Abstract
In this paper, track tension estimation methods are developed for tracked vehicles which are subject to various maneuvering tasks such as turning and pivoting on flat road. The information of the track tension is very important for the tracked vehicles because the track tension is closely related to the maneuverability and the durability of the tracked vehicles. Kinetic models for the six road-wheels are obtained and used for calculating the track tension around the sprocket. This method does not require the tuning of the turning resistance, which makes it difficult to estimate the track tension in turning. The tension estimation performance of the proposed methods is verified through the simulation of the Multi-body Dynamics tool. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method under steering and pivoting of the tracked vehicles.