Study on an Analytical Solution to the Mechanical Response of Soil Cut by a Bionic Force Enhancement Grouser

Abstract

With the depletion of land mineral resources, people have turned their attention to the sea. As an important part of deep-sea mining systems, the technical research and development of ore collectors has always been a difficult problem in many countries. According to the characteristic that buffalo hoof is suitable for walking on soft soil, a kind of bionic grouser for a deep-sea mining vehicle is designed in this paper. Through the optimization of Rankine’s passive earth pressure theory, the formula for calculating the tractive force of the grouser is obtained. The accuracy of the analytical solution is verified by finite element simulation, and the force enhancement mechanism of the bionic grouser is revealed. The results show that the design of the bionic grouser has a significant effect on the improvement of tractive force, and the tractive force of the No. 1 bionic grouser is 17.52% higher than that of the straight grouser. On this basis, the geometric parameters of the bionic grouser profile are optimized. The results show that when L is 0 mm and R is 183 mm, the force enhancement effect reaches the maximum of 27%, which provides a design basis for optimizing the grouser and improving the mining efficiency of the collector.