SOIL MACHINE DYNAMIC LABORATORY, IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY
This talk focuses on the virtual performance analysis of bulldozer blades and subsoilers to optimize design, train AI, and advance automation for earth-moving vehicles. It integrates high-fidelity elasto-plastic cohesive DEM soil models, similitude scaling, and validation experiments to predict energy and dynamic soil interactions. The findings show strong agreement between scaled DEM simulations and experimental data. This approach supports digital twin development, enhances electric-powered off-road vehicle design, and accelerates AI-driven automation in earth-moving operations.
Read MoreWe regret to share the news of the passing of Dr. Zoltán Jánosi late last year. Dr. Jánosi remained remarkably vibrant—both in body and mind—until his passing at the age of 96 on November 21, 2024. His death is a profound loss to the terrain and soil mechanics research community. His legacy and memory will continue to be cherished by all who knew him and worked with him.
Read MoreFollowing the Society’s rotating presidency scheme, at the Yokohama conference I assumed the President’s role which I hope to hold for the next three years. In the closing session in Yokohama I gave a rundown of my thoughts on my upcoming term. I see the next few years as being very promising for our Society. Given my space robotics background, please allow me to be a bit subjective—I would like us to benefit from the surge of activities in lunar exploration we are witnessing from governmental and commercial actors.
Read MoreThank you to all who joined us for ISTVS 2024, 21st International and 12th Asia-Pacific Regional Conference. 110 participants from all over the world came together in Yokohama, Japan, for this year’s ISTVS conference—it was a great pleasure to meet you all.
Read MoreISTVS is pleased to share an announcement of a Call for Papers from our colleagues at FISITA for their 2025 World Mobility Conference in Barcelona. We have links to the event website and the full CFP PDF — and include highlights from the CFP. Event website | Full CFP PDF
Read MoreIt is with great sadness that ISTVS announces that Brigadier General (ret.) Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Guenter Hohl, EAEC President, FISITA Vice President, and ISTVS Fellow, passed away on 8 August 2024.
Read MoreThe 2024 technical tour will visit the demonstration site for smart construction vehicles with information and communication technology (ICT) at the Komatsu IoT Center in nearby Chiba. Participants will receive an overview of smart construction, observe a demonstration, and have the opportunity to test drive an ICT construction vehicle.
Read MoreProfessor Vladimir Vantsevich, ISTVS Journal of Terramechanics co-Editor-in-Chief, sent in a link on his research institute, the Autonomous Vehicle Mobility Institute (AVMI) at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). AVMI is featured in a recent issue of the school magazine, WPI Journal: https://wp.wpi.edu/journal/articles/off-road-brawn-with-ai-brains/ — the article is a very proficient introduction to the field of terramechanics!
Read MoreWe are pleased to share these open positions working with ISTVS Journal of Terramechanics Editor-in-Chief Vladimir Vantsevich at the the Autonomous Vehicle Mobility Institute, Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Read MoreThis talk will explore how the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center - ERDC (previously known as WES) approaches mobility for ground vehicles operating in adverse conditions. In particular, this presentation talks about mobility research on soft soils and cold regions from Dr. Brad Hansen and Mr. Michael Parker
Read MoreNominations Open | At the 21st International and 12th Asia-Pacific Regional Conference of the ISTVS (ISTVS2024), the achievements of two esteemed members of our community will be honored with these ISTVS awards: the Bekker-Reece-Radforth Award and the Söhne-Hata-Jurecka Award for Young Engineers/Scientists.
Read MoreOn behalf of the ISTVS, the Board of Directors, and myself, thank you for being part of our society! Many exciting activities have happened since last year’s letter. As we continue to adapt to new modalities of work and innovating ways to interact, 2023 left its mark and 2024 is well on its way! I'm pleased to share these updates on the activities of your Society.
Read MoreZeinab El-Sayegh, PhD, PEng, Department of Automotive and Mechatronics Engineering, Ontario Tech University, will introduce the concept of virtual soil moisturization and its impact on the performance of 315/80R22.5-sized truck tires. The truck tires are simulated using multiple layers and materials in a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) environment. Moist sand, composed of layered water and sand particles, is simulated using the Smoothed-Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) technique. The tire-sand interaction is defined by a hybrid FEA-SPH interaction model, and the tire's tractive performance—including tractive effort, motion resistance coefficient, and tire sinkage—will be presented.
Read MoreChristopher Goodin, Ph.D., Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems, Mississippi State University, will introduce the MAVS and show some examples of how it is being used in the classroom as an instructional tool for autonomous vehicles, by graduate students for research, and by researchers around the world in a variety of military and commercial applications. The technical underpinnings of the MAVS will also be presented.
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