DSIM Technologies needed to provide design guidance on the sizing of hydraulic components in a new, high efficiency skid-steer loader. This needed details of the power required to operate the bucket attachment in varying material types.
Accurately representing the material loads acting on the skid-steer was paramount to addressing this need. Since the skid-steer loader was at a concept stage of product development, no physical prototypes were available and many design parameters were open for influence.
DSIM Technologies used the EDEM-Adams coupling to simulate the skid-steer loader in different operating environments.
An Adams model of the skid-steer loader with driving motions based on a typical operational scenario was quickly coupled with EDEM. By using EDEM’s extensive GEMM Database of material models, the skid-steer loading and unloading cycle was able to be tested in multiple piles of materials without any guesswork on the properties to use.
Following analysis, the much-needed power requirements to move different materials were determined for a set of driving motions.
By adopting the EDEM-Adams simulation solution, DSIM Technologies was able to gain increased design insight and provide their customer with more accurate results in less time than when using traditional load-estimation approaches.
Improved material modeling and simulation accuracy meant engineers could focus on design exploration and achieving an optimization potential that previously was not obtainable.
