LRV wheels and dust

[Jairo]

After claiming that the LRV "tires" should have blown up, and after being informed that the wheels were made from wire mesh, a troublesome HB proceeded to claim that the dust should have entered the wheels until the LRV sink in the ground.

By now he has done more than enough to prove itself as a troll playing deaf, as others have spent weeks in explanations and test proposals, and he does nothing beyond saying he is right. Anyway, I think it would be fun shoving a counter example in his face. Maybe I'll just run a model over dust and put it in youtube, but I would like to know if similar wheels were used in other situations (and why it was used on the Moon); that would spare me the work.

Thanks.

[PhantomWolf]

The likely reason they used mesh wheels was to avoid the problem of getting a punture.

There are many older vehilces with metal wheels on Earth. Beharps ask him why a Traction Engine doesn't sink into the ground.

[Data Cable]

I think his (the HB's) point is the "mesh" more than the fact that they're metal. Perhaps a more appropriate analogy would be "why don't snow-shoes just sink into the snow?" (the old-fashioned "tennis racquet" type, that is)

[furi]

The sand pilots used to use Tractors with solid metal slotted wheels on the beaches in the Northwest (all those shifting sands) both for mapping the quicksand and also for towing and rescue, good low ground pressure, and increased ground traction area.

I also recall seeing pictures of a VERY large slotted (well more like blades really) tracked vehicle in the bay that was used as a ferry service across the sands at Low or rising tide, can't remember where in Morecambe bay it was though.

Seems also that a mesh would offer no issues with the regolith, might provide better overall traction, and would probably be the best weight soution as well

OT Morecambe bay for the Bio Energy and protein generation Faqctory of the future YAY! and a similar generation point for Primordial soup to become life (I know the bay isn't That old but is a perfect breeding ground for evolution and specialisation) also good for depopulating Cockle pickers that didn't understand that the VERY loud Siren you here is an instruction to Head as fast as you can to the shore.

[JayUtah]

Even though there is a precedent for pneumatic tires on the lunar surface, mesh tires have a number of advantages: lighter weight, favorable anti-clogging characteristics, and the conspicuous impervity to going flat. Even though J-mission astronauts stayed within the walkback limit, a flat tire would have seriously curtailed any mission, and solid rubber tires would have been far too heavy. Thus mesh tires were considered important for mission success.

A point load on a particulate bed diffuses as depth increases. This is the principle behind the macadam roadway. Each impressed particle transmits generally to a greater number of particles. While one response to such a point gravity load is lateral displacement resulting in sinking, this is not a limitless phenomenon. Further, many adjacent point loads (such as those imposed by adjacent wires and treads) cancel out the lateral displacement response, which also naturally abates with depth.

Dust indeed penetrated the shell created by the wire mesh. It just as easily left it. This was one of the design features.

[Al Johnston]

Perhaps ironically, it was the pneumatic tyre that did for the macadam roadway: rather than pack the surface particles down as iron hoop tyres did, pneumatic tyres tended to pick them up and displace them, reducing the road to a gravel path. The solution was to bind the surface with pitch: tarmac.