Beginner simulation question

[colin.dablain]

Hi,

I'm new to Autodesk Simulation and I was hoping somebody would be able to help me out a bit.  I'm trying to design a wheel that can travel in soft sand with the greatest efficiency possible.  Is it possible to simulate the wheel signage, power usage, and velocity given that I know the characteristics of the motor that will be powering the wheel and the gear reductions in between?

Any assistance would be much appreciated!

[AstroJohnPE]

Hi Colin,

I am not familiar with "wheel signage". What does that mean?

Also, do you have some thoughts on the sand and how to model its effects on the wheel?

[colin.dablain]

John,

Thank you for your reply.  I meant to say "the wheel sinkage."  Some of the literature that I was reading about Bekker's sinkage equations suggested that the sand be modeled as a fluid, but a reply to my post to the Sim 360 forum confirmed that would not be possible to set up using CFD.  Modeling the sand as a fluid was really the only way that I could think of to allow the sand to dynamically react to the grouser wheel that I am trying to design.  I am not very familiar with the capabilities of the Simulation Multiphysics or Simulation Mechanical softwares, so I do not know whether I would be able to import a terrain map from 3DS Max or something similar.  

[AstroJohnPE]

Ok. Wheel sinkage makes sense. But I cannot think of any methods of simulating the sand to get the effects of traction, etc.