A parametric shock analysis of spade-less, lightweight, wheeled, military vehicles subjected to cannon firing impact: A feasibility study of spade removal

Tracked military vehicles are being replaced by their lightweight wheeled counterparts in many armies around the world. However, mounting high calibre artillery guns on lightweight, wheeled vehicles may bring about problems such as crew discomfort, vehicle slide, lift-off, turnover, and etc. To avoid these problems, spades are used to connect the vehicle to the ground which in turn reduces the vehicle mobility. Furthermore, the optimum spade design for different vehicles and soils is a difficult if not impossible task to accomplish. In this paper, a spade-less, four-wheeled vehicle with a mounted mortar is modelled, and the effects of the firing impact amplitude, duration, and elevation angle on vehicle response are investigated. It is found that all of the likely problems can be avoided if appropriate precautions are taken, except for firing inaccuracy at very high bomb charges. Therefore, for many cases, it is feasible to remove the spades.