Simulation of Draft Forces of a Sweep in a Loamy Sand Soil Using the Discrete Element Method

Draft force is an important performance indicator of a soil-engaging tool as it affects the power requirement of the tool. In this study, draft forces of a sweep were measured in a loamy sand soil under different soil cutting depths and tool travel speeds. The measurements served the evaluation of a model developed using the Discrete Element Method (DEM) to simulate the soil cutting process of the sweep. In the model, soil particles were defined as spherical particles with bonds between particles to reflect the cohesive behaviour of agricultural soil. The model parameter, particle stiffness, was calibrated through comparing the simulated draft forces of the sweep with those predicted from the Universal Earthmoving Equation. The calibrated particle stiffness was 3x103 N/m for the loamy sand soil. The calibrated model was evaluated against measured draft forces. The simulated draft forces agreed well with the measured ones with a correlation coefficient of 0.8.

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