Study on the Interaction between Soil and the Five-Claw Combination of a Mole Using the Discrete Element Method

<div>The comparison of the working depth between the five-claw combination and the blade in the soil-cutting process: (a) the five-claw combination working at varying depths (<svg height="12.599pt" id="M34" style="vertical-align:-3.2911pt" version="1.1" viewbox="-0.0498162 -9.3079 103.094 12.599" width="103.094pt" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><g transform="matrix(.013,0,0,-0.013,0,0)"><path d="M530 686C535 705 530 712 521 712C504 712 448 684 359 674L358 648H393C437 648 439 646 429 593L400 435C372 447 345 448 332 448C286 448 194 414 144 373C68 311 23 203 23 111C23 26 57 -12 91 -12C120 -12 147 3 188 29C227 54 290 102 341 170H343L322 71C308 6 320 -12 341 -12C373 -12 442 27 501 96L485 120C455 91 422 67 408 67C401 67 401 76 404 91C440 294 479 473 530 686ZM387 375L355 241C326 187 200 53 142 53C126 53 109 73 109 130C109 217 154 337 218 381C240 396 265 404 297 404S372 390 387 375Z" id="g113-101"></path></g><g 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318C105 326 143 337 185 337C296 337 350 275 350 188C350 116 308 42 225 42C164 42 122 74 100 93C90 101 82 99 72 92C60 82 51 68 50 59C48 46 52 38 66 24C82 9 125 -12 172 -12C225 -11 292 15 346 59C408 108 437 166 437 226C437 309 371 397 242 397C214 397 170 382 133 369L158 548Z" id="g50-54"></path></g></svg> are the working depths of the corresponding claw, resp.); (b) the blade working at a fixed depth (<svg height="9.49473pt" id="M35" style="vertical-align:-0.2063999pt" version="1.1" viewbox="-0.0498162 -9.28833 7.34169 9.49473" width="7.34169pt" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><g transform="matrix(.013,0,0,-0.013,0,0)"><path d="M530 686C535 705 530 712 521 712C504 712 448 684 359 674L358 648H393C437 648 439 646 429 593L400 435C372 447 345 448 332 448C286 448 194 414 144 373C68 311 23 203 23 111C23 26 57 -12 91 -12C120 -12 147 3 188 29C227 54 290 102 341 170H343L322 71C308 6 320 -12 341 -12C373 -12 442 27 501 96L485 120C455 91 422 67 408 67C401 67 401 76 404 91C440 294 479 473 530 686ZM387 375L355 241C326 187 200 53 142 53C126 53 109 73 109 130C109 217 154 337 218 381C240 396 265 404 297 404S372 390 387 375Z" id="g113-101"></path></g></svg> is the working depth of the blade).</div>

Applied Bionics and Biomechanics

fig14

Figure 14

Figure 14: Study on the Interaction between Soil and the Five-Claw Combination of a Mole Using the Discrete Element Method 