Checking for Traction

2009 Dr. B. C. Paul

Note These slides contain material from slides dating back to
2000 as well as information and screen shots from the
Caterpillar Performance Handbook
 When Tires Spin

The fact that an engine and drive

train can develop power does not
guarantee it can be transferred to
the wheels
(if youve even driven after a freezing
rain you probably know this)
Maximum force that can be
transferred is
Weight on Drive Wheels*Coef of Friction
* Cos (slope of ground)
The Traction Calculation
Coef of friction depends on road
material primarily
Generally get from table
Cos(slope) term is usually almost
1
for 10% grade cos(slope) = 0.995
Common practice to take as unity
Weight is weight on Drive Wheels
(in lbs) - important distinction for
two wheel drives
Cat Handbook Gives the
Weight Distribution

53.1% when
empty
Getting Coef of Friction
from Table

0.2 would be common

For loose sand (like
On the sand dunes)
 Checking Our Force
Available

A two wheel rear drive truck

will have the minimum force
relative to its weight when it is
empty
(you folks that put weight in the
back of your pick-ups after snow
or ice already know this)
303,025 lbs*0.531*0.2 = 32,181 lbs
(from program) (Weight Prop to Rear (Coef of Friction Sand)
from Cat Handbook)
 Now We Need to Know
How Much Force We Need

Of course our Resistance to

Travel is measured in %
equivalent grade which is not
the same unit.
The traction available is in
Rimpull units or force available
at the tire and road interface
We need to get our equivalent
grade converted to Rimpull
 Review of Resistance

Grade Resistance
Good old physics problem where
break forces into components

2000 * sin (pheta)

 Simplifying Grade
Resistance
Tan () = Rise / Run (slope units)
At Slopes less than about 20% Tan () =
Sin()
Adjusting for Percentage Grade instead of
rise over run
20 lbs/ton * % Grade = Grade Res.
We just took the Trig out of Grade
Resistance Calculations and got a way to
convert % grade to rimpull
 Lets Check Out Those
Sand Dunes

1.5% slope of grade resistance and

10% rolling resistance
Equivalent grade is 11.5%
At 20 lbs/ton * 11.5 = 230 lbs/ton
Empty Weight of Truck (Cat 789) is
303,025 lbs or 151.51 tons
Rimpull needed to go through the
sand
151.51 * 230 = 34,874 lbs of Rimpull
 Todays Word is _ _ _ _ _ _ _

We need 34,478 lbs of rimpull to go

through the sand
We can develop 32,181 lbs of rimpull
before the tires spin
Anyone for a fleet of 175 cat trucks
stuck inconspicuously in the desert
sands on a secret route where they
are not suppose to be?
 Limitations of FPC

FPC does not check good old tire

spinning and traction
At any rate that lovely fleet of Cat 789
trucks we carefully planned out just went
to you know where in a hand basket
With a Fresh dose of Paranoia Im
going to check out my Cat 775 and
777 before going any further
(Note that the order of some calculations
does not have to be the same)
 Checking The Cat 775

102,490 lbs 102,490 lbs

X .541 to rear / 2,000 lbs/ton
X .2 Coef Frict 230 lbs/ton
11,089 lbs resistance
rimpull available 11,789 lbs
rimpull needed
Holly Weasel Crap we just lost another one
 Checking the 777

160,734 lbs 160,734 lbs

X 0.5825 to rear / 2000 lbs/ton
X 0.2 Coef frict X 230 lbs/ton
18,756 lbs 18,484 lbs
rimpull available rimpull needed

Well at least we did not loose them all

 Plans for the Rest of the
Demonstration

Idea was to compare different truck

fleets
Get them all to work
Then compare cost
At this point only 1 truck and 1
loader can even work
We can, however vary loading pattern
And we can vary the exact truck to
loader ratio