T-72 Design - Mobility
Besides the fire power and the armored protection, mobility is the tank's most important characteristic. This is characterized by the medium speed of the tank, its ability to operate on terrain and the distance it can cover with one refill of its fuel system. Increased mobility required modernization of the engine, transmission and the track. All these requirements have been solved on the T-72. The diesel engine built into the tank is "omnivorous," so that it can be operated on several kinds of fuel.
The T-72M1 is powered by the V-46-6 multi-fuel, 12-cylinder supercharged diesel engine, developed by L.A.Vaisburd's design team in Chelyabinsk. By now, its power was raised to 780 horsepower from the original output of 500 horsepower on the T- 34 Model 1940. (The later versions of the T- 72 use yet another evolution, the V-84, with an output of 840 horsepower.)
The V-46 is mounted in the traditional transverse fashion found on Soviet tanks since the T-44. It is located immediately behind the firewall that seperates the engine compartment from the fighting compartment. Behind it is a large radiator for cooling the engine, with the vehicle transmission located under that. At the rear of the engine compartment is a large, circular fan which draws in air for the engine. The mechanical tranmission has two planetary gearboxes with friction clutches and hydraulic steering. The T-72's transmission has a bad reputation in some armies because of the difficulty it presents when trying to recover a damaged tank.
Mobility is also affected by the tank's size. The tank's length is 9.2 meters, its width is 3.2, its height is 2.26 and its ground clearance is 0.47 meters. The tank's weight is 41 tons. The 580 kW engine through the hydraulic transmission can accelerate it to speeds of 50-60 km per hour. The length of the track chain's ground contact is 4.25 meters, the chain's width is 0.58 meter. This results in a specific ground pressure of only 81.4 kP. As a consequence of this the T-72 can also operate without the danger of "sinking" over sandy and wet soil. The T-72 is the first model in the T-series on which instead of the large diameter runner rollers smaller diameter ones are used. The well designed track system increases the tank's ability to traverse terrain and to accelerate; at the same time this also provides increased level of protection.
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