J. agric. Engng Res.

(1976) 21, 169-176

An Approach to the Assessment of Tractor Stability

on Rough Sloping Ground
H. B. SPENCER*:G. GILFILIYN*

The slope on which a wheeled tractor will overturn can be calculated from the conditions for
static equilibrium but the value obtained does not take into account the effects of rolling and
pitching motions due to ground roughness and must be diminished to allow for these when
estimating the maximum slope on which travel is safe. The interpretation of statistical measures
of these motions is discussed and a procedure for taking them into account is suggested. This
involves consideration of the period within which the first occasion of overturning is likely
to occur and stipulation of the “first passage time”.

1. Intmduction
The slope on which a stationary wheeled tractor will overturn is determined by the conditions
for its static equilibrium. The value thus found is, using the assumptions commonly made in
mechanics, applicable to the machine in uniform motion on a smooth plane surface. It is the
absolute upper limit to the inclined plane on which the tractor can operate and as such indicates
the machine’s basic suitability for use on sloping land. However, it does not have direct practical
application as a criterion of safety since it fails to take into account disturbances to motion
tending to overturn the tractor which arise from ground irregularities.
The conventional engineering practice of using a safety factor can be adopted and the angle of
inclination of the plane on which stability is lost reduced to give a value for the steepest rough
ground on which the tractor can be used. ‘8 * It is, however, diGcult to decide on the extent of the
reduction since an estimate is necessarily based on knowledge of the conditions under which
overturning occurs on agricultural land and data are scant. A more rigorous approach is to
consider the motions imparted to the tractor by ground irregularities and assess the likelihood of
overturning in terms of the probability that one of these mi)tions will place the tractor in an
attitude such that static stability is lost. 3 The purpose of this paper is to discuss bases on which
this probability can be assessed, propose safety criteria for slope operation and examine the
validity of the assumptions on which these are based in terms of field observations obtained in
the course of preliminary investigations.

2. Overturning
Consideration will be restricted to the effect of roll motion on stability unless otherwise stated.
Roll displacement of a tractor is shown diagrammatically in lig. 2 in which the centre of gravity
of the machine is assumed to lie in the transverse plane containing the rear axle. Overturning
occurs when a line through the centre of gravity perpendicular to the horizontal plane falls out-
with the base of the tractor. In the position of neutral equilibrium, when overturning is about to
occur, the centre of gravity has been raised from its original position corresponding to the
tractor standing on the horizontal plane. The vertical displacement of the centre of gravity is a
measure of the potential energy gained by the tractor and this energy is numerically equal to the
energy input needed to overturn the machine.
An energy input tending to cause overturning arises from travel over rough ground. The
tractor acquires a rocking motion in the transverse plane which can be described in terms of the
angular displacement of the machine about a roll axis. In the diagrammatic representation of
*Scottish Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Penicuik, Midlothian
Received 31 May 1974; accepted in revised form 27 October 1975
169
170 TRACTOR STABILITY

Fig. I roll angle 8 is shown as the displacement of the line joining the ground contact points of the
drive wheels from an equilibrium position corresponding to the machine standing on a smooth
plane surface. The kinetic energy imparted to the tractor as a result of motion over a ground
irregularity which gives rise to displacement 0 is
E(t) = s@(t) ... (1)
where I is the moment of inertia about the roll axis and t denotes a time variable. The displace-
ment 13is a continuously varying quantity having positive and negative values depending on the
nature of the ground. It must be described in terms of a mean value and some measure of
dispersion of individual values about this mean.
In this preliminary study the roll response of the tractor to a particular ground surface is
assumed independent of slope. The validity of this assumption has particular practical importance.
If kinetic energy input can be measured on rough level land and added to the potential energy
which will arise from roll displacement caused by cross slope then the maximum slope on which
operation is possible can be estimated without incurring the risk of overturning the tractor. The
assumption implies that the elastic properties of the tyres which influence roll behaviour are
unchanged by alteration in normal to ground loading attributable to cross slope. Published data
suggest that the assumption is justified .4 Load changes due to cross slope are unlikely to exceed
50 %, over which range vertical load versus deflection curves are nearly linear. It is also assumed
that accelerations acquired by the tractor in a direction normal to ground do not affect roll
motion, i.e. these affect only motion in the plane containing the longitudinal axis of the machine.

Fig. 1. Vertical displacement(h) of tractor centre of gravity caused by roll displacementsdue to slope (y) and ground
irregularity (8)

The practical problem is illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 2 in which the total energy,
denoted (a), needed to overturn the tractor can be calculated from the required vertical displace-
ment of the centre of gravity. The kinetic energy input (b) due to ground irregularities is given by
Eqn (1) and is measurable in the field. The maximum value of kinetic energy likely to arise
determines the value of the potential energy (c) due to roll displacement on slope which is allow-
able if overturning is to be avoided, since the sum of the potential and kinetic energies, i.e.
(b)+(c), defines the maximum slope on which motion is safe.

3. Assessment of the problem

A direct approach to establishing the limiting slope on which a tractor can safely be used is to
stipulate the value of 6 which is unlikely to be exceeded. Field measurements, subsequently
discussed, show that it is practicable to assume a Gaussian distribution for 8. In dealing with
normally distributed data the value corresponding to three times the standard deviation is often
taken as that which will almost certainly not be exceeded and this assumption suffices for many
practical purposes. However, the element of danger to the driver inherent in an overturning
accident is such that the use of this conventional probability limit merits further study.
The probability that a value greater than three times the standard deviation will arise corres-
ponds to the proportion of the area of the normal curve lying beyond this point. If the tractor is
H. B. SPENCER; G. GILFILLAN 171

moving on nominally level land having declevities into which either wheel can be displaced
relative to the other roll displacement in either sense endangers the machine and the applicable
proportion of the normal curve is O$IO270. Records taken on a medium-powered tractor
travelling on the level at 5 mile/h over rough pasture show about 360 reversals of roll displace-
ment/min. If the tractor is used for 1000 h in a year the expected number of occasions on which
3 0 limits of I$’
are exceeded is 58.3 x 103. This value is reduced to 1.3 x IO3by the use of 4 D limits.
The occurrence of any occasion on which the stipulated limit is exceeded invalidates a definition
of safe slope on the basis of probability alone. Such an occ;ision need not necessarily endanger
the tractor. Overturning would only occur if the occasion coincided with one on which the
machine was moving on its maximum “safe” slope calculateo on the basis that the 3 or 4 B limit
of fi was unlikely to be exceeded. Further, the assessment relates only to the machine used on the
ground surface specified. Nevertheless it suggests that the number of such occasions occurring
during the life of a tractor are sufficient to justify seeking a nlore adequate basis for defining the
slope on which the machine can safely be used.

,/
-(a)
1’11
’ 1 /w
/ (

/
/’
2 \/
*‘/
/ Y
‘I
A
k-2
: P,’
/ ,/;

/’
/
,/ I

J__
4
I
..-..-+__-(,)
I

,
/ ,
I

I
*

B -
Slope
Fig. 2. Energy input due to slope and rough ground. (a) Energy required I(: overturn; (b) kinetic energy due to rough
ground; (c) potential energy from roll displacement due to slope. A is maximum allowable potential energy and B the
corresponding slope for safe open ltion

The limitation inherent in taking into account only the probability that 4 will exceed a particular
critical value is that the influence on safety of the time from the start of travel to the first occasion
on which this event can be expected to occur is not considered. The time from the start of use of
the tractor to the first occasion on which the value of 4 permissible on an agreed probability basis
is exceeded, i.e. the estimated safe working life of the tractor, is therefore suggested as a relevant
consideration. This time does not have a single value. Repeated trials with the same tractor
driven at the same speed over the same terrain can be expected to yield individual results, hence
characterization by a statistical measure is needed.

4. Mathematical treatment
The time from the start of a prescribed random process to that at which it first passes out of a
limited domain of safe operation is denoted the “first passage time” and its estimation is practic-
able provided (a) the random process is a stationary Gaussian process, (b) the first passage times
 172 TRACTOR STABILITY

have a Poisson probability distribution. 5*6 A stationary process is one having statistical char-
acteristics which are constant at any point in time. Analysis of roll displacement data, discussed
later, indicates that the assumption is justified for a tractor having constant travel speed. It also
indicates that it is practicableto assume that the data are derived from a randomGaussian process.
This, however, does introduce an anomaly which requires further study since the form of a
Gaussian process admits to the possibility of very large values associated with the tails of the
distribution while, in practice, the energy which can be absorbed by the tractor before over-
turning imposes a physical limit to 8. The assumption of a Poisson distribution is justified
provided the limit value to safe operation is reached only rarely and on isolated occasions. This
will be the case if the tractor is only endangered by large values of 6.

0.6.

0.2 -

0 10 20 30 40

7 (degrees1
Fig. 3. Relationship between overturning velocity (8,) around tractor roll or pitch axis and slope (y). Limit values
(a), (b) and (c) are derived from field measurements of 6 and based on (a) first passage theory, (b) 3 o limits, (c) 4 CT
limits

The method of determining the first passage time of a stationary random Gaussian process is
given in Appendix A. Application enables the maximum slope on which a tractor is likely to be
able to travel safely for a stated period of time to be found. In the present study the machine is
assumed to be moving on a cross-sbpe such that a particular drive wheel is always the higher or
to be directly ascending a slope. It is therefore endangered by rotation in one sense only and it is
the first occasion on which a particular positive value of 4 is exceeded or “crossed” which consti-
tutes failure. The first step is to determine the relationship between slope and the energy input
needed to overturn the machine, the latter being found from the machine’s geometry and the
vertical displacement required to move the centre of gravity from the position corresponding to
the machine standing on a slope into that corresponding to neutral equilibrium. Critical values of
rotational velocity 0, are then substituted for energy by means of Eqn (1). Relationships found
by this method are shown in Fig. 3 for the roll and pitch overturning modes of the medium
powered two-wheel drive tractor used to study the effects of rough ground on safety. Next, the
time to failure, i.e. the first passage time T is specified in terms of two criteria (a) the operating
time T,, within which a failure may occur and (b) the probability P(T,,) attached to the occurrence
of this failure. The first passage time is
T = T,/P(T,).
H. B. SPENCER; G. GILFILLAN 173

The reciprocal of T is the expected number of crossings in unit time (u) and the critical value of
8 corresponding to T is found by substitution in

v=+-($J+exp($]. ... (2)

The terms 1, and &, defined in Appendix A, involve the mean square spectral density function of
d(t) and have to be evaluated from records of 6 obtained in the field. Reference to the 6, wsus
slope graph enables the corresponding maximum slope on which the tractor can be used with
safety on the probability basis chosen to be found. Values derived from field measurements are
shown in Fig. 3 and denoted (a).

5. Data acquisition and treatment

Data with which to examine the validity of the assumption that measurements of 6 relate to a
stationary Gausian process were obtained on level pasture VIith medium rough surface, roll and
pitch data being obtained at 5 mile/h. Proprietary rate gyros giving a direct measurement of 6
required a power supply not readily available and d.c. operated angular accelerometers were used
to measure B’. Rotational accelerations were recorded about (a) a roll axis passing through the
front axle hinge point and a point at the centre of a rear wheel/ground contact area directly
beneath the rear axle when the tractor was standing on level ground and (b) a pitch axis parallel
to the rear axle. The use of e’in place of ti required Eqn (2) t6j be modified. The revised Eqn (3)
and its use to calculate 6, are discussed in Appendix A.

+1 t-ad/s2

-1 rod/s2
Fig. 4. Record of rofational acceleration in roll. Lowep trace denotes I s intervals

A typical acceleration record is shown in Fig. 4. Traces were digitized, the maximum accelera-
tion value recorded for each rotational displacement being obtained by means of proprietary
equipment. Data were then analysed by computer, statistical tests, described in Appendix B,
being carried out on observations obtained from eight runs. These were made at a significance
level of 0.05 for (a) stationarity, (b) randomness, (c) normality, i.e. Gaussian distribution.
Criteria were met except in one instance when data from a test just failed the chi squared test for
normality due to the occurrence of more observations in the ‘tail” of the distribution than were
to be expected. These data were excluded from the subsequent calculation of safe working
slope.

6. Sample calculation of safe slope

Safe working slopes were calculated for the tractor moving at 5 mile/h on rough pasture. The
relationship between the critical overturning velocity and the slope on which travel takes place
was found from Eqn (1) and is shown in Fig. 3. The value of the appropriate inertial moment was
obtained by calculation, the tractor being assumed to consist of regular geometric bodies. Safety
criteria were arbitrarily chosen as T,, = 1000 h and P(T,) = O-001, implying that a 1 in 1000
chance that overturning will occur in the first 1000 h of operation is acceptable. Records of 8
were then digitized to give data from which values for G&o) and IQ(r), defined in Appendix A,
were obtained by standard computer program for substitution in Eqn (3).* The integral in this
equation was evaluated numerically. The average rate of positive crossings, i.e. those occasions
on which 0 moved out of the domain of safe operation was then obtained from Eqn (5), derived in
174 TRACTOR STABILITY

Appendix A, as 0.278 x 10mg. Substitution in Eqn (2) enabled the limiting values of 0, to be
obtained and entered on Fig. 3. The corresponding slopes on which stability would be lost were
23” and 37” for overturning, respectively, in roll and pitch.
The “safe” slopes calculated on the straight forward probability basis that the critical value of ti
can be equated to the 3 o or the 4 0 limits of the distribution of individual values are shown for
comparison. These slopes are 4 or 5 degrees greater than those found from the consideration
of first passage times.

7. Conclusions
Field records obtained from a particular tractor moving at constant speed suggest that measure-
ments of energy input due to ground irregularities causing roll or pitch of the machine represent
a random stationary Gaussian process, for which a first passage time can be calculated. This
procedure enables the length of time from the start of use of the tractor within which the first
occasion of overturning may occur to be taken into account in addition to the probability of
stability being lost. It also offers a method of estimating the stability of a tractor on slopes having
different ground surfaces by the use of data obtained in safety on level land. Field studies with
other tractors are required to confirm these findings and the assumption that overturning can be
represented by a Poisson distribution.

REFERENCES

Harbarta, F. Determination in relation to safety of operation of the minimal load on the front steering
axle of a tractor with implements attached. J. agric. Engng Res., 1971 16 (2) 126
Gilfillan, G. Tractor behaviour during uphill motion. Part ZZ. J. agric. Engng Res., 1970 15 (3) 236
van, E. B. Evaluation of the dynamic overturning stability of a tractor and tractor outfit from the
energy point of view. Trakt. Selkhoz., 1972 7 2-4, N.T.A.E. Translation 263
Matthews, J.; Talamo, J. D. C. Ride comfort for tractor operators, 111. Investigation of tractor dynamics
by analogue computer simulation. J. agric. Engng Res., 1%5 10 (2) 93
Vamarcke, E. H. Properties of spectral moments with applications to random vibration. Proc. Am. Sot.
Civ. Engrs, Engineering Mechanics Division, April 1972,425
CrandaI, S. H.; Chmdiramani, K. L.; Cook, R. G. Some first passage problems in random vibration.
Trans. A.S.M.E. (Sept.), J. appl. Mech., 1966 35 532
Bend&, J. S.; Piersol, A. S. Measurement andanalysis of random data. New York: John Wiley and Sons
Inc., 1966
Dixon, W. J. Biomedical computerprogram. University of California Press, 1971
Rice, S. 0. Mathematical analysis of random noise. Bell Syst. tech. J., Part Z, 194423 282; Part ZZ,1945
2446

Apptmdix A
Rice9 has shown. that the mean rate of positive crossings of a level by a stationary, Gaussian,
random process O(t) is given by

.. . (2)

where

eo=
sO3 0
G(o)dw = g2

&= * 02G(o)dw
s 0
H. B. SPENCER; G. GILFILLAN 175

G(w) is the one sided mean square spectral density function of t?(t). It is assumed that the level
fi, is in excess of one standard deviation of the process o(t).
The mean rate of positive crossings of the zero level is
1 A,+
0°=2n /I,
( )
which is interpreted as the average frequency.
Hence (2) can be written as
.-42
v = v. exp -2-$
C 1
and, from a record of d(t), the mean rate of crossings of a level 4, can be estimated.
The use of angular accelerometers instead of rate gyros results in measurement of the derivative
of the process.
If G&o) is the one-sided mean squared spectral density function of d(t) then
m G&O)
Ge(co)dw = ?dc 1 = 0~6.
s 0

Hence (2) can be re-written as

R(r) is the autocorrelation function of. the process for time displacements r and J+(O) is the value
for zero displacement of the process 0(t).
The main disadvantage in using angular accelerometers is the need to evaluate the integral.
“Noisy” measurement of Gj(w) results in the value of G&cB)~!~~+cc as o-+0. To overcome this
difficulty it was arbitrarily assumed that Ge(cu)/w2was zero at cu = 0 and varied linearly with the
value for o = 6 rad/s, for the tests at 5 mile/h. An equally valid approximation for this case was
found to be
GB(w)
- = 0 for 0~6 radis.
09
The computer program used for evaluating G&O) also gave values of R&r), r being the time
displacement, from which &(O) could be read off. ’ The integral required numerical evaluation
and the upper limit was replaced by o = 30 rad/s, higher limits having negligible effect on its
value.
Although the average rate of crossings of a given level is known from Eqn (3) the probability
distribution of these crossings is not. A conservative and often used approximation for the
occurrence of high crossing levels is the assumption of a Poi\son distribution. The probability
density function for this is
P(T) = v exp (-VT).
The probability of a first passage occurring in a time Tois therefore given by

Hence
P(T,)= 1-exp( -VT,) ...(4)
which is the expression giving the probability of at least one state change, i.e. first passage, taking
place in a time interval of To.*
176 TRACTOR STABILITY

Eqn (4) can be re-written, for small values of P(T,,) as:

P(T,) = UT,. . . . (5)
For a given specified probability of failure P(T,) and a given operating time T,, Eqn (5) enables
l/o, the expected first passage time to be evaluated.

Appendix B
General. Data were obtained from 8 runs, each 150 m long, made on rough level pasture at
5 mile/h. Tests were made for stationarity, randomness and normality on the roll data, recorded
pitch data being similar in form.’
Stationarity. Sequential samples were checked for randomness and absence of trends. Data
from each run were divided into 10 groups, each obtained in an equal time interval. The standard
deviation of data in each group was calculated and the number of reverse arrangements for the
10 values of og denoted A. The acceptance region of the hypothesis that observations are inde-
pendent is
A IO:~-.,,<A<AI,: a/2.

Reference to published tables indicates that for probability a = 0.05 A should be in the range 13
to 31. Values, given in Table I show data are stationary.
Randomness. The probability density and autocorrelation functions for data from each run
were plotted and visually examined. The former had the “bell” shape associated with a normal
random process, the latter the characteristics of narrow band random noise.
Normality. The chi-square test was used. Data from each run were divided into 20 class
intervals of equal width and the frequency of occurrence of each was recorded. The acceptance
region for the normality hypothesis was
x2 G X2,,&?
where x is the chi-square statistic, n = degrees of freedom = 20-3 = 17 and probability
a = 0905. Reference to published tables indicates that the value x17,o.o5= 27.59 should not be
exceeded. Values, given in Table I, show data from all runs other than the first meet this criterion.

TABLE I

Run no. X2
1 31.90

4 18 24.18
5 21 25.20
6 19 26.23
7 24 20.81
8 28 20.31