Unlocking Efficiencies in Earthmoving for Future Infrastructure: Modeling Plowing and Cutting Processes in Soils

这项研究将促进对土壤如何通过与土方工具和机械的相互作用来机械移动和塑造的理解。人类为民用建筑、采矿和农业搬运了大量的土壤，但我们对机器与土壤相互作用的物理过程的了解令人惊讶地有限。该项目将产生一类新的计算模型，用于模拟基本的地球移动过程。同时，在实验室完成的小规模实验计划将提供评估模型所需的物理见解和高质量数据。这项探索性研究将为未来土方机械优化和自动化的长期研究奠定基础，使新的、可能是激进的机械设计和技术成为可能。考虑到美国和世界其他地区人类移动地球的规模，即使是最小的突破导致更高的效率和更高的生产率，也将在降低成本、缩短生产时间和减少能源消耗方面产生深远的长期影响。该项目将专门开发和验证基于力学的土壤耕作和切割过程模型。由于探索性研究打算扩展到更广泛的研究，以检查各种机器配置和土壤类型，重点放在干燥的颗粒材料、基本的工具形状和相对简单的工具运动上。具体的研究目标是(1)基于塑性理论的运动学方法建立一类新的理论模型；(2)在西北大学的一家新设施中进行一系列初步实验，利用流态化床进行样品制备，并使用全仪表化的6轴机器人电枢进行驱动和力测量，从而对这些模型进行验证。这些理论模型是以一种新的大变形过程建模范式为前提的，它将是第一个严格而有效地预测力和变形的完整历史，潜在地实现机器优化和自动化所需的高效率水平。这项研究将精确和明确地量化特征几何和材料的完整力和变形历史，为一项旨在探索民用建筑、采矿和农业中土方施工的创新设计和技术的长期研究计划奠定基础。

This investigation will advance the understanding of how soils are mechanically moved and shaped through interaction with earthmoving tools and machinery. Humans move enormous quantities of soil for civil construction, mining, and agriculture, but our knowledge of the physical processes by which machines interact with soils is surprising limited. This project will generate a new class of computational models for simulating fundamental earthmoving processes. In parallel, an experimental program completed at small scale in the laboratory will provide physical insights and the high-quality data necessary to assess the models. This exploratory research will form the basis for future long-term studies on the optimization and automation of earthmoving machinery, enabling new, potentially radical, machine designs and techniques. Considering the scale at which humans move earth in US and the rest of the world, even the smallest breakthroughs leading to greater efficiency and increased productivity will have profound long-term effects with respect to reducing costs, improving production times, and reducing energy consumption.This project will specifically develop and validate mechanics-based models for plowing and cutting processes in soils. As exploratory research intended to expand into broader studies examining a wide variety of machine configurations and soils types, focus is on dry granular materials, elementary tool shapes, and relatively simple tool motions. Specific research objectives are (1) to formulate a new class of theoretical models based on the kinematic approach of plasticity theory and (2) to inform and validate these models by conducting a series of preliminary experiments in a new facility at Northwestern University utilizing a fluidized bed for sample preparation and a fully instrumented 6-axis robotic armature for actuation and force measurement. The theoretical models are premised on a new paradigm for modeling processes involving large deformation, and will be the first to predict the complete history of forces and deformations rigorously and efficiently, potentially achieving the high levels of efficiency necessary for machine optimization and automation. This research will quantify, precisely and definitively, complete force and deformation histories for characteristic geometries and materials, laying the groundwork for a long-term research program aimed at exploring innovative designs and techniques for earthmoving in civil construction, mining, and agriculture.