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Terramechanics
Journal of Terramechanics 56 (2014) 77–90
www.elsevier.com/locate/jterra

Design and development of a variable ground clearance, variable

wheel track self-leveling hillside vehicle power chassis (V2-HVPC)
Gao Qiaoming a,⇑, Gao Feng a, Tian Lei b, Li Liujun b, Ding Nenggen a, Xu Guoyan a,
Jiang Dawei b
a
Department of Automobile Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, PR China
b
Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 61801, USA

Received 9 October 2013; received in revised form 30 August 2014; accepted 3 September 2014
Available online 30 September 2014

Abstract

This paper presents a design of hillside vehicle power chassis with the balance rocker suspension mechanism. The objective of design is
to achieve a variable ground clearance, variable wheel track and self-leveling chassis adapted to the various types of crop grown ridge
section and height. The V2-HVPC design consists of the main body, the balance rocker suspension, two driving axles and the steering
system. Those assemblies form an H-type chassis structure where both sides of the driving axle and the main body are connected to
power transmission. The ground clearance and wheel track have the adjustable function. The balance rocker suspension is a novel mech-
anism which ensures full-time four-wheel drive in a complex road environment while maintaining the main body level always in the angle
bisector of the two driving axle. According to the hillside terrain and agronomic characteristics of various crops, the ground clearance
and the wheel track can be adjusted continuously and smoothly by hydraulic system. The topology diagram and power transmission
system diagram are all given correspondingly. Moreover simulation analysis and basic experiments have been carried out to verify
the mobility and dynamic performance of the V2-HVPC. The results show that the concept of V2-HVPC is approved reasonable and
the design and testing methods are feasible and practical.
Ó 2014 ISTVS. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Balance rocker suspension; Variable ground clearance; Variable wheel track; Terramechanics; H transmission

1. Introduction challenge for off-road vehicles and autonomous systems

Agricultural vehicles are perceptive machines that can
be used to perform a variety of agricultural tasks including
spraying, cultivating, fertilizing, harvesting and growth
monitoring. Precision farming technology has also led to
higher yields, reduced environmental impact and requiring
less chemical application for agricultural production [1].
Unstructured road or soil profiles combined with driving
speeds and operating environments create the biggest
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 13978059105.
E-mail addresses: qiaominggao@gmial.com (Q. Gao), gaof@buaa.edu.
cn (F. Gao).
in agriculture. However, the development of the off-road
vehicle has received increasing interest and has been widely
pursued by researchers.
As indicated in Fig. 1, hills and mountains account for
43% of China’s land area, which is an important part of
arable land in China, as Fig. 1. However, it is difficult for
the power chassis to adapt to operations in different ridge
width, height of different crops and different slope in hilly,
undulating and slope terrain; because the ground clearance
and the wheel track the traditional agricultural power
chassis can only be slightly adjusted, (see Fig. 2).
On the one hand, to avoid injury to crops of different
heights, a higher clearance of vehicle is required to achieve

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jterra.2014.09.002
0022-4898/Ó 2014 ISTVS. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
78 Q. Gao et al. / Journal of Terramechanics 56 (2014) 77–90
Fig. 1. Hilly terrain.
various site-specific crop management and field operations,
especially for intercropping area and cotton field. Either
the traditional chassis has an inadequate ground clearance
to meet those requirements, or the chassis with higher
ground clearance is difficult to be retrofitted due to its
low utilization rate, complex modification and poor stabil-
ity. Therefore, the chassis should be able to change its
ground clearance for different operating conditions. The
method of changing ground clearance includes level adjust-
ments and continuous adjustments [2].
On the other hand, vehicle needs to have different track
widths for different operational requirements. For example,
it requires a narrow track to avoid bias traction when farm-
ing; whereas, it requires a wide track to make the vehicle
stable when transporting; and it needs to have a different
track to meet different ridge distance when cultivating.
There are two types of track adjustment methods on the
basis of whether it is continuous adjustable: continuous
adjustment method and level adjust method. One type is
continuous adjustment method that includes wheel cover
clamp adjustment method, rack and pinion adjustment
method and telescopic axis adjustment method. The other
type is the level adjustment methods, such as wheel shim-
ming method, telescopic axis adjustment method, and flips
the rim and spoke board adjustment method.
Therefore, it is necessary to develop a vehicle with high
hillside terrain trafficability, high terrain adaptability and
Fig. 2. Various crop with different ridge width and height.
high operational stability. Based on the requirements
mentioned above, the vehicle is designed to adapt to hilly
terrain with the ground clearance and the wheel track
adjustable, named as hillside vehicle power chassis with
variable ground clearance and variable wheel track mecha-
nism (V2-HVPC). The design concept, mechanism, various
technical indicators and basic experiments of the chassis
are presented, which could be taken as the reference for
all terrain vehicle development.
2. Design concept
2.1. V2-HVPC concept
V2-HVPC consists of a transmission system, driving sys-
tem, steering system and braking system, etc. It is used to
mount the engine and other components and assembly,
form the overall structure, and receive the engine power
to ensure normal running. Therefore, the layout of the
chassis has a significant impact on power, economy,
braking, handling stability and other performance indica-
tors. Efficient, rational layout of the chassis is of great
importance, including:
 Movement mechanism lectotype. Some factors should be
considered for V2-HVPC modeling, for instance, the
natural condition, operating requirements, manufactur-
ing capabilities and cost, technical level of personnel,
etc. Based on above considerations, the diesel engine
was chosen. To achieve variable wheel track and clear-
ance, a novel H type transmission technology is chosen
assuring the engine power transmitted and distributed to
the left and right driving axle through the differential
mechanism, effectively improving the traction and traf-
ficability for bearing heavy work with four-wheel driv-
ing mechanism. A rocker-style connection and chain
transfer mechanism are applied in driving axle assembly.
 Q. Gao et al. / Journal of Terramechanics 56 (2014) 77–90 79

 Driving system. The main overall parameters must be

determined after the selection of chassis type, such as
rated traction, speed, engine power, vehicle weight,
wheelbase, wheel track and the ground clearance, mean-
while ensuring that the dynamic performance of the
designed chassis is no less than the traditional agricul-
tural machinery with the same displacement volume
and emissions level.
 Overall design of chassis structure. A novel self-adaptive
balance rocker suspension is proposed in this paper. The
power output is located near the center of mass of chas-
sis structure to ensure the four wheels on the ground and
having smooth power transmission, variable clearance
and variable wheel track.
 Steering system. As the chassis with rocker-style struc-
ture cannot apply the traditional steering trapezoidal
structure. The full hydraulic steering system is utilized
to meet the Ackermann steering angle relationship.

Based on the above considerations, V2-HVPC with self-

adaptive movement mechanism is proposed and illustrated
as Fig. 3. Fig. 4. The topology diagram.
Therefore, the design power chassis can move on the dif-
ferent terrain by wheel mechanism and H type transmission 3. Parameters configuration
mechanism to transmit power. A balance rocker suspen-
sion is implemented to ensure the obstacle performance The overall parameters are determined based on follow-
and realizing the variable clearance and variable wheel ing design objectives:
track. The fully hydraulic steering mechanism is utilized
for H type chassis.  The vehicle is able to climb a slop with maximum gradi-
ent of 30°.
2.2. Topological relation proposal  The variable wheel track can be adjust between 310 and
710 mm.
Vehicle dynamics model of topological relations is  The variable ground clearance of the vehicle are 1300–
shown in Fig. 4. 1900 mm.
 The maximum swing angle between two driving axle is
20°.

Turning flexibility Wheel mechanism To drive the vehicle in the field, V2-HVPC requires
enough traction to overcome motion resistances including
Off-road mobility Leg mechanism the soil compaction resistance, Fr, the bulldozing resistance,
Fb, the tillage resistance, Fi, the air resistance, Fa and other
Adaptability inertial forces [3–5]. Fig. 5 shows the details of a single-
Hydraulic steering
wheel vehicle model running on an inclined terrain with a
slope angle of a. Assuming the vehicle is driving at a con-
Convenient
Maintenance Balance rocker stant speed, the total force on the x-axis would be balanced.
suspension
Ft  Fr  Fb  Fi  Fa  W x ¼ 0 ð1Þ
Vari-wheel track H-type where Ft and Wx are the required traction force and the
component force of dynamic weight W on the x-axis. Fa
Vari-Ground is the air resistance, which is related to the maximum speed
clearance Diesel engine
and the windward area of the vehicle. This is especially true
Chain transmission when the speed is greater than 96 km/h resulting in a signif-
Energy Efficiency
icant aerodynamic force. Fa is calculated as 0.86 N when
the working speed of the V2-HVPC is only up to 29 km/h,
Transformable Power chassis which will be ignored in the following calculation due
to its insignificance compare with other forces are as
Fig. 3. Illustration of conceptual design of V2-HVPC. follows [6–8]:
80 Q. Gao et al. / Journal of Terramechanics 56 (2014) 77–90

Eq. (3) has the same assumption as the sinkage model

above, and it can accurately predict the soil compaction
resistance when the wheel diameter is greater than
500 mm and the sinkage of less than 15% of the original
wheel diameter. Thus, the model could be accurate enough
for predicting the compaction resistance in this application.

3.2. Bulldozing resistance

When a wheeled robot or a vehicle gets into the field, it

will shear the soil to obtain the necessary resistance to
move forward. In this situation, a substantial soil mass will
be moved from its original place to the front of the wheel,
which develops the bulldozing resistance. The bulldozing
resistance can be calculated by implementing the theory
of the bearing capacity of soils subjected to various failure
criteria. The bulldozing resistance can be expressed as:
bsinðh þ ;Þ pcl30 ð90  ;Þ
Fig. 5. A single-wheel vehicle model. Fb ¼ ð2ZKc þ cZ 2 K c Þ þ
2sinhcos; 540
2  
3.1. Soil compaction resistance Cpl0 ;
þ þ cl20 þ cl20 tan 45 þ ð4Þ
180 2
As agricultural machines become larger and heavier, soil
where
compaction plays a more significant role. Soil compaction
can be associated with a majority of field operations that K c ¼ ðN c  tan;Þcos2 ;
are often performed when soils are wet and more suscepti-
K c ¼ ð2N c =tan; þ 1Þcos2 ;
ble to compaction. For simplification, a rigid model of  
wheel is considered because of its high inflation pressure. ;
l0 ¼ Ztan2 45 
When heavy equipment and tillage operates on soil, soil 2
compaction is an important component of producing resis-  
2Z
tance because of the loss of soil trust. h ¼ arccos 1 
D
Assuming the normal pressure acting on the wheel with
certain depth of soil sinkage is equal to the contact pressure ; is the friction angle of soil, Nc and Nc are coefficients that
on a plate at the same depth under the same loading con- are related to ;, and c is the soil density. According to this
dition, the sinkage of a rigid wheel in soft soil Z can be model, the bulldozing resistance increases rapidly with an
expressed as [3] increase of the wheel width, which means it is better to
" #2nþ1
2 select a narrower wheel to decrease the bulldozing resis-
3W cosa tance.
Z¼ pffiffiffiffi ð2Þ
ð3  nÞðk c þ bk u Þ D
3.3. The tillage resistance
Eq. (2) expresses the parametric relationship of the sinkage
with the geometrical dimensions of the wheel, the width b, When plowing on hilly land, V2-HVPC will be loaded
the diameter D, and the parameters of soil, the cohesion with high resistance that is the tillage resistance. When the
modulus kc of deformation, the frictional modulus ku of speed of cultivating is less than 4 km/h, the following for-
deformation, the slope angle a of terrain, the soil deforma- mula will be established to calculate the tillage resistance [8]:
tion index number n, and the vertical weight loading on the
wheel W. This equation is valid for a rigid wheel on a soft F i ¼ 1:2  k  Z p  bp h ð5Þ
terrain or a flexible wheel operating in a rigid mode situa- where Zp, ploughshares; bp, single ploughshare width; h,
tion. As depicted in Eq. (2), the larger and the wider the plowing depth; k, soil specific resistance.
wheel, the smaller the sinkage will be. However, the upper
limit is constrained by the available mechanical space and 3.4. Configuration of locomotion
total weight limitation of the vehicle.
Based on the simplified wheel sinkage model, the rela- To confirm the configuration of locomotion, an equa-
tionship of compaction resistance and sinkage can be tion was deduced considering all essential factors of the
expressed as: wheel and the soil. When taking Eq. (2) through Eq. (5)
1 into Eq. (1), the parameterized configuration equation
Fr ¼ ðk c þ bk u ÞZ nþ1 ð3Þ can be expressed as:
nþ1
 Q. Gao et al. / Journal of Terramechanics 56 (2014) 77–90 81

1   Table 1
Ft  k c þ bk u Z nþ1  0:12kZ p bh Initial parameters table.
nþ1

bsinðh þ ;Þ pcl30 ð90  ;Þ Parameter Unit Value
 ð2ZKc þ cZ 2 K c Þ þ n 0.6
2sinhcos; 540
  kc N/m(n+1) 1.665  104
Cpl20 ; ku N/m(n+1) 2.322  106
þ þ cl20 þ cl20 tan 45 þ Wx ¼ 0 ð6Þ W kg 1300
180 2
a deg 10
Zp 1
3.5. Confirmation soil parameters c kPa 3.5
bp cm 20
h cm 25
An instrument called “Soil compression and shearing k kPa 60
capacity tester” was designed based on Bevameter test rule ; deg 19.8
by Gao Feng, Buaa, as shown in Fig. 6. The mechanical Nc 6.5
property of the soft clay simulant was tested with this Nc 6
instrument and the distribution range of soil mechanical c N/m3 2.652  104
parameter were estimated [9]. kc, ku were determined by
averaged ten groups parameter values from ten experi-
Table 2
ments on condition that the soil water content is 13.6%,
Traction parameter calculation.
and the soil porosity is 45.33%.
Tire selection Calculation result

3.6. Wheel selection D (mm) 895 Fr (N) 1926.6

b (mm) 277 Fb (N) 596.3
N 4 Fi (N) 3600.2
Eq. (6) shows the function of traction force, the param- Wx (N) 2212.3
eters of the wheel, and the properties of the soil conditions. Ft (N) 8335.2
The traction force must be calculated before starting any
design process. To select the appropriate wheels for the
V2-HVPC, Eq. (6) was optimized using Matlab Optimiza- 3.7. Power selection
tion Toolbox and considers the constraint equations.
Conditions of the cultivated soil are described in Eq. (7), The power of the V2-HVPC should be able to overcome
and the availability of wheel dimensions that are con- the traction force of the basic driving gear of farming oper-
strained by the structure of the wheel and the feasibility ation. Engine rated power can be calculated according to
of the wheel market are explained in Eqs. (8) and (9) Eq. (10).
Z F T  v  gd
06 61 ð7Þ P eb ¼ ð10Þ
D 3600  gT  gl
D  0 N  2; b0 ð8Þ where Peb is rated power, FT is rated traction force, v is the
D  1500; N  8; b  500 ð9Þ theoretical speed of the basic driving gear, gd is slip rate, gT
is chassis traction power efficiency, and gl is engine power
where N is the number of wheels.
reserve factor.According to the calculation, the diesel
The objective of this optimization function is to maxi-
engine of Huayuan Laidong KM385BT is chosen as the
mize the traction force Eq. (6) and minimize the sinkage.
power source. Its rated power is 18.4 kW, and rated speed
Under the condition of a rigid wheel in soft clay ground,
is 2350 r/min. Parameters and the result are listed in
the initial conditions and the terrain parameters are listed
Table 3.
in Table 1 and the optimum results are listed in Table 2.
4. Mechanical design of V2-HVPC

4.1. Chassis frame

As shown in Fig. 7, the chassis mechanism consists of

main body, balance rocker suspension, two driving axles
and steering system.

4.2. Transmission route

During the design process, the drive mechanism is the

most complicated and the most important assembly to con-
Fig. 6. Soil parameters test. struct. Because conventional transmission system cannot
82 Q. Gao et al. / Journal of Terramechanics 56 (2014) 77–90

Table 3
Parameters and the result.
Parameter Value Calculation result Engine Clutch
FT (N) 8335.2 Peb (kW) 17.63
V (km/h) 6
gd 0.8
Chain wheel
gT 0.7
gl 0.9
Transfer case
Reducer

Wheel

Fig. 8. Power transmission system diagram.

V2-HVPC

Balance rocker
suspension Steering system Clutch II shaft
Differential

Output shaft

Flange

Driving axle Main body

Fig. 7. Modularized structure proposal.

realize the substantial change of the track and ground clear-
ance, the chassis uses the novel “H type transmission” to
assure smooth power transition. (Because the whole trans-
mission looks like “H” from a plan view, it is called H type
transmission. For example, the clutch is the center of H, and
the output shaft is just like a “-”, and the driving axle is like
“|”). H-type transmission is designed to ensure power deliv-
ery smoothly from the diesel engine in the changing track
and variable ground clearance process, while the transmis-
sion of traditional exploration rover is overcome by wheel
driving. Transmission diagram is shown in Fig. 8.
4.3. Main body
The main body consists of the engine, clutch and gear-
box, and bearing the whole weight of the machine. Clutch
and gearbox mechanism are described as below:
Fig. 9. The view of the clutch assembly.
The clutch of V2-HVPC is developed based on the
traditional clutch, and it is divided into the front part
and rear part. The front plays a role as the traditional
clutch, consisting of a pressure plate, a friction wafer,
compression spring, etc.; the rear one roles as the main
reducer and differential. As shown in Fig. 9, the clutch
box is connected to the flange by bolts.
The gearbox is mainly used to decelerate and take power
to fold back 180°. Shaft I is for input power, whereas shaft
II is for output power, as shown in Fig. 10.
4.4. Driving axle
The driving axle accepts power from the main body to
drive vehicles, meanwhile drive the hydraulic cylinder to
 Q. Gao et al. / Journal of Terramechanics 56 (2014) 77–90 83

Hydraulic cylinder I
Steering cylinder
Shaft I PTO
Shaft II

Fig. 10. Power reverse.

Transfer Rocker
Hydraulic cylinder II
achieve the function of steering, variable ground clearance
Fig. 11. The structure of the drive axle.
and variable track as demanded.
According to Fig. 11, the left and right driving axles
share the same structure. Each driving axle is composed
of a transfer case, front rocker and rear rocker. Through
the shaft supporting, the rocker arm is installed between
the transfer case and the cover to rotate around the axis.
Two intermeshing gears are installed between two rockers
so that they can achieve the same arm rotation angle.
The transfer case consists of a main gear and a driven
gear. The output axle is connected to the main gear and
Fig. 12. Illustration of rocker-bogie suspension of sojourner rover.
the driven gear is connected to the driving sprocket. The
rocker arm is connected to the driving sprocket and the dri-
ven sprocket. The power transmits from the output half PEGASUS has high mobility as well as rocker–bogie
shaft to the driving sprocket, and ultimately transfers to suspension, with very simple mechanism called only-
the wheel side speed reducer and wheels. one-joint architecture. PEGASUS makes it possible for
Micro5 to climb upon the step-like terrain with low-
4.5. Balance rocker suspension energy consumption. The climbable step of Micro5 is
about 0.15 m and the climbable slope is about 40° [11].
The rocket suspension mainly use in the planet explora-  Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, EPFL,
tion rover as the key part which connects the body and Autonomous Systems Lab have developed “SOLERO”
wheel, bearings weight load of the body. Research on key with Fork-parallel rocker suspension [12].The Autono-
technologies of rover has important significance in theory mous Systems Lab, ETH in Switzerland has developed
and engineering application of suspension. Extensive a CRAB with Double parallel rocker suspension [13].
research have been conducted on rover suspension systems. Kemurdjian Science & Technology Rover Centre
The major suspensions are reviewed as follows: (RCL) in Russia has developed the ExoMars Rover with
Three-parallel rocker suspension [14]. Jilin University
 U.S. Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed Rocky series China has developed a new locomotion system for lunar
of ground tests rovers, like Sojourner, MER rovers and rover with positive and negative quadrilateral
MSL rover, which adopted the rocker-bogie suspension suspension [15].
structure consist of the rocker and a lever components,
as indicated in Fig. 12. The rocker is connected to the Compared to others rover suspension system, the
sides of the vehicle body via the differential. The advan- stowed configuration of V2-HVPC is not considered, but
tage of this suspension are simple structure, less kine-
matic pairs, adaptable to operate in harsh
environments, better rover obstacle crossing capability,
good terrain adaptability and stability, robustness of
both sides asymmetric terrain on the body tilting [10].
 The Institute of Space and Astronautical Science in
Japan have developed a small rover Micro5 for future
lunar or planetary exploration missions requiring long
traverses and rover-based science experiments, as indi-
cated in Fig. 13. This rover has the new suspension system
called “PEntad Grade Assist SUSpension” (PEGASUS). Fig. 13. Pentad grade assist suspension.
84 Q. Gao et al. / Journal of Terramechanics 56 (2014) 77–90

also the power transmission problems need to be taken into

account. To meet the requirement in hilly areas, the topol-
ogy is adopted as Fig. 14 and the developed balance rocker
suspension consists of the balance lever, rod and wobble
wheel as shown in Fig. 15.
The left and right driving axles are connected by the
balance rocker suspension mounted below the main body.
The driving axle can rotate around the axle center line. The
wobble wheel that is sheathed on the connecting flange can
rotate around the center line of differential output axle
swing. Two guide rails are mounted in the wobble wheel,
along which the driving axle slides.
(a) 3D view
When crossing the barrier, the left front wheel of the
vehicle is raised on the influence of obstacles. The driving
axle will remain parallel with the respective road, as shown
in Fig. 16.
As shown in Fig. 17, O is the center of rotation of the
balance wheel. Ov is the joint of wobble wheel and Rod,
S is intersection made by the O perpendicular to the
ground with the Ov horizontal line. OS is vertical down- (b) Suspension rotating mechanism
ward amount of Ov relative to O. M is the joint position
of Rod and Balance lever in the horizontal ground, Fig. 16. Obstacle crossing mechanism illustration.
whereas M0 is position on the obstacle crossing.
From the back view, V2-HVPC will rotate about the
right side of the drive axle touch ground spot Oi by the role
of the rocker arm mechanism. Meanwhile the left driving
axle is driven corresponding wobble wheel to rotate around
the output shaft and the right drive axle parallel to the
ground. The balance lever is rotated about the stationary
point Ob and drives the main body corresponding rotation.
From the left view, the left driving axle is rotated at an
angle a against the rear wheel touching ground point Ot
during barrier crossing. The wobble wheel will be rotated

(a) Back view

Fig. 14. V2-HVPC suspension topologies.

Guide rail
(b) Left view

Fig. 17. Obstacle crossing principle.

Wobble wheel the same angle due to the fixed relationship between the
Rod Balance lever driving axle and the following formula is established:
OS ¼ OOv sina ð11Þ
Fig. 15. Balance rocker suspension proposal.
 Q. Gao et al. / Journal of Terramechanics 56 (2014) 77–90 85

When the wobble wheel rotates, due to non-symmetric road, and the balance mechanism assures that the main
suspension movement, the balance lever rotates as shown body is always on the angle bisector of the left and right
in Fig 18. The N is the installation point of the main body driving axles.
and the balance level on ground. N0 is the position after N-
point moving on obstacle crossing. Angle d1 is an impor- 4.6. Four-wheel hydraulic Steering system
tant design variable which decides the maximum swing
angle of the driving axle. Then: For full-time four-wheel hydraulic steering, each driving
0 axles has steering function. The steering knuckle arm
OS ¼ MM ð12Þ
bolted to the driving axle can rotate around the king pin,
R1 and is connected to the piston rod of the steering cylinder
NN 0 ¼ MM 0 ð13Þ
R2 by joint bearing at the end of the steering knuckle. Then,
With cosine theorem, the following equation is derived: the steering knuckle arm is driven to make the tire rotating
around the king pin to achieve V2-HVPC steering. The
R1 1
¼ ð14Þ steering with different ground clearance and truck have
R2 2cosd1 been analysis [16]. Caster will change with the rocker swing
NN0 is approximately vertical descent of the main body. of which effect will be discussed in other paper.
The point N and Ov is in the same longitudinal plane. The hydraulic steering system is BZZ-type cycloid turn
R1 R1 valve type as shown in Fig. 19.
NN 0 ¼ MM 0 ¼ OOv sina ð15Þ
R2 R2
4.7. Hydraulic system control
NN 0 R1 sina sina
¼ sina ¼  ð16Þ
OOv R2 2cosd1 2 For the hydraulic actuated ride height and track width
As can be seen by the Eq. (16) in the process of barrier adjustments three tri-position four-way valves are mounted
crossing, the main body is always in the angle bisector of in the hydraulic system. The one value is used to increase or
both sides of driving axle. decrease the track width. The other two valves are used to
When the balance lever is in the horizontal state, both raise or lower the left or right drive axles respectively. This
sides of the axle has achieve the maximum swing angle allows the V2-HVPC to change the attitude when the
limit. The maximum MM0 can be determined by the ground clearance of the left driving axle is different from
following equation. the right. These adjustments are all controlled by the
MaxðMMÞ ¼ 2R1 sind1 ð17Þ operator [17].

Substituted by Eq. (11), the maximum swing angle could 4.8. Variable track
be derived.
  The driving axle can slide along the guide rail by the
2R1 sind1
MaxðaÞ ¼ arcsin ð18Þ hydraulic cylinder II (Fig. 11) to achieve variable track
OOv
which can be controlled by tri-position four-way valve.
The maximum swing angle is designed to be 20°, so When the spool of valve is in the neutral position, the oil
other design parameters will be: OOv = 360 mm, passage will be cut off and the track will be kept constant.
R1 = 185 mm, d1 is 18°. It shows in Fig. 20 that the track increased from the
The working principle of the left and right driving axles minimum to maximum.
and the balance mechanism is as follows: Taking the exam-
ple that when the chassis drives on the scissors-type road, 4.9. Variable ground clearance
the driving axle will remain parallel with the respective
The rear rocker arm is driven to rotate by the hydraulic
cylinder I (Fig. 11), and the former rocker arm swings the
same angle to achieve variable ground clearance because of
the gear pair effects. It shows that the ground clearance
increased from the minimum to maximum in Fig. 21.

5. Simulation

5.1. Vibration model

The dynamic chassis is a complex multi-body system

which includes inertia, elasticity and damping. During the
dynamics simulation the complex chassis vibration system
Fig. 18. Balance lever rotating mechanism. could be appropriately simplified as follows:
86 Q. Gao et al. / Journal of Terramechanics 56 (2014) 77–90

Hydraulic steering gear

Rear wheel steering cylinder

(a) Minimum ground clearance
Rear wheel steering cylinder
Lifter

Stable one-way diversion valve

Quantitative valve

Fig. 19. Hydraulic schematic diagram for steering.

(b) Maximum ground clearance

Fig. 21. Ground clearance adjustment diagram.

which play an important role when a vehicle transverse

over an obstacle, as well as general handling stability and
security [18].
The UA tire model is the choice provided by the soft-
(a) Minimum track ware. It takes into account not only the vertical mechanical
characteristics of the tire, but also extraversion and longitu-
dinal mechanical properties, which is the analytical model
as less test data required for modeling. Good accuracy
could be achieved in just a few parameters circumstances.
The tire characteristic parameter values are shown in
Table 4 [19].

5.3. Crossing obstacle simulation

(b) Maximum track

Fig. 20. Track adjustment diagram.
 The remaining components are considered to be rigid
body and ignore their deformation except tires during
the simulation.
 Ignore friction between various kinematic pair.
 The chassis drivetrain could be simplified by applying
drive torque directly to the wheel.
According to the above simplified principle, the chassis
dynamic model is established.
5.2. Tire model
The tires are important parts of the vehicle. The main
road performance of the vehicle is determined by the tire
structure parameters and mechanical characteristics. In
addition to air force and gravity, almost all other forces
and moments affecting the movement of car are generated
by the rolling interaction between the tire and ground. The
tires suffer vertical force, lateral force and aligning torque
When the track is 1360 mm and the rockers are in a hor-
izontal position, V2-HVPC steps over a length of 1900 mm,
height of 300 mm obstacle compared with the conventional
tractor (The front and rear axles are established in the sim-
ulation model referring to the target model WZ250. The
front axle that can swing 12° about the center of the axle
refer referring to similar models, and the rear axle is fixed)
and four-wheel fixed tractor (The balance rocker suspen-
sion of V2-HVPC is locked, so machine degenerates into
a four-wheel fixed tractor) with the same track and the
wheelbase [20]. The three machines are simulated in the
multi-body dynamics software Recurdyn. The results are
shown in Fig. 22, respectively [21,22].
As can be seen from Fig. 22, when V2-HVPC go over
the obstacle, the balance rocker suspension plays an impor-
tant role which allows the driving axles to remain parallel
with the respective road, and the main body keep in the
corner bisector of two axles, whereas a conventional trac-
tor can encounter the problems of a front wheel floating
and stability (depending on the size of the obstacle) due
to limited front axle rotation and a fixed rear axle, and
the four-wheel fixed tractor faced with the same problem
 Q. Gao et al. / Journal of Terramechanics 56 (2014) 77–90 87

Table 4
UA tires model parameters.
Parameter Value
Free radius (m) 0.4475
Width (m) 0.2
Aspect ratio 0.8
Radial stiffness (N/m) 190,000
Radial damping (Ns/m) 50
Rolling resistance coefficient 0.01
Dynamic friction coefficient 0.54
Static friction coefficient 0.94
Longitudinal slip stiffness (N/rad) 80,000
Cornering stiffness (N/rad) 60,000
Camber stiffness (N/rad) 3000 Fig. 24. Prototype of V2-HVPC.
Longitudinal relaxation length (m) 1.1
Transverse relaxation length (m) 0.5
Table 5
Work velocity.
Gears Velocity Operating type
(km/h)
Forward gear Low 1 1.900 Cultivation, harvesting
Low 2 2.895
Low 3 4.544
(a) V2-HVPC (b) conventional tractor (c) four-wheel Low 4 6.264 Farming, cultivating, farm transfer,
fixed tractor High 1 8.785 earth moving, scraping
High 2 12.969
Fig. 22. Crossing obstacle simulation analysis. High 3 21.005 Transport
High 4 28.961
Reverse gear R1 2.501 Backward
R2 11.561

6.1. Work velocity

According to the requirement of the speed and the

Fig. 23. Displacement motion curves of driver.
more serious. Through setting balls in the position driver
centroid to simulate the driver’s centroid vibration, the dis-
placement motion curves among V2-HVPC, conventional
tractor and four-wheel fixed tractor leaping over the obsta-
cle are compared in Fig. 23.
It shows that with the balance rocker suspension, the
performance of V2-HVPC including driver centroid vibra-
tion, stability and trafficability was significantly excellent
than other tractors during three machines crossing the
obstacle.
mature transmission product available on the market, the
first choice of the transmission is four-speed transmission
to achieve eight forward gears and two reverse gears, with
four gears for farming operation and four gears for trans-
porting. Table 5 shows the working pace. As seen that,
Low1 to Low3 in forward gear with low speed and high
torque are used for cultivation and harvesting.
6.2. Overview of V2-HVPC specifications
Table 6 shows the overview of V2-HVPC specifica-
tions. It has 18.5 kW engine with H type transmission,
which is essential for four wheel driving system.
Meanwhile, the relationship is quantitatively given
between the angle of rocker arm swinging and the
ground clearance changing, meanwhile the wheel track
keep steady during the course.
7. Basic experiments

6. Prototype development and technical specifications
The complete engineering prototype of V2-HVPC is
shown in Fig. 24, and its technical specifications described
as follows.
In order to verify the performance index of V2-HVPC,
the field experiments were conducted considering to tractor
experimental specification and design target including
climbing experiment, scissors-type road test, change wheel
track, change ground clearance on the concrete pavement.
88 Q. Gao et al. / Journal of Terramechanics 56 (2014) 77–90

Table 6
An overview of V2-HVPC specifications.
Pattern V2-HVPC
Weight (kg) 1427
Engine model KM385BT
Power 18.50KW/2350r/min
Transmission H type
Steering system Four-wheel hydraulic steering
Track (mm) Fw 1300–1900
Rw 1300–1900
Vari-ground clearance (mm) Rocker swing angle Ground clearance Wheel track
+17.2 310 1586
0 510 1596
17.82 710 1482

(a) Overcome the slope (b) Scissors road test

(c) Change wheel track (d) Change ground clearance

Fig. 25. Basic field experiments illustration.

Fig. 25(a) shows that V2-HVPC overcame a slope angle
of 30°, (b) shows the driving axle rotate around each center
when V2-HVPC encounter the scissors-type road. The test
result indicated the left driving axle deviate from the
horizontal reference for 12.35°, the right driving axle
deviate 10.92° from the horizontal reference, and the main
body 2.7° from the horizontal reference. All the four wheels
touch ground, and the main body is at the angle bisector
between the left and right driving axles. Therefore, the
balance system works perfectly and the max swing angle
 Q. Gao et al. / Journal of Terramechanics 56 (2014) 77–90
Table 7
V2-HVPC compared with the conventional tractor.
Pattern V2-HVPC WZ250
Quality (kg) 1427 1340
Climbing Qualified Qualified
Steering system Four-wheel hydraulic steering Mechanical steering
Table 8
Field experiment results comparison with the design target.
Pattern Result Target
Climbable gradient 30° 30°
Vari-ground clearance (mm) 315–701 310–710
Vari-wheel track (mm) 1327–1869 1300–1900
Max swing angle 23.27° 20°
is 23.27°. Fig. 25(c) shows V2-HVPC change track width
with its own hydraulic system from the minimum to the
maximum, which is suitable for operation in various line
spacing of different crops. Fig. 25(d) shows V2-HVPC
changed ground clearance with its own hydraulic system
from the lowest point to the highest point to adapt to
highly rough road terrain.
Table 7 shows that the performance of V2-HVPC satis-
fied the design specification proposed compared with other
conventional tractor WZ250 of same power.
It can be seen that the V2-HVPC improved the capabil-
ity of variable ground clearance, variable wheel track and
the ability of adapting to the complex road in the case of
slight increase in weight and unconspicuous loss in power.
Table 8 indicated that the filed measurement results
meet the design target. Climbable gradient is the equal
due to go crossing the same slope. Some differences
between the field experiment results and the design target
are caused by manufacturing tolerances in the variable
ground Clearance and variable wheel Track. The difference
between the field experiment results and the design target in
max swing angle is caused by the shape of the gearbox,
which provides extra space for balance lever rotating.
The measurement results demonstrated that the prototype
of V2-HVPC is successful.
8. Conclusions
To adapt to the different terrain features, a novel chas-
sis, V2-HVPC, with the self-adaptive movement mecha-
nism has been design and developed. The details of the
design concept, optimization of the structure, design of
the driving system, and the balance rocker suspension are
presented in this paper. Simulation analysis and basic field
experiments have been carried out to prove that the design
parameters of the movement mechanism are valid, which
validated the feasibility of the system. Meanwhile, the
result indicated that the movement mechanism of chassis
has a prominent self-adaptability to the different terrains.
That is to say, the design method and concept of V2-HVPC
are proved to be reasonable, feasible and practical. The
89
results of the V2-HVPC development could be valuable
for technical reference of the construction machinery,
off-road vehicle design in the future.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the program members (Wang Dong-
chao, Fang xinxiu, Ji Junjie, Li Zhengping, Zuo Zhenjiao,
and Cui Ying) for their tireless contributions to the devel-
opment and testing of the V2-HVPC; without their hard
work and dedication research performed for this paper
would not be possible. V2-HVPC was funded by National
High-Tech R&D Program of China (No. 2010AA101405)
and the National Natural Science Foundation of China
(No. 51275019). The authors would also like to thank the
reviewers for their thorough feedback.
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