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This paper presents a comprehensive investigation aimed to improve wheeled vehicles’ traction performance by properly controlling tire inflation pressure while driving over different terrains. A four-degrees of freedom (4-DOF) parametrized quarter vehicle model is derived and numerically simulated in MATLAB/Simulink environment to estimate the traction performance of a single pneumatic tire over different terrains such as clay, loam and sand. Numerous simulations are carried out to investigate the effect of tire inflation pressure on traction performance considering different tire loading conditions and soil terrains. Simulation results showed significant improvements in vehicle traction performance in terms of maximum tractive efficiency and maximum drawbar pull by reducing tire inflation pressure.

This paper presents a comprehensive investigation aimed to assess the effect of tire inflation pressure on the fuel consumption of a typical 4×4 off-road vehicle over unprepared soft terrains. For this purpose, a fourteen-degrees-of-freedom (14-DOF) full parametrized vehicle model is employed and numerically simulated in MATLAB/Simulink™ environment. This model is intended to consider all the rotational dynamics and compliances of all-wheel-drivetrain aggregates using SimDriveline™ toolbox including engine, transmission, differentials, shafts and wheels. Numerous simulations are carried out to examine both the tractive efficiency and fuel consumption considering all power losses in transmission, terrains and tire slippage over different operating conditions such as terrain’s mechanical properties, tire weight distribution and drivetrain configurations (open or locked center differential).