Modeling and prediction of the mechanical interaction between soil and tillage tool by DEM

Tillage is one of important operations to improve and maintain top soil condition in farmland. The soil condition is different according to soil types and region in general. Various kinds of the tillage methods and tools have been developed up to present. However, their developments have been often conducted by experience and sense using trial and error methods. From these backgrounds, developments of numerical analysis method have been tried to clarify the mechanism for soil-tillage interaction phenomena and to reduce the developing time and costs. In this study, the soil-tillage interaction simulation was established by a three-dimensional geometry of a disk plow and soil layer modeled by using Discrete Element Method (DEM). Traction resistances acting on the disk plow and soil cutting phenomena were estimated in the simulation. They were compared with the experimental results. The simulated results agreed qualitatively with the experimental results.