Using high-fidelity discrete element simulation to calibrate an expeditious terramechanics model in a multibody dynamics framework

Using high-fidelity discrete element simulation to calibrate an expeditious terramechanics model in a multibody dynamics framework | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Using high-fidelity discrete element simulation to calibrate an expeditious terramechanics model in a multibody dynamics framework Yuemin Zhang, Junpeng Dai, Wei Hu, Dan Negrut This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4792928/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 22 Jan, 2025 Read the published version in Multibody System Dynamics → Version 1 posted 9 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The wheel-soil interaction has great impact on the dynamics of off-road vehicles in terramechanics applications. The Soil Contact Model (SCM), which anchors an empirical method to characterize the frictional contact between a wheel and soil, has been widely used in off-road vehicle dynamics simulations because it quickly produces adequate results for many terramechanics applications. The SCM approach calls for a set of model parameters that are obtained via a bevameter test. This test is expensive and time consuming to carry out, and in some cases difficult to set up, e.g., in extraterrestrial applications. We propose an approach to address these concerns by conducting the bevameter test in simulation, using a model that captures the physics of the actual experiment with high fidelity. To that end, we model the bevameter test rig as a multibody system, while the dynamics of the soil is captured using a discrete element model (DEM). The multibody dynamics--soil dynamics co-simulation is used to replicate the bevameter test, producing high-fidelity ground truth test data that is subsequently used to calibrate the SCM parameters within a Bayesian inference framework. To test the accuracy of the resulting SCM terramechanics, we run single wheel and full rover simulations using both DEM and SCM terrains. The SCM results match well with those produced by the DEM solution, and the simulation time for SCM is two to three orders of magnitude lower than that of DEM. All simulations in this work are performed using Chrono, an open-source, publicly available simulator. The scripts and models used are available in a public repository for reproducibility studies and further research. Soil contact model Discrete element method Wheel-soil interaction Virtual bevameter Bayesian inference Terramechanics Multibody system dynamics Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files Annulus1logo.mp4 Annulus2logo.mp4 FullRoverlogo.mp4 Singlewheellogo.mp4 Sinkage1logo.mp4 Sinkage2logo.mp4 Terrainlogo.mp4 hmmwvlogo.mp4 Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 22 Jan, 2025 Read the published version in Multibody System Dynamics → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 31 Oct, 2024 Reviews received at journal 30 Oct, 2024 Reviews received at journal 27 Sep, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 02 Aug, 2024 Reviewers agreed at journal 29 Jul, 2024 Reviewers invited by journal 28 Jul, 2024 Editor assigned by journal 26 Jul, 2024 Submission checks completed at journal 24 Jul, 2024 First submitted to journal 24 Jul, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4792928","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":341212388,"identity":"348c1c1b-4871-4ad6-a1e9-a39090b11a1b","order_by":0,"name":"Yuemin Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shanghai Jiao Tong University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yuemin","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":341212389,"identity":"7b93b1e3-a07f-4459-8a81-9489b55921b3","order_by":1,"name":"Junpeng Dai","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Shanghai Jiao Tong 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