Holmes p78 Example 3.9.

A lorry-driver wishes to get more speed out of his lorry so he changes the rear-axle ratio so that, for
a given engine speed, the road-wheel speed is doubled. He finds, however, that the maximum speed
is LESS with the new rear axle arrangement.

The output characteristic of the lorry engine and transmission with the ORIGINAL rear axle was:

[N]

where v is the speed of the lorry in kph.

The demand characteristic due to road, mechanical and wind resisitance was:

[N]

Explain the inferior performance and find the best axle-ratio and the highest possible speed for the
lorry. Assume the same efficiency of power transmission whatever the axle-ratio and that the
demand characteristic remains unaltered.

(Ans: Increase the axle speed ratio by a factor of 1.23. 84.5kph)

Tractive effort

Traction
Resistance
800 Nett Force
Power
Traction W Gear
Nett force w Gear
Power w Gear
700

600
Forces (Tractive effort & resistive)

500

400

300

200

100

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Vehicle velocity (kph)