A Study on Traction Prediction of Agricultural Tractor by Empirical Method

This study was conducted to investigate the adequacy of the representative empirical models which are developed for predicting the tractive performance of the tractor operating in various soil conditions. Four representative empirical models which are widely used in the traction prediction of tractor were selected through literature review. Four models were Wismer-Luth, Brixius, Dwyer and Hernandez model, which were empirical traction models of a single wheel. The efficacy of four models were confirmed via comparison of the tractions of tractor predicted using the four models with those measured from traction tests which were conducted for two different driving type (2WD and 4WD) of the tractor on two different soil conditions. The results showed that tractions predicted by Brixius' model, especially for slip range under 20% which the operating efficiency of a tractor is very high, were well consistent with the ones measured from traction test better than the tractions predicted by models which are proposed by Wismer-Luth, Dwyer and Hernandez.