Search Results

Tanks play a pivotal role in swiftly deploying firepower across dynamic battlefields. The core of tank mobility lies within their powertrains, driven by diesel engines or gas turbines. To better understand the benefits of each power system, this study uses geo-location data from the National Training Center to understand the power and energy requirements from a main battle tank over an 18-day rotation. This paper details the extraction, cleaning, and analysis of the geo-location data to produce a series of representative drive cycles for an NTC rotation. These drive-cycles serve as a basis for evaluating powertrain demands, chiefly focusing on fuel efficiency. Notably, findings reveal that substantial idling periods in tank operations contribute to diesel engines exhibiting notably lower fuel consumption compared to gas turbines. Nonetheless, gas turbines present several merits over diesel engines, notably an enhanced power-to-weight ratio and superior power delivery.

The limitations of commonly used materials such as steel in withstanding high temperatures led to exploring alternative alloys. For instance, Inconel 825 is a nickel-based alloy known for its exceptional corrosion resistance. Thus, the Inconel 825 is used in various applications, including aerospace, marine propulsion, and missiles. Though it has many advantages, machining this alloy at high temperatures could be challenging due to its inadequate heat conductivity, increased strain hardening propensity, and extreme dynamic shear strength. The resultant hardened chips generated during high-speed machining exhibit elevated temperatures, leading to tool wear and surface damage, extending into the subsurface. This work investigated the influence of varying process settings on the machinability of Inconel 825 metal, using both uncoated and coated tools.

Aluminum alloys are employed in agricultural equipment, aerospace sectors, medical instruments, machinery, automobiles, etc. due to their physical and mechanical characteristics. The geometrical shape and size of the parts are modified in turning operation by using a single-point cutting tool. A356 aluminum alloy is widely used in various engineering sectors, hence there is a necessity to produce A-356 components with quality. The inappropriate cutting parameters used in turning operation entail high production costs and reduce tool life. Box–Behnken design (BBD) based on response surface methodology (RSM) was used to design the experiments such that the experiment trials were conducted by varying cutting parameters like N-spindle speed (rpm), f-feed rate (mm/rev), and d-depth of cut (mm). The multi-objective responses, such as surface roughness (SR) and metal removal rate (MRR) were analyzed with the desirability method.

Fuel tank is considered as safety component in the vehicle, and it has to be tested to meet the safety requirements as per AIS 095. Earlier, fuel tanks were manufactured by using Hot dipped cold rolled steel material and the weld zones are applied with Anti-corrosive coating. Few fuel tanks were reported with Corrosion problems. The root cause analysis was carried out considering the raw material, manufacturing process, transpiration, storage and usage. As an improvement, the new fuel tank is designed to eliminate the limitations of the existing fuel tank. 3D modeling was done to check space and mounting requirement in the layout and used for volume calculations. FE analysis was performed to check structural stability. Emphasis given on Interchange-ability to cater the new fuel tanks in place of old as spares requirement. The fuel tank has developed with Alumina steel material.

As powertrain hybridization technologies are becoming popular, their application for heavy-duty military vehicles is drawing attention. An intelligent design and operation of the energy management system (EMS) is important to ensure that hybrid military vehicles can operate efficiently, simultaneously maximize fuel economy and minimize monetary cost, while successfully completing mission tasks. Furthermore, an integrated EMS framework is vital to ensure a functional vehicle power system (VPS) to survive through critical missions in a highly stochastic environment, when needed. This calls for situational awareness and dynamic system reconfiguration capabilities on-board of the military vehicle. This paper presents a new energy management and control (EMC) framework based on holistic situational awareness (SA) and dynamic reconfiguration of the VPS.

Investigating the impact of Gasoline fuel on diesel engine performance and emission is very important for military heavy- duty combat vehicles. Gasoline has great potential as alternative fuel due to rapid depletion of petroleum reserves and stringent emission legislations, under multi fuel strategy program for military heavy- duty combat vehicle. There is a known torque, horsepower and fuel economy penalty associated with the operation of a diesel engine with Gasoline fuel. On the other hand, experimental studies have suggested that Gasoline fuel has the potential for lowering exhaust emissions, especially NOx, CO, CO2, HC and particulate matter as compared to diesel fuel. Recent emission legislations also restrict the total number of nano particles emitted in addition to particulate matter, which has adverse health impact.

After manufacture, every military vehicle experiences a unique history of dynamic loads, depending on loads carried, missions completed, etc. Damage accumulates in vehicle structures and components accordingly, leading eventually to failures that can be difficult to anticipate, and to unpredictable consequences for mission objectives. The advent of simulation-based fatigue life prediction tools opens a path to Digital Twin based solutions for tracking damage, and for gaining control over vehicle reliability. An incremental damage updating feature has now been implemented in the Endurica CL fatigue solver with the aim of supporting such applications for elastomer components. The incremental updating feature is demonstrated via the example of a simple transmission mount component. The damage state of the mount is computed as it progresses towards failure under a series of typical loading histories.