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In support of Department of Defense (DOD) mandated acquisition reform initiatives to reduce vehicle related life cycle costs and timelines, the Tank-automotive and Armaments Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) is using simulation-based acquisition strategies to investigate the dynamic performance of wheeled and tracked ground vehicles throughout the vehicle development, testing, and fielding life cycle process. The paper will describe how modeling and simulation (M&S) is applied to answer a wide variety of design and performance evaluation questions and will depict a series of simulation-based engineering projects that build on the Army's simulation investments as a tool to investigate and answer real-world vehicle design, acquisition, and engineering support questions.

This report describes a computer-based modeling, simulation and graphical animation effort that addresses the dynamic performance, stability, and handling of the Palletized Load System (PLS) truck/trailer combination being considered for use as a transporter for a 19,000 liter Bulk Fuel and Water Carrier variant. The US Army has initiated an effort to develop and evaluate concepts to explore alternative uses for the PLS. The US Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, Research, Development, & Engineering Center (TACOM-TARDEC), has been task to determine and develop viable alternatives to be used with the PLS to include volume water and fuel transportation as well as specialized combat engineer missions.

This paper describes an effort by the US Army Tank-automotive & Armaments Command, Research, Development & Engineering Center (TACOM-TARDEC) to model, simulate, and validate a dynamic model of a Medium Tactical Vehicle (MTV) truck towing a M105A2 trailer, both fully payloaded at 5-ton and 1-1/2 tons, respectively (see figure 1). Prior to the simulation analysis, a set of carefully controlled and instrumented field tests were conducted with the truck / trailer combination to understand inherent stability problems, determine performance limits, and to collect instrumented data to validate the dynamic models. This paper documents these efforts.