Understanding the Effects of a Discrete Element Soil Model's Parameters on Ground Vehicle Mobility

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tamer M. Wasfy ◽  
Dave Mechergui ◽  
Paramsothy Jayakumar
Keyword(s):  
Particle Size ◽  
Nonlinear Behavior ◽  
Discrete Element ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Vehicle Speed ◽  
Ground Vehicles ◽  
Tractive Force ◽  
Wheel Slip ◽  
Soil Model ◽  
Vehicle Mobility

The Army's mission is to develop, integrate, and sustain the right technology solution for all manned and unmanned ground vehicles, and mobility is a key requirement for all ground vehicles. Mobility focuses on ground vehicles' capabilities that enable them to be deployable worldwide, operationally mobile in all environments, and protected from symmetrical and asymmetrical threats. In order for military ground vehicles to operate in any combat zone, mobility on off-road terrains should be extensively investigated. Mobility on off-road terrains is poorly understood because of the empirical and semi-empirical height-field based methods which are often used for predicting vehicle mobility, such as Bekker–Wong type models. Those methods do not capture the three-dimensional soil deformation/flow as well as the soil's nonlinear behavior. The discrete element method (DEM) in which soil is modeled using discrete particles was identified as a high-fidelity method that can capture the deformation of the soil and its nonlinear behavior. In this paper, a simulation study is undertaken to understand the influence of DEM soil model parameters on vehicle mobility. A typical wheeled vehicle model was built in ivress/dis software and simulated over different cohesive and noncohesive soils modeled using DEM, with a particular emphasis on weak soils (with both low friction angle and low cohesion). Some characteristics of these soils were varied, namely, the interparticle cohesion, the interparticle friction, the particle size, and the particle mass. The mobility measures, including vehicle speed, wheel sinkage, wheel slip, and tractive force were evaluated using the model and correlated to the DEM soil model parameters. This study shows that the vehicle speed increases with cohesion, friction, soil density, and particle size while wheel sinkage, wheel slip, and tractive force decrease with those parameters. The combined influence of those parameters is more complex. Extensive studies of those and other soil parameters need to be carried out in the future to understand their effect on vehicle mobility.

Understanding the Effects of Soil Characteristics on Mobility

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paramsothy Jayakumar ◽  
Dave Mechergui ◽  
Tamer M. Wasfy
Keyword(s):  
Particle Size ◽  
Soft Soil ◽  
Soil Characteristics ◽  
Vehicle Speed ◽  
Soil Density ◽  
Ground Vehicles ◽  
Wheel Slip ◽  
Linear Behavior ◽  
Non Linear ◽  
The Right

The Army’s mission is to develop, integrate, and sustain the right technology solutions for all manned and unmanned ground vehicles, and mobility is a key requirement for all ground vehicles. Mobility focuses on ground vehicles’ capabilities that enable them to be deployable worldwide, operationally mobile in all environments, and protected from symmetrical and asymmetrical threats. In order for military ground vehicles to operate in any combat zone, mobility on off-road terrains should be extensively investigated. Mobility on off-road terrains is poorly understood because of the empirical and semi-empirical methods used in predicting the mobility map. These methods do not capture the soil deformation as well as its non-linear behavior. The discrete element method (DEM) was identified as a high-fidelity method that can capture the deformation of the soil and its non-linear behavior. The DEM method allows to simulate the vehicle on any off-road terrain and to generate an accurate mobility map. In this paper, a simulation study was undertaken to understand the influence of soil characteristics on mobility parameters such as wheel sinkage, wheel slip, vehicle speed, and tractive force. The interaction of the vehicle wheels with soft soil is poorly understood, this study helps understand this interaction. A nominal wheeled vehicle model was built in the DIS/IVRESS software and simulated over different cohesive and non-cohesive soils modeled using DEM. Some characteristics of these soils were varied namely, the soil inter-particle cohesion, the soil inter-particle friction, the soil particle size, and the soil density. The mobility parameters were measured and correlated to the soil characteristics. This study showed that the vehicle speed increased with cohesion, friction, soil density, and particle size, while wheel sinkage and wheel slip decreased with those parameters. The influence of these characteristics combined is more complex; extensive studies of other soil characteristics need to be carried out in the future to understand their effect on vehicle mobility.

scholarly journals Assimilation of Dynamic Combined Finite Discrete Element Methods Using the Ensemble Kalman Filter

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 2898
Author(s):  
Humberto C. Godinez ◽  
Esteban Rougier
Keyword(s):  
Kalman Filter ◽  
Ensemble Kalman Filter ◽  
Failure Modes ◽  
Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar ◽  
Peak Stress ◽  
Discrete Element ◽  
Material Behavior ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Hopkinson Pressure Bar ◽  
Parameter Values

Simulation of fracture initiation, propagation, and arrest is a problem of interest for many applications in the scientific community. There are a number of numerical methods used for this purpose, and among the most widely accepted is the combined finite-discrete element method (FDEM). To model fracture with FDEM, material behavior is described by specifying a combination of elastic properties, strengths (in the normal and tangential directions), and energy dissipated in failure modes I and II, which are modeled by incorporating a parameterized softening curve defining a post-peak stress-displacement relationship unique to each material. In this work, we implement a data assimilation method to estimate key model parameter values with the objective of improving the calibration processes for FDEM fracture simulations. Specifically, we implement the ensemble Kalman filter assimilation method to the Hybrid Optimization Software Suite (HOSS), a FDEM-based code which was developed for the simulation of fracture and fragmentation behavior. We present a set of assimilation experiments to match the numerical results obtained for a Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) model with experimental observations for granite. We achieved this by calibrating a subset of model parameters. The results show a steady convergence of the assimilated parameter values towards observed time/stress curves from the SHPB observations. In particular, both tensile and shear strengths seem to be converging faster than the other parameters considered.

scholarly journals A Novel Longitudinal Speed Estimator for Four-Wheel Slip in Snowy Conditions

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 2809
Author(s):  
Dongmin Zhang ◽  
Qiang Song ◽  
Guanfeng Wang ◽  
Chonghao Liu
Keyword(s):  
Control Strategies ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Estimation Error ◽  
Slip Rate ◽  
Vehicle Speed ◽  
Acceleration Sensor ◽  
Wheel Slip ◽  
Longitudinal Acceleration ◽  
Tire Rotation ◽  
Speed Estimator

This article proposes a novel longitudinal vehicle speed estimator for snowy roads in extreme conditions (four-wheel slip) based on low-cost wheel speed encoders and a longitudinal acceleration sensor. The tire rotation factor, η, is introduced to reduce the deviation between the rotation tire radius and the manufacturer’s marked tire radius. The Local Vehicle Speed Estimator is defined to eliminate longitudinal vehicle speed estimation error. It improves the tire slip accuracy of four-wheel slip, even with a high slip rate. The final vehicle speed is estimated using two fuzzy control strategies that use vehicle speed estimates from speed encoders and a longitudinal acceleration sensor. Experimental and simulation results confirm the algorithm’s validity for estimating longitudinal vehicle speed for four-wheel slip in snowy road conditions.

Ultrafine particles in the cabin of a waiting commercial airliner at Tianjin International Airport, China

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (9) ◽  
pp. 1247-1258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianlin Ren ◽  
Junjie Liu ◽  
Xiaodong Cao ◽  
Fei Li ◽  
Jianmin Li
Keyword(s):  
Particle Size ◽  
Ultrafine Particles ◽  
Size Range ◽  
Environmental Control ◽  
Particle Dynamic ◽  
Ground Vehicles ◽  
Flight Delays ◽  
Penetration Factor ◽  
International Airport ◽  
Outdoor Concentration

Passengers and crew on board of commercial airliners often spend extra time in the cabin waiting for departure due to flight delays. During the waiting period, a large amount of ambient ultrafine particles (UFPs) may penetrate into the aircraft cabin through the environmental control system (ECS) and ground air-conditioning cart (GAC). However, limited data are available for human exposure, in waiting commercial airliners, to freshly emitted UFPs from the exhaust of ground vehicles and airliners. To address this issue, we measured the ambient and in-cabin particle number concentrations and particle size distributions (PSDs) simultaneously in an MD-82 airliner parked at Tianjin International Airport, China. When air was supplied to the cabin by GAC, particle counts variation outdoors caused in-cabin variation with a 1–2 min delay. The in-cabin and ambient PSDs ranged from 15 to 600 nm were bimodal, with peaks at 30–40 and 70–90 nm. The GAC and ECS removed 1–73% particles in the size range of 15–100 nm and 30–47% in the size range of 100–600 nm. The relationship between the penetration factor and particle size was an inverted U-curve. An improved particle dynamic model from this study was used to calculate the time-dependent in-cabin UFPs concentrations with dramatic changes in outdoor concentration.

scholarly journals Validation of Particle Size Segregation of Sintered Ore during Flowing through Laboratory-scale Chute by Discrete Element Method

2008 ◽  
Vol 48 (12) ◽  
pp. 1696-1703 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroshi Mio ◽  
Satoshi Komatsuki ◽  
Masatoshi Akashi ◽  
Atsuko Shimosaka ◽  
Yoshiyuki Shirakawa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Particle Size ◽  
Discrete Element Method ◽  
Discrete Element ◽  
Laboratory Scale ◽  
Size Segregation ◽  
Element Method

scholarly journals SIMULATION OF FRACTURE USING A MESH-DEPENDENT FRACTURE CRITERION IN THE DISCRETE ELEMENT METHOD

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrey Dimaki ◽  
Evgeny Shilko ◽  
Sergey Psakhie ◽  
Valentin Popov
Keyword(s):  
Particle Size ◽  
Discrete Element Method ◽  
Mechanical Behavior ◽  
Fracture Criterion ◽  
Discrete Element ◽  
Macroscopic Behavior ◽  
Detachment Criterion ◽  
Discrete Element Methods ◽  
Adhesive Contacts ◽  
Fracture Processes

Recently, Pohrt and Popov have shown that for simulation of adhesive contacts a mesh dependent detachment criterion must be used to obtain the mesh-independent macroscopic behavior of the system. The same principle should be also applicable for the simulation of fracture processes in any method using finite discretization. In particular, in the Discrete Element Methods (DEM) the detachment criterion of particles should depend on the particle size. In the present paper, we analyze how the mesh dependent detachment criterion has to be introduced to guarantee the macroscopic invariance of mechanical behavior of a material. We find that it is possible to formulate the criterion which describes fracture both in tensile and shear experiments correctly.

scholarly journals A conceptual dynamic vegetation-soil model for arid and semiarid zones

2008 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1175-1187 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. I. Quevedo ◽  
F. Francés
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Water Stress ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
Water Availability ◽  
Leaf Biomass ◽  
Soil Conditions ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Arid Zones ◽  
Soil Model ◽  
Arid And Semiarid

Abstract. Plant ecosystems in arid and semiarid climates show high complexity, since they depend on water availability to carry out their vital processes. In these climates, water stress is the main factor controlling vegetation development and its dynamic evolution. The available water-soil content results from the water balance in the system, where the key issues are the soil, the vegetation and the atmosphere. However, it is the vegetation, which modulates, to a great extent, the water fluxes and the feedback mechanisms between soil and atmosphere. Thus, soil moisture content is most relevant for plant growth maintenance and final water balance assessment. A conceptual dynamic vegetation-soil model (called HORAS) for arid and semi-arid zones has been developed. This conceptual model, based on a series of connected tanks, represents in a way suitable for a Mediterranean climate, the vegetation response to soil moisture fluctuations and the actual leaf biomass influence on soil water availability and evapotranspiration. Two tanks were considered using at each of them the water balance and the appropriate dynamic equation for all considered fluxes. The first one corresponds to the interception process, whereas the second one models the evolution of moisture by the upper soil. The model parameters were based on soil and vegetation properties, but reduced their numbers. Simulations for dominant species, Quercus coccifera L., were carried out to calibrate and validate the model. Our results show that HORAS succeeded in representing the vegetation dynamics and, on the one hand, reflects how following a fire this monoculture stabilizes after 9 years. On the other hand, the model shows the adaptation of the vegetation to the variability of climatic and soil conditions, demonstrating that in the presence or shortage of water, the vegetation regulates its leaf biomass as well as its rate of transpiration in an attempt to minimize total water stress.

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