3D finite element simulation of the effect of mouldboard plough’s design on both the energy consumption and the tillage quality

In this paper, an advanced analytical method was combined with the finite element method (FEM) to study the effect of the cylindroidal mouldboard plough’s design on the tillage process. The influence of its design geometric parameters, namely, the cutting angle ( α ), the lifting angle ( β ), the parameters ( q ) and ( m ) on both the tillage forces (vertical, lateral and draught) and the tillage quality (disturbance of soil), was studied. The numerical analysis showed that the increase of these parameters has a great influence on the draught and lateral forces. The increase of the cutting and lifting angles ( α , β ) caused an increase of the draught force with linear variation. However, the increase of the geometric parameters ( m ) and ( q ) decreases linearly this force. The lateral force decreases linearly with the geometric parameter ( q ) and the cutting angle and it increases with the lifting angle. However, it is independent of the value ( m ). All these geometric parameters have a little influence on the vertical force. This study showed that the lifting angle ( β ) and the parameter ( m ) have the highest impact on the consumed energy compared to other parameters. Furthermore, the selection of α = 45°, β = 25°, m = 1 and q = 24 as the geometric parameters to design the cylindroidal mouldboard plough can ensure the reduction of the consumption of energy and ameliorate the quality of soil inversion.