Ride Dynamic Analysis of a Military Tracked Vehicle: A Comparison of Torsion Bar Suspension with Hydrogas Suspension

The ride vibration environment of a typical high-speed military tracked vehicle traversing rough off-road terrain is a significant factor due to the magnitude of ride vibrations arising from dynamic terrain-vehicle interactions. In this paper, ride dynamics of a “2+N” degrees of freedom (DOF) tracked vehicle mathematical model has been evaluated for rough off-road terrain modeled as a sinusoidal profile of different pitch and height at constant running speeds. The equations of motion are derived using Newton's laws of motion. A comparison of ride dynamic analysis of the vehicle fitted with conventional passive suspension system and hydrogas suspension system is made.