paper: Analysis of “a torque-actuated module” used for strafing in an H-drive.

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by RyanCahoon

Is this assuming a value of θ that's fairly close to 90°? For small values of θ, it seems like assumption 1 for the B force no longer holds - the primary limitation on the normal force will come from the lever action of the module.

I was only assuming that θ was between 0° and 90°. My point with assumptions 1 and 2 regarding B was that the forces applied perpendicularly to the line connecting the drive and wheel axes were approximately zero. If θ is small, then the approximation is just that much better.

As you note, for small θ, the term deriving from B (the one with tan θ) is much less important than the term deriving from D (the one with sec θ).