A discrete element method model of corn stalk and its mechanical characteristic parameters

Abstract

In a simulation model of the process of corn straw crushing, its physical parameters and the model itself influence the accuracy of the numerical calculations of the discrete element method. This study attempts to improve the simulation accuracy of the crushing process and to find the optimal combination of parameters. Based on the Hertz-Mindlin with Bonding contact model, multiple particle replacement and bonding programs written using Visual Studio were imported through the application programming interface (API) of a discrete element method (DEM) model to establish three particle-bonding materials for a numerical simulation of the crushing process. Using results of mechanical corn stalk tests, DEM simulations of impact fracture, compression fracture, and bending fracture were conducted to determine the optimal combination of parameters. The resultant DEM-parameter combination led to simulation errors of 3.83%, 5.95%, and 7.86% in numerical simulations of impact fracture, bending fracture, and compression fracture of corn stalks, respectively. The performance of the corn stalk DEM using the proposed optimal parameter combination was validated using a 9RS-60 corn stalk crusher, revealing that the numerical simulation error was 8.77%. This study can improve the accuracy of the discrete element method in the simulation of the corn straw breaking process.

Coupled Bionic Design Based on Primnoa Mouthpart to Improve the Performance of a Straw Returning Machine

“…Each physical parameter of the soil model after the above treatment is highly similar to the actual situation in the region [27]. As shown in Figure 2b, the single-sphere particle model was selected as the straw model, and the Hertz-Mindlin with bonding contact model was used between the single-sphere particle models, and each physical parameter setting of the straw model was highly similar to the actual situation in the region [14]. As shown in Figure 2c, CATIA V5R21 software (Dassault Systèmes, Paris, France) was used to build the 3D solid model of the bionic straw returning machine, and its material properties were all the same as the solid prototype.…”

“…The planting cycle is long (6 months) in the maize growing region of northeast China [13]. Maize rootstocks are extremely thick and high in water content after maturity [14,15], resulting in extremely high power consumption [10,11] and low qualification rate of crushing length during the operation of traditional straw returning machines [12]. Related studies have shown that, compared to other maize-growing regions in China, traditional machines will improve the operational power consumption by 6-10% when operating in the maize-growing regions of northeast China [10,11,16], and the crushing length qualification rate will be reduced by 3-5% [12,17].…”

Measurement and calibration of discrete element simulation parameters of crushed sugarcane tail leaves

“…In recent years, scholars at home and abroad have conducted a lot of research work to obtain the discrete element simulation parameters (Syed et al 2017;Ghodki et al 2019;Qu et al 2020;Zhang et al 2020). Huan et al (2022) used bench testing and simulation testing to obtain the best combination of contact parameters for the discrete element model of king grass stem via the collision and bouncing test and slope sliding test.…”

Dem Simulation and Experiment of Corn Grain Grinding Process

“…Based on the research results, a few suggestions were provided to improve the design aspects of the mill. To improve the accuracy of discrete element simulation, Zhang et al (2020) imported multiple particle replacement and bonding programs through the application programming interface (API) of a discrete element method model. A discrete element model of corn straw was established, and the grinding process was simulated.…”