The problem of designing wheels for vehicle operation on a variety of soil conditions has been approached in several ways. Each method generally tries to develop a large ground contact area to minimize soil bearing pressure and motion resistance. Tracks and large diameter wheels are commonly used to cope with off-road driving conditions. While they can effectively deal with the soil mechanics aspect of the problem, tracks and large wheels in certain design applications are unacceptable solutions because of their required size and weight. Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation has proposed as an off the road locomotion device a hybrid design that provides the required large soil bearing area and also approaches the stability and efficiency of a circular spoked wheel. Several models of this device have been built and tested, the latest of which is currently being developed under contract from the U. S. Army Tank-Automotive Command.
