Wear modelling of soil ripper tine in sand and sandy clay by discrete element method

Abstract

Wear and friction cause huge economic losses in the agriculture and mining industries. Wear simulations of working elements, materials, and surfaces that can reduce downtime and economic losses. This work proposes the use a cone penetration resistance measurement result as option to determine movement resistance of soil ripper tine by the discrete element method. It allows avoiding mechanical properties investigation of soil. Simulation made in sand and sandy clay helps to compare wear track of tine wear plates with actual wear. The actual wear was evaluated by 3D scanning of a soil ripper tine wear plates made from tungsten carbide and cobalt alloy and compared with simulated tines. Wear loss expressed as loss of area at the cross-section of tine wear plate. The maximum wear loss of scanned ripper wear plate at 0–150 mm working depth is 1.8% and simulated-in-sand and simulated-in-sandy-clay 1.2 and 1.7%. The maximum actual wear loss caused 57.9% wear loss of cross-section area at 150–204 mm working depth. Simulation in sand and simulation in sandy clay soil 6.9 and 9% caused by lower soil resistance than in field experiments. Simulations in sandy clay soil increased the draft force by 3.9 and 2.8 times that in the sand, at 0–200 mm depth, for tine parts to account for the stiffness fraction of sandy clay soil. As an alternative, tine wear evaluation is also suggested from shear energy values.