Terramechanics plays an important role in determining the design and control of autonomous robots and other vehicles that move on granular surfaces. Traction capabilities, slippage, and sinkage of a robot are governed by the interaction of a robot’s appendage with the operating terrain. It is important to understand how the terrain flows under this appendage during such an interaction. In this work, dynamics of soil performance and locomotion performance of a lugged wheel travelling on soft soil are numerically investigated. Studies are conducted with a two-dimensional model by using the discrete element method to analyze the interactions between a lugged wheel and the soil. The soil performance is studied by examining the force distribution and evolution of force networks during the course of the wheel travel. For two different control modes, namely, slip-based wheel control and angular velocity-based wheel control, the performance parameters such as, sinkage, traction, traction efficiency, and power consumption of the wheel are compared for various wheel configurations. The findings of this work are expected to be useful for optimal design and control of the lugged wheel travelling on deformable surfaces.

地形力学在确定自主机器人和其他在颗粒表面移动的车辆的设计和控制方面起着重要作用。机器人的牵引能力，滑移和下沉取决于机器人的附件与操作地形的相互作用。重要的是要了解在这种相互作用期间地形如何在该附属物下流动。在这项工作中，数值研究了在软土上行驶的拖轮的土壤性能和运动性能。通过使用离散元方法对二维模型进行研究，以分析拖轮与土壤之间的相互作用。通过检查车轮在行驶过程中的力分布和力网络的演变来研究土壤性能。对于两种不同的控制模式，即，基于滑移的车轮控制和基于角速度的车轮控制，比较了各种车轮配置的性能参数，例如车轮的下沉，牵引，牵引效率和功耗。预期这项工作的发现对于在可变形表面上行进的拖轮的最佳设计和控制是有用的。