Welcome to the ISTVS Digital Event Series — Terramechanics Bites by established researchers and informal studentled research seminars.
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Dr. Corina Sandu | Robert E. Hord Jr. Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department, Virginia Tech
Experimental and Modeling Aspects of Pneumatic Tire Performance on Soft Soil and Icy Roads

October 28 | Terramechanics Bite
12:00 EDT / 18:00 CEST / 01:00 JST

This presentation gives an overview of the challenges related to mobility and performance of vehicles in difficult off and onroad conditions, such as soft soil or icy roads. The material covered is relevant and applicable to manned and unmanned vehicles. Such studies focus on the evaluation of the vehicle, tires, and operating environment as one interconnected system. A good understanding of the specific terrain characteristics is needed, as well as of the running gear of the vehicle and of their interaction with the terrain. The first part of the talk is dedicated to the description of the indoor testing facility developed in Dr. Sandu’s group, the Terramechanics Rig, at Virginia Tech. This test rig produces repeatable results for pneumatic tires or metal wheels on sand, soil, ice, or other type of surface. The second part of the presentation covers a few illustrative experimental investigations for the performance of pneumatic tires on sandy loam and on ice, as well as some related modeling aspects.

Dr. Corina Sandu is Robert E. Hord Jr. Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Virginia Tech, Associate Department Head for Graduate Studies, and Director of the Terramechanics, Multibody, and Vehicle Systems (TMVS) Laboratory. Before joining Virginia Tech in 2003, Dr. Sandu worked at Michigan Tech for three years.

She graduated with an Engineer Diploma in Mechanics from the University "Politehnica" of Bucharest, Romania (1991), and M.S. (1995) and Ph.D. (2000) degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Iowa, U.S.A.

Dr. Sandu’s research expertise lies in terramechanics (vehicleterrain interaction, tire/track modeling, vehicle mobility, soil/terrain modeling), multibody dynamics (modeling, simulation, uncertainty quantification, parameter estimation, sensitivity analysis, design optimization), and vehicle dynamics (suspension, handling, ride, performance).

Dr. Sandu is ASME Fellow, SAE Fellow, and Marie SkłodowskaCurie Fellow. She published 86 journal papers, 120 proceedings papers, 10 book chapters, and (co)authored over 322 other papers, reports, posters, and presentations. She led or participated in numerous funded research projects of over $12.6 million, with her own share of $4 million, from NSF, NASA, ARC, CenTiRe, Goodyear, Caterpillar, Sumitomo, and others.

She advised 18 Ph.D. and 22 M.S. students and is currently advising 8 PhD students and 2 M.S. students. She is the EditorinChief of SAE International Journal of Commercial Vehicles, Vicechair of the SAE International Journals Editors’ committee, and Chair of the SAE Fellow Committee. She served as Chair of the SAE Chassis Design and Vehicle Dynamics (CDVD) committee and is past recipient of SAE Ralph R. Teetor Educational Award (2007), SAE EMB Outstanding Oral Presentation Award (2007), SAE Forest R. McFarland Award (2013 and 2019), and Rodica Baranescu Award for Technical and Leadership Excellence in Commercial Vehicles Engineering (2013).

She gave keynote lectures at CAR, Romania (2017); IMSD, Canada (2016); CONAT, Romania (2016); and CIFAVT, China (2012). She is past Chair of the ASME Design Engineering Division (DED) and past Chair of the ASME Vehicle Design Committee (VDC).

Dr. Sandu is the President of the International Society for TerrainVehicle Systems and an Editorial Board member of the Journal of Terramechanics. She is also EditorinChief of the Mechanics Based Design of Structures and Machines; An International Journal, and Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Autonomous Vehicle Systems (JAVS). She received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Service (2012 and 2020).


The mission of the ISTVS is to advance the knowledge of terrainvehicle systems for improvements in engineering practice and for innovation. Since 1962.