Prediction of Bucket Fill Factor of Loader Based on Three-Dimensional Information of Material Surface

The bucket fill factor is a core evaluation indicator for the optimization of the loader's autonomous shoveling operation. Accurately predicting the bucket fill factor of the loader after different excavation trajectories is fundamental for optimizing the loader's efficiency and energy cost. Therefore, this paper proposes a method for predicting the bucket fill factor of the loader based on the three-dimensional information of the material surface. Firstly, the co-simulation model of loader shoveling material is established based on the multi-body dynamics software RecurDyn and the discrete element method software (DEMS) EDEM, and the co-simulation is conducted under different excavation trajectories. Then, the three-dimensional material surface information before shovel excavation is obtained from DEMS, and the surface function of the material contour is fitted based on the corresponding shovel excavation trajectory information. Meanwhile, the volume of the material excavated by the loader is obtained by the numerical integration method, and it is divided by the rated bucket volume to obtain the estimated bucket fill factor. Finally, the actual volume of the material after the shovel excavation is divided by the rated bucket volume to obtain the accurate bucket fill factor. Based on this, the prediction model of the bucket fill factor is built. The experimental results show that the proposed method is feasible, with a maximum error of 4.3%, a root mean square error of 0.025 and an average absolute error of 0.021. The research work lays the foundation for predicting the bucket fill factor of construction machinery such as loaders and excavators under real working conditions, which is conducive to promoting the development of autonomous, unmanned, and intelligent construction machinery.