The modelling of cohesive soils is a challenging task of great importance in many earth moving processes. In these cases, the understanding of the interaction soil-machine is vital to try to optimize the process and avoid problems. This project aims to investigate the capabilities of DEM cohesive contact models to capture with a sufficient level of accuracy the mechanical behaviours involved in soil-machine interactions.
This project aims to investigate the capabilities of DEM cohesive contact models to capture with a sufficient level of accuracy the mechanical behaviours involved in soil-machine interactions. Particularly, an adhesive and frictional elasto-plastic contact force model successfully used for modelling other cohesive solids will be considered. Moreover, scientific protocols to calibrate the DEM cohesive model from relatively simple bulk experiments will be explored. Finally, it is planned to establish the predictive capabilities of a calibrated model by validating the DEM simulations against a real soil-machine interaction problem.
