurities, sieving, ventilating and drying.
wheel, including slip-sinkage, was derived and verified.
2.3 Conditions
2 Experimental Three groups of experiments were designed to
investigate the influence on sinkage of wheel dimension,
2.1 Equipment lug height h and lug number nL (as shown in Table 1).
The wheel-soil interaction test system developed in The maximum velocity of China’s lunar rover under
our laboratory (as shown in Fig.1) was used to perform development is approximately 55 mm/s (200 m/h), which
the experiments. The system consists of three motors is comparable to that of the current Mars rovers.
(driving motor, carriage motor and steering motor) and Experiments show that the variance of velocity that is
related sensors (linear potentiometer displacement sensor, lower than 55 mm/s has little impact on wheel-soil
six-axis F/T sensor, torque sensor, current sensors and interaction mechanics. So the moving velocity of wheel
optical encoders). The driving motor can drive the wheel is set to 10 mm/s. In order to avoid serious slip-sinkage,
to move forward; the carriage motor is used together
Table 1 Test and corresponding wheels
with a conveyance belt to imitate the influence of vehicle
body on the wheel and create various slip ratios; while Group Test h/
Description nL Wheel
No. No. mm
the steering motor is used for steering performance
research. The wheel sinkage is measured by the high T1 30 15 Wh3
precision sliding resistance displacement sensor. The Influence of T2 24 15 Wh3
G1
output voltage of which is 0−10 V, corresponding to a lug number T3 15 15 Wh3
T4 8 15 Wh3
T5 30 0 Wh3
Influence of T6 30 5 Wh3
G2
lug height T7 30 10 Wh3
T1 30 15 Wh3
T1 30 15 Wh3
T8 24 15 Wh2
Influence of
T9 24 15 Wh1
wheel G3
T7 30 10 Wh3
dimension
T10 24 10 Wh2
T11 24 10 Wh1
Fig.1 Wheel-soil interaction test system
J. Cent. South Univ. Technol. (2010) 17: 129−135
the slip ratio of exploring rovers should be measured and
controlled, for instance, the maximum slip ratio of Mars
rovers of USA is restricted to be less than 0.4. The
experimental slip ratios were 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4,
0.5 and 0.6. The vertical wheel load of lunar rover is
several dozens of Newton, for example, if the mass of a
six-wheel rover is 120 kg, the average vertical load is
about 33 N. The wheel lugs make the vertical load
fluctuate with an altitude of approximately ±20 N. In
order to reduce the relative error, the vertical load is set
to 80 N. The vertical load has little influence on the
experimental conclusions.
131
results show that the mean values of sinkage several
times are almost the same despite of the fluctuation of
data, proving the repeatability and consistency of
experiments. Processing the original data obtained by
experiments of more than 100 times, the curves of
sinkage versus slip ratio were drawn, as shown in
Figs.3−5.
Seen from Fig.3, which illustrates the wheel sinkage
varying with the slip ratio for Wh3 with different

2.4 Results
Fig.2 shows Wh1 wheel installed with lugs of
10 mm in height and slip ratios of 0.2 and 0.6,
respectively. It can be seen from Fig.2 that the wheel
sinkage increases significantly and the stripes of wheel
traces become more intensive with the increment of slip
ratio (s). During the process of wheel-soil interaction, the
wheel sinkage fluctuates periodically accompanying with
the entrance and leaving of wheel lugs. Experimental
data acquisition period was 0.15 s, as a result, hundreds
of raw data could be obtained for a test. Fig.3 Influence of wheel’s lug number on slip-sinkage

Fig.2 Slip-sinkage of wheel Wh1: (a) s=0.2; (b) s=0.6

Let v and ω denote linear velocity and angular

velocity of wheel, respectively. The slip ratio is defined
as:
(r + h)ω − v
s= (1) Fig.4 Influence of wheel’s lug height on slip-sinkage
(r + h)ω
The fluctuating frequency of wheel sinkage
increases with the increment of slip ratio and the cycle T
can be calculated as follows:
2 π(r + h)(1 − s )
T= (2)
nL v

The reference of measuring the sinkage is the

lowest point on cylindrical surface of wheel, that is to say,
the height of lugs is not considered. The wheel interacts
with the soil to achieve a steady state after running for
several seconds. The steady data were used to calculate
the mean value of sinkage after filtering. In order to
verify the repeatability of experiment, some of the
experiments were carried out three times. Experimental Fig.5 Influence of wheel’s dimension on slip-sinkage
132 J. Cent. South Univ. Technol. (2010) 17: 129−135
numbers of lugs, it can be concluded that the wheel
sinkage increases from 5 to 30 mm if the slip ratio
increases from 0 to 0.6, and the wheel lug has little
influence on it.
Fig.4 shows the slip-sinkage curves of Wh3 with
lugs of different heights. The slip-sinkage phenomenon is
obvious for all the wheels. If the slip ratio is less than 0.4,
the higher the lugs are, the smaller the sinkage will be.
This shows that the lugs play a certain role in sustaining
the wheel, and the effect is more obvious for wheel with
higher lugs. Or else, if the slip ratio is greater than 0.4, Fig.6 Diagram of soil’s shear flow failure
the wheel sinkage will be larger for the wheels with
higher lugs because the digging soil effect of lugs plays can be expressed with logarithmic spiral curves and
more important roles. For wheels with lugs of 10 and straight lines. AF is spiral curve with the function of:
15 mm in height, the slip-sinkage phenomenon is more ρ = ρ 0 exp[(α − α 0 ) tan ϕ ] (3)
evident. If the wheel lugs are low, the slip of soil mainly
DF is a straight line with an angle of Xc to the
occurs at the surface between wheel surface and soil; but
horizontal plane; Xc equals π/4−φ/2, where φ is the
it occurs between the steady soil and movable soil
internal friction angle of soil; and σ1 is the maximum
adhering to the wheel if the wheel lugs are high enough
principal stress of point A. According to theory of
to form steady shearing loop. The friction angle of metal
plasticity mechanics, the characteristic lines i and j
and soil is smaller than the internal friction angle of soil.
intersect with the line of σ1 at Xc angle. The movement
The larger friction causes larger slip-sinkage.
direction of point A on the wheel rim is the sliding
Fig.5 shows the slip-sinkage of wheels with
direction of soil, the same as the characteristic line j.
different dimensions. The wheel sinkage is increased
Parameters of Eq.(3) are:
with decreasing the width or radius of wheels. The
increasing gradient of sinkage with the slip ratio is less α 0 = π/ 2 − θ m − γ 0 = 2ϕ − θ m (4)
influenced by the dimensions, which is mainly affected
ρ =| O′A | (5)
by the height of wheel lugs. The higher the wheel lugs
are, the larger the gradient of sinkage is. where ρ0 is determined by the coordinates of point A and
All the wheels exhibit severe slip-sinkage O′. (xA, yA)=(rsin θm, r(1−cos θm)), (xE, yE)=(rsin θ2,
phenomena. The sinkage at the slip ratio of 0.6 is 3−7 r(1−cos θ2)), then the coordinates of point O′ is derived
times of the sinkage at the slip ratio of 0, which greatly as follows:
increases the soil resistance and the probability of wheel y − yE + x A tan α 0 + xE tan X c
⎧
stuck. Controlling the slip ratio under 0.4 can restrict the ⎪ xO′ = A
⎨ tan α 0 + tan X c (6)
wheel sinkage effectively, as well as avoid the ⎪⎩ yO′ = y A + tan α 0 ( x A − xO′ )
slip-sinkage caused by soil digging of lugs.
Considering that the soil of sliding shearing region
3 Wheel slip-sinkage process analysis ADE sticks to the wheel to become a part of it, the wheel
will get additional sinkage while rotating with adhered
3.1 Slip-sinkage of smooth wheel soil. Fig.7 illustrates the process.
3.1.1 Longitudinal slip-sinkage
All the wheels of lunar rover are driven wheels to
exert maximum tractive performance. The wheel
interacts with soil and two shear flow failure regions,
i.e., ABC and ADE form, as illustrated in Fig.6 [21],
where θ1.is the entrance angle, θ2 is the leaving angle, θm
is the angle corresponding to point A, as well as the
maximum stress angle. The instantaneous center I is
situated above bottom-dead-center O of wheel. Soil of
region ABC has a movement in the same direction of Fig.7 Diagram of slip-sinkage of lunar rover’s wheel
wheel motion and moves the soil forward to form a bow
wave. Soil of region ADE has an opposite moving The slip-sinkage caused by longitudinal flow of soil
direction. The soil is bulldozed backward so that can be calculated with the following equation:
slip-sinkage is caused. The envelope of the two regions ∆z1 = ρ0 exp[(α A′ − α 0 ) tan ϕ ]sin α A′ − yO′ (7)
J. Cent. South Univ. Technol. (2010) 17: 129−135
where the angle of α A′ can be solved by the following
equation:
r (1 − s )θ m = ∆x1 = xO′ + ρ0 exp[(α A′ − α 0 ) tan ϕ ]cos α A′
The maximum stress angle θm=(c1+c2s)θ1 increases
with the increment of slip ratio s, where c1 and c2 are
parameters related to the properties of lunar soil, then the
envelope region of line AFD will be larger, making the
slip sinkage become larger.
3.1.2 Slip-sinkage caused by lateral flow of soil
As the flow of soil particles is three-dimensional,
besides the slip-sinkage resulting from longitudinal flow
of soil, the lateral flow of it can also cause slip-sinkage,
which is denoted by ∆z2. Literature shows that the soil
beneath wheels with large vertical load or large sinkage
is easier to flow laterally [20]. Lateral slip-sinkage is
more severe for the narrow lunar rover wheels. As the
theory of soil lateral flow is lacking, the slip-sinkage
caused by lateral flow of soil can be studied with
experimental methods.
3.2 Influence of wheel lugs on slip-sinkage
3.2.1 Slip-sinkage caused by soil digging of lugs
Fig.8 shows the slip-sinkage caused by wheel lugs.
Let θc (θc=θ2−θ1) denote the wheel-soil interaction angle,
tc denote the time for the wheel to rotate for such an
angle, ∆x3 denote the travelling distance corresponding to
the angle of θa without slip. Then, we have
{θrθ ==ω∆t x = rωt (1 − s)
c
a
c
3 c
1⎡ 1
⎣ (r + h) 2 − r 2 ⎤⎦ θ a = ⎡⎣ (r + h′) 2 − r 2 ⎤⎦ θ c
2 2
According to Eqs.(9) and (10), one can obtain:
h′
θa h′(1 + )
= 1− s = 2r ≈ h ′
θc h soil interacts with the wheel in the form of continuous
h(1 + ) h
2r
The slip-sinkage caused by soil digging of lugs is:
∆z3 = h − h′ ≈ hs
Fig.8 Diagram of slip-sinkage caused by wheel lugs
133
3.2.2 Supporting effect of lugs
The soil acts at the top end of the lugs and the wheel
is somewhat supported by the resulted supporting force,
(8) thus the wheel sinkage can be reduced to some extent. At
the same time, the end parts of higher lugs can enter the
soil to support the wheel more easily. For the lunar rover
wheels, the thickness of lugs is usually quite small so
that the vertical load is primarily balanced with the force
acted on the cylindrical surface of wheel, rather than the
lugs. As a result, the sinkage decreased by the lugs is
relatively small. By analyzing the experimental results,
one can conclude that a constant value ∆z4 can be used to
describe the decrement of sinkage caused by supporting
effect of wheel lugs approximately.
4 Wheel slip-sinkage prediction model
In order to calculate the longitudinal slip-sinkage
with Eq.(7), the leaving angle and maximum stress angle
should be calculated firstly. However, it is also difficult
to determine the angles; at the same time, the unknown
static sinkage and slip-sinkage caused by lateral flow of
sand are also necessary for calculating the entire wheel
sinkage. Different sinkages correspond to different
normal stresses and shear stresses, by which the vertical
load is balanced. The wheel sinkage relates to the vertical
load and stress distribution, and the slip ratio primarily
influences the stress distribution to cause slip-sinkage.
Therefore, the wheel sinkage can be solved by force
(9)
balancing according to analysis of stress distribution.
4.1 Wheel-soil interaction mechanics
(10) Fig.9 shows the diagram of wheel-soil interaction
mechanics, where z is the slip-sinkage, W is vertical load
of wheel, FDP is the resistance of moving forward (W and
FDP are forces acted on the wheel by the vehicle body
(11)
through axle), and T is the driving torque of motor. The
normal stress σ and shear stress τ. Improving the
Wong-Reece normal stress model [14] and Janosi shear
stress model [22] for the lugged wheel of lunar rover
(12) with high slip-sinkage, Eqs.(13)−(19) for calculating the
stress distribution and concentrated force were obtained.
Eq.(13) is used to change the constant sinkage exponent
with the slip ratio for predicting the slip-sinkage caused
by lateral flow of soil. Eq.(14) can reflect the influence
on soil displacement of wheel lugs. Eq.(15) is used to
calculate the leaving angle of wheel. n0, n1 and c are
parameters related to wheel-soil interaction. Eq.(16) can
calculate the equivalent radius, and λ is 0.5 in this study.
The stresses and vertical load are calculated by Eqs.(17)−
(19), which are also improved corresponding to
Eqs.(13)−(16).
134 J. Cent. South Univ. Technol. (2010) 17: 129−135
Given a vertical load of 80 N, changing the slip
ratio to calculate the wheel sinkage, the theoretical and
experimental curves are compared in Fig.10.
Wong-Reece model can reflect the longitudinal slip-
sinkage, which is smaller than 5 mm. By changing the
sinkage exponent with slip ratio, the slip-sinkage caused
by lateral flow of soil can also be predicted, which is a
primary part of the slip-sinkage. For the wheel of Wh2,
n0=0.93, n1=0.54；and for Wh3, n0=0.84, n1=0.72. For the
wheel with lugs of 10 mm in height, ∆z4 is 1.5 mm;
while ∆z4 is 3 mm for the wheel with lugs of 15 mm in
height. It can be concluded that if continuous shearing
loop is formed, the height of wheel lugs has little
influence on the flow of soil, and the difference of wheel
sinkage, which is relatively small, is mainly caused by
Fig.9 Wheel-soil interaction mechanics diagram supporting and soil digging of lugs.

N=n0+n1s (13)
r − z1
θ1′ = arccos( ) (14)
r+h
θ 2 = c3θ1 (15)
Req=r+λh, 0≤λ≤1 (16)
⎧ kc N N
⎪( + kφ )r (cos θ − cos θ1 ) ,
⎪ b
⎪ θ m ≤θ ≤θ1
σ (θ ) = ⎨
⎪ kc N θ − θ2 N
⎪ b + kφ )r {cos[θ1 − θ − θ (θ1 − θ m )] − cos θ1} ,
⎪ θ 2 ≤θ ≤θ m
m 2
⎩
(17)
τ (θ ) = [c + σ (θ ) tan φ ][1 − exp(− j/K )] =
⎧ ⎡ r (θ ′ − θ ) − (1 − s )(sin θ1′ − sin θ ) ⎤ ⎫
[c + σ (θ ) tan φ ] ⎨1 − exp ⎢ − 1 ⎥⎬
⎩ ⎣ K ⎦⎭
(18)
θm
W = b{∫ [rσ 2 (θ ) cos θ + Reqτ 2 (θ ) sin θ ]dθ +
θ2
θ1
∫θ m
[rσ1 (θ ) cos θ + Reqτ1 (θ ) sin θ ]dθ } (19)

4.2 Wheel sinkage prediction model and verification

Equation for calculating wheel sinkage is:
z=z0+∆z1+∆z2+hs−∆z4
Substituting the given wheel load W and slip ratio s
into Eq.(19), the entrance angle θ1 could be solved.
According to the entrance angle, the summation of the
former three terms in Eq.(20), i.e., the static sinkage z0
and the two slip-sinkages caused by soil flow, can be
obtained as follows.
z0+∆z1+∆z2=r(1−cos θ1)
Then the entire wheel sinkage of the given slip ratio
can be calculated with the following equation:
z=r(1−cos θ1)+hs−∆z4
(20)
Fig.10 Comparison of predicted and experimental results of
sinkage: (a) Wh2; (b) Wh3
5 Conclusions
(1) The number of wheel lug has little influence on
the wheel sinkage, while the lug height has obvious
(21) influence on it. However, if continuous shearing loop is
formed, the height of wheel lugs has little influence on
the flow of soil, and the difference of wheel sinkage,
which is relatively small, is mainly caused by supporting
(22) and soil digging of lugs.
J. Cent. South Univ. Technol. (2010) 17: 129−135
(2) All the wheels exhibit severe slip-sinkage. The
sinkage at the slip ratio of 0.6 is 3−7 times of the sinkage
at the slip ratio of 0, which greatly increases the
resistance and the probability of wheel stuck. Controlling
the slip ratio under 0.4 can restrict the wheel sinkage
effectively, as well as avoid the slip-sinkage caused by
soil digging of lugs.
(3) The slip-sinkage of lunar rover’s wheel is caused
by the longitudinal/lateral flow of soil, soil digging of
wheel lugs, etc. Changing the sinkage exponent with slip
ratio, a mathematic model for predicting wheel sinkage
given vertical load and slip ratio is derived. Calculation
results show that this model can predict the slip-sinkage
of wheel with high precision, making up the deficiency
of Wong-Reece model that mainly concerns longitudinal
slip-sinkage.
(4) The results of theoretical analysis and
experimental research on wheel slip-sinkage can be
applied to the design, control and high-fidelity dynamics
simulation of lunar rover, as well as for the terrestrial
vehicles and other mobile robots such as Mars rovers in
similar environment.
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