Simulation tool for dozer data acquisition

Acquiring data and measuring positions should be predetermined for data acquisition experiments, while numerical simulation provides effective guidance. Because bulldozing involves multibody dynamics, soil mechanics and hydraulic control, a high-fidelity simulation approach should be developed to cover these fields. This paper proposes a RecurDyn-EDEM-AMESim co-simulation which accurately characterizes the working loads in straight bulldozing conditions. According to the relationship between the soil reaction loads and joint forces of the dozer blade, the strain of the push arms and the oil pressure of the lift cylinders were selected to represent the longitudinal and vertical soil loads, respectively. This research facilitates the decision-making for the data acquisition experiments of dozers, and proposes one simulation-based approach to evaluate the working loads of the construction machinery. The RecurDyn-EDEM-AMESim co-simulation has promising potential to acquire load data in the situations where physical experiments are difficult to conduct.