Optimization design of bionic grousers for the crawled mineral collector based on the deep-sea sediment

Abstract

Due to the low shear strength of deep-sea sediment, crawled mineral collector is easily slips in the deep-sea mining process, therefore, high-traction bionic grouser is needed to be studied to improve the working efficiency. Based on the rate-dependent characteristics of deep-sea sediment, a rate-dependent extended Drucker-Prager material constitutive model is used to define the deep-sea sediment. The Arbitrary Lagrange-Euler finite element (LEA-FE) was used to simulate the cutting process of different bionic grousers at different speeds. By comparing the simulation of different grousers, it was found that the maximum traction of grouser is related to the grouser parameters (distance L from the top to the curvature change point and curvature radius R). By analyzing the traction characteristics of different bionic grousers, the binary quadratic regression equation between maximum traction and bionic grouser parameters was established and the best bionic grouser parameters were obtained by the optimization algorithm. Based on the rate-dependent properties of deep-sea sediment, the traction characteristics at different speeds were analyzed and the relationship between maximum traction and speeds was established, the best bionic grouser walking speed was obtained, which can provide the theoretical basis for the crawled mineral collector.