Design and simulation of a trenching device for rice straw burial and trenching based on MBD-DEM

Abstract

Rice straw return is an effective measure to ensure food safety and improve soil fertility. In-depth studies have gradually been conducted on mechanized ditch burying and field returning, but problems in terms of different ditching depths, unstable ditch types and influences on the subsequent operation effects remain. With regard to the problems of different ditching depths and unstable ditch types of a straw ditch burying and field returning machine, a ditching and returning device was designed and optimized in the study presented in this paper, and in-depth analysis was performed on the mechanism of the ditching process. The MBD-DEM coupling method was used to conduct a simulation experiment for the ditching device. The soil particle throwing mechanism in the ditching process was analyzed to explore the influence of the ditching device on the throwing track and falling point of the soil particles. Three stages were clarified in the ditch formation, and the fitting curves and changing trends of the soil particle speeds at different stages were determined. The single-factor simulation tests suggested that the ditch stability decreased with increasing forward speed and horizontal inclination angle and increased with increasing main sprocket speed. The field testing indicated that the actual ditch section had a high contact ratio with the simulated ditch section, which verified the accuracy of the simulation testing. This study can provide ideas for expanding the utilization measures of rice straw return and provide methods for exploring the mechanism of complicated mechanical movement and soil interaction.