Development and validation of off-road tire-gravelly soil interaction using advanced computational techniques

This paper presents a novel modelling technique to compute the interaction between an 8x4 off-road truck and gravelly soil (sand with gravel soil). The off-road truck tire size 315/80R22.5 is modelled using the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) technique and validated using manufacturer-provided data in static and dynamic responses. The gravelly soil is modelled using Smoothed-Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) technique and calibrated against physical measurements using pressure-sinkage and direct shear-strength tests. The tire-gravelly soil interaction is captured using the node symmetric node to segment with edge treatment algorithm deployed for interaction between FEA and SPH elements. The model setup consists of four tires presenting the four axles of the truck, the first tire is a free-rolling steering tire, the second and third tires are driven tires and the fourth tire is a free-rolling push tire. The truck tires-gravelly soil interaction is computed and validated against physical measurements performed in Göteborg, Sweden. The effect of gravelly soil compaction and truck loading on the tire performance is discussed and investigated.     

Three-dimensional dynamic imaging of sand particles under wheel via gamma-ray camera system

In recent years, attempts have been made to deploy robots for use in various activities such as planetary exploration, post-tsunami seashore reconnaissance, and volcano investigations. These robots may have to move on soft terrain. The movement of sand or soil particles under the wheels or tracks greatly affects the robot’s ability to maneuver. There is a simple but difficult problem with measuring particle movement: the sand and soil particles beneath the surface are not visible. Only 2D visualization techniques that take a surface picture of the ground or use transparent boards are available. A nuclear 3D imaging technique called positron emission particle tracking (PEPT) was developed at the University of Birmingham for this purpose. PEPT detects pairs of gamma rays emitted by a positron-emitting radionuclide of a tracer particle, which produces an image of the tracer. Thus, the overarching goal of this study was to explore the 3D terramechanics between terrain particles and a wheel or track using PEPT. As an initial step, this paper introduces an imaging technique for standard sand under a rotating wheel using PEPT and presents some images of sand particles under various conditions. Absolute displacements along the longitudinal, vertical, and lateral axes are presented.     

Prediction of soil vertical stress under off-road tire using smoothed-particle hydrodynamics

Evaluation of vertical stress distribution in clay-loam soil using Smoothed-Particle Hydrodynamics-Finite Element Analysis (SPH-FEA) technique is presented in this research. The moist soil is modelled using the hydrodynamic elastic–plastic material and Murnaghan equation of state, while the tire is modelled using FEA in Visual Environment’s Pam-Crash software. Soil-tire interaction is performed using the node symmetric node to segment with edge treatment method. A single-wheel tester in a soil bin environment was utilized to provide experimental data. The objectives of the experimental test were to (1) calculate maximum subsoil stresses in the subsoil at 1 to 15 passes of a wheel with loads of 1, 2, 4, and 5 kN on soil with moisture levels of 0, 10, 17, and 24%.; (2) calibrate soil with different levels of moisture (3) compare predicted soil stresses with experiments. The maximum stress at 20 cm depth increased with increasing soil moisture and also with high levels of tire load. In contrast, successive traffic showed a decreasing effect on soil stress. The coefficient of determination 0.97 shows the predictions agreed very well with experiments. The moist soil-tire interaction model will be further used to analyze the soil stress in different soil depths and different forward velocity.     

基于表面力模型的液滴冲击弹性基底SPH模拟

采用光滑粒子动力学SPH方法建立液滴冲击弹性基底的流固耦合数值模型,给出描述粘性流体和弹性固体运动的SPH离散方程和数值处理格式,引入人工耗散项来抑制标准SPH方法的数值震荡。为模拟液滴的表面张力效应,通过精确检测边界粒子,采用拉格朗日插值方法计算表面法向量和曲率,结合界面理论中的连续表面力CSF方法,建立了适用于自由表面液滴的表面力模型,方形液滴变形的模拟结果与拉普拉斯理论解吻合较好。随后,采用SPH流固耦合模型模拟1.0 mm直径水滴以不同速度(0.2 m/s～3.0 m/s)冲击两种薄板型基底,分析了基底弹性变形对液滴铺展、收缩以及回弹行为的影响。     

A novel method to calculate the pressure interaction between dust and fluid using SPH

Unstable behavior of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) dust particles, such as clumping or fingering under certain conditions, has been reported by several researchers who have conducted studies on dusty fluid SPH. The simulation results in this study show that this instability is numerical, and the instability is mainly attributable to the ill‐interpolated pressure gradient in the interaction term between 2 phases. In this paper, we introduce a new method to calculate the pressure force interaction term between dust and fluid particles. The key idea is to first interpolate the pressure gradient at SPH fluid particles and then use the values to calculate the pressure gradient at SPH dust particles, in a consecutive manner. To compare the new method with the existing method, we first conducted an interpolation of pressure gradient at hydrostatic equilibrium under gravity to estimate any error. The results show that the new method is more accurate. We then conducted additional numerical tests, namely, dust‐liquid counterflow, sedimentation in a confined tank, and sedimentation in the presence of turbulence. The unphysical unstable behavior of SPH dust particles such as clumping or fingering was significantly reduced in the new method. The results also show that the instability becomes more significant when using the existing method especially for the case when simulating a flow with relatively high concentration of dust or for the case in which inertia dominates the dynamics of dust particles. Especially, in those cases, the existing method should be avoided, and the newly proposed method is highly recommended.     

Numerical modeling of large deformations in soil structure interaction problems using FE,EFG, SPH,and MM-ALE formulations

Present design practice for soil structure interaction (SSI) problems most frequently assumes linear elastic properties of the soil and disregards geometrical nonlinearities, treating the displacements as small. However, there are numerous problems that require a more advanced approach. This paper presents an application of such numerical approaches to modeling SSI problems in the presence of large soil deformations. Simulations using Lagrangian finite element, element-free Galerkin, smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH), and multi-material arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian (MM-ALE) approaches were performed for two previously conducted experimental tests: (1) large-scale steel pad penetration into silty clay with sand and (2) standard cone penetration test performed on poorly graded sand. In this paper, the usefulness and the efficiency of the methods was assessed in terms of modeling robustness and computational cost. Results show that to some extent each of the utilized methods is able to capture large deformations. However, the most robust turned out to be SPH and MM-ALE methods as the only two that were successful in simulating both experiments.     

An improved SPH model for multiphase flows with large density ratios

This paper presents a new smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) model for simulating multiphase fluid flows with large density ratios. The new SPH model consists of an improved discretization scheme, an enhanced multiphase interface treatment algorithm, and a coupled dynamic boundary treatment technique. The presented SPH discretization scheme is developed from Taylor series analysis with kernel normalization and kernel gradient correction and is then used to discretize the Navier‐Stokes equation to obtain improved SPH equations of motion for multiphase fluid flows. The multiphase interface treatment algorithm involves treating neighboring particles from different phases as virtual particles with specially updated density to maintain pressure consistency and a repulsive interface force between neighboring interface particles into the pressure gradient to keep sharp interface. The coupled dynamic boundary treatment technique includes a soft repulsive force between approaching fluid and solid particles while the information of virtual particles are approximated using the improved SPH discretization scheme. The presented SPH model is applied to 3 typical multiphase flow problems including dam breaking, Rayleigh‐Taylor instability, and air bubble rising in water. It is demonstrated that inherent multiphase flow physics can be well captured while the dynamic evolution of the complex multiphase interfaces is sharp with consistent pressure across the interfaces.     

A stabilized SPH method for inviscid shallow water flows

In this paper, the smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method is applied to the solution of shallow water equations. A brief review of the method in its standard form is first described then a variational formulation using SPH interpolation is discussed. A new technique based on the Riemann solver is introduced to improve the stability of the method. This technique leads to better results. The treatment of solid boundary conditions is discussed but remains an open problem for general geometries. The dam‐break problem with a flat bed is used as a benchmark test. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Application of particle splitting method for both hydrostatic and hydrodynamic cases in SPH

Smoothed particle hydrodynamics(SPH) method with numerical diffusive terms shows satisfactory stability and accuracy in some violent fluid–solid interaction problems. However, in most simulations, uniform particle distributions are used and the multi-resolution, which can obviously improve the local accuracy and the overall computational efficiency, has seldom been applied. In this paper, a dynamic particle splitting method is applied and it allows for the simulation of both hydrostatic and hydrodynamic problems. The splitting algorithm is that, when a coarse(mother) particle enters the splitting region, it will be split into four daughter particles, which inherit the physical parameters of the mother particle. In the particle splitting process,conservations of mass, momentum and energy are ensured. Based on the error analysis, the splitting technique is designed to allow the optimal accuracy at the interface between the coarse and refined particles and this is particularly important in the simulation of hydrostatic cases. Finally, the scheme is validated by five basic cases, which demonstrate that the present SPH model with a particle splitting technique is of high accuracy and efficiency and is capable for the simulation of a wide range of hydrodynamic problems.Smoothed particle hydrodynamics(SPH)method with numerical diffusive terms shows satisfactory stability and accuracy in some violent fluid–solid interaction problems.However,in most simulations,uniform particle distributions are used and the multi-resolution,which can obviously improve the local accuracy and the overall computational efficiency,has seldom been applied.In this paper,a dynamic particle splitting method is applied and it allows for the simulation of both hydrostatic and hydrodynamic problems.The splitting algorithm is that,when a coarse(mother)particle enters the splitting region,it will be split into four daughter particles,which inherit the physical parameters of the mother particle.In the particle splitting process,conservations of mass,momentum and energy are ensured.Based on the error analysis,the splitting technique is designed to allow the optimal accuracy at the interface between the coarse and refined particles and this is particularly important in the simulation of hydrostatic cases.Finally,the scheme is validated by five basic cases,which demonstrate that the present SPH model with a particle splitting technique is of high accuracy and efficiency and is capable for the simulation of a wide range of hydrodynamic problems.     

Torque distribution influence on tractive efficiency and mobility of off-road wheeled vehicles

Off-road vehicle performance is strongly influenced by the tire-terrain interaction mechanism. Soft soil reduces traction and significantly modifies vehicle handling; therefore tire dynamics plays a strong role in off-road mobility evaluation and needs to be addressed with ad-hoc models. Starting from a semi-empirical tire model based on Bekker–Wong theory, this paper, analyzes the performance of a large four wheeled vehicle driving on deformable terrain. A 14 degree of freedom vehicle model is implemented in order to investigate the influence of torque distribution on tractive efficiency through the simulation of front, rear, and all wheel drive configuration. Results show that optimal performance, regardless vertical load distribution, is achieved when torque is biased toward the rear axle. This suggests that it is possible to improve tractive efficiency without sacrificing traction and mobility. Vehicle motion is simulated over dry sand, moist loam, flat terrain and inclined terrain.     

An improved particle shifting technique for incompressible smoothed particle hydrodynamics methods

The smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method is one of the powerful Lagrangian tools for modeling free surface flows. However, it suffers from particle disorder, which leads to interpolation and numerical errors. To overcome this problem, several techniques have been introduced until now, among which the particle shifting technique (PST) based on Fick's law is an efficient one. The current form of this method needs tuning parameters to fulfill numerical stability criteria. In this study, to eliminate calibration factors, a new shifting coefficient is derived theoretically based on particle positions before and after shifting, regardless of other parameters such as velocity, pressure, time step intervals, etc. The only required input is particle positions, and the main concern is conserving particle densities in their updated positions. In addition to the proposed PST, a new distribution index (DI) is introduced for measuring the spatial uniformity of particles. Furthering the research, some novel treatments are also studied to improve particle movements near free surface boundary. The proposed idea is only assessed for ISPH method in this study, and its performance in other SPH schemes needs more investigations. Following this innovative method, it is validated by modeling different cases including dam break flow, paddle movement, and elliptical water drop. In all cases, particle arrangements have been improved by means of the modified shifting method. In that sense, good agreements between simulation results with experimental data, analytical solutions, and other numerical methods approve the ability of the developed method in simulating free surface flows.     

Numerical rheometry of bulk materials using a power law fluid and the lattice Boltzmann method

In the present study, the flow of bulk materials is characterised as a non-Newtonian fluid and modelled using the lattice Boltzmann method. A power law and a Bingham model is implemented in the LBM, which is hydrodynamically coupled to the discrete element method (DEM) for structural interaction. The performance of both non-Newtonian models is assessed, both qualitatively and quantitatively, in benchmark problems. The validated, non-Newtonian LBM–DEM framework is then applied to the geometry of a cylindrical Couette rheometer to numerically determine the constitutive response of a sample of Leighton Buzzard sand. The numerical results, which employ the power law, are compared with experimental data, and a number of other synthetic soil samples are defined using the presented process of numerical rheometry. Finally, the numerical stress–strain rate response of the synthetic soil samples is interpreted within the context of a regularised Bingham model, and the similarities discussed.     

A Meshless Solution Technique for the Solution of 3D Unsaturated Zone Problems,Based on Local Hermitian Interpolation with Radial Basis Functions

Recent developments in meshless numerical methods have led to algorithms that can be used to solve arbitrarily large problems without the support of a connected mesh, and without the computational cost and numerical ill-conditioning issues usually associated with such solution techniques. This work applies the Local Hermitian Interpolation (LHI) method, based on local interpolation with Radial Basis Functions (RBFs), to the solution of 3D unsaturated porous media problems. The proposed implementation is capable of handling real soil properties, provided either as an analytical function or as a series of pointwise measurements. The technique is implemented with implicit and explicit timestepping, and is validated against two transient Richards’ equation models, of which one has a known analytical solution. In addition, a real-world infiltration problem based on a saturated–unsaturated formulation is modelled, using a realistic variation of soil properties with water-pressure.     

SPH固壁边界处理方法的改进

提出一种适用于光滑质点水动力学（SPH）方法的改进的边界处理方法。在这种方法中,边界粒子的压力可通过其周围的流体粒子的压力插值得到,从而改进了耦合边界法在边界上压力不准的问题。运用这种改进的边界处理方法模拟了二维方形水箱中的非线性晃荡问题以及二维楔形体自由入水问题。模拟结果与实验结果吻合较好,证明了此改进的边界处理方法是有效的。     

Modified incompressible SPH method for simulating free surface problems

An incompressible smoothed particle hydrodynamics (I-SPH) formulation is presented to simulate free surface incompressible fluid problems. The governing equations are mass and momentum conservation that are solved in a Lagrangian form using a two-step fractional method. In the first step, velocity field is computed without enforcing incompressibility. In the second step, a Poisson equation of pressure is used to satisfy incompressibility condition. The source term in the Poisson equation for the pressure is approximated, based on the SPH continuity equation, by an interpolation summation involving the relative velocities between a reference particle and its neighboring particles. A new form of source term for the Poisson equation is proposed and also a modified Poisson equation of pressure is used to satisfy incompressibility condition of free surface particles. By employing these corrections, the stability and accuracy of SPH method are improved. In order to show the ability of SPH method to simulate fluid mechanical problems, this method is used to simulate four test problems such as 2-D dam-break and wave propagation.     

A Control Volume Radial Basis Function Techniques for the Numerical Simulation of Saturated Flows in Semi-confined Aquifer

In this work, a Control Volume Radial Basis Function technique (CV-RBF) is adapted to solve ground water flow in the saturated zone of the semi-confined aquifer. The CV-RBF method differs from classical CV methods in the way that the flux at the cell surfaces is computed. A local RBF interpolation of the field variable is performed at the centres of the cell being integrated and its neighbours. This interpolation is then used to reconstruct the solution and its gradient in the integration points which support the flux computation. In addition, it is required that such interpolation satisfies the governing equation in a certain number of points placed around the cell centres. In this way, the local interpolations become equivalent to local boundary-value problems. The CV-RBF method is combined with a local remeshing technique in order to track the phreatic surface, where the gradients required to satisfy the kinematic condition are computed by the same local RBF interpolations used for the flux computation. The proposed numerical approach is validated in a series of three-dimensional groundwater flow problems where the operations of recharging and extracting water from a semi-confined aquifer are modelled.     

Dynamic simulation of liquid-filled flexible multibody systems via absolute nodal coordinate formulation and SPH method

A new computation method is proposed to study the coupled dynamics of a partially liquid-filled flexible multibody system, where the liquid is modeled by using the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method and the flexible bodies are described by using the Absolute Nodal Coordinate Formulation (ANCF). Extra virtual particles are introduced and embedded in the liquid neighboring the rigid or flexible boundaries in order to prevent field particles from penetrating the boundary and force them to follow the deformation of flexible boundary. The interaction forces between the liquid and the flexible multibody system are transmitted by the virtual particles. The domain decomposition is used to improve the efficiency of interaction detection in SPH computation. A predictor-corrector scheme is used to solve the governing equations of liquid discretized by SPH particles. The generalized-alpha method based on sparse matrix storage skill is used to solve a huge set of dynamic equations of the multibody system. The OpenMP+OpenACC based parallel computation skills are embedded in the iteration processes to speed up the computation efficiency. Finally, three numerical examples are given to validate the proposed computation method.     

水底管道抛石加固过程的DEM-SPH耦合分析

水底管道的抛石加固过程是典型的颗粒-流体耦合问题.采用DEM-SPH耦合方法模拟颗粒-流体系统,其中离散元方法(DEM)用于模拟落石,光滑粒子流体动力学方法(SPH)用于模拟流体.通过三维Voronoi切割算法生成不规则形状的多面体,并基于闵可夫斯基原理构造扩展多面体形态的落石单元.通过SPH的边界排斥力模型计算颗粒与流体间的作用力,从而建立DEM-SPH耦合方法.采用该方法模拟溃坝与楔形块入水的过程,将计算结果与试验结果及其他数值结果进行对比分析,分别验证了 SPH与DEM-SPH耦合方法的合理性.建立锥形结构模拟卸料斗和水底管道,采用DEM-SPH耦合方法模拟落石通过卸料斗入水并与水底管道相互作用的过程,确定了落石和水对管道的作用力,并分析了卸料斗静止与运动时的落石堆积情况.以上研究表明,DEM-SPH方法可有效模拟颗粒材料、水和工程结构的相互作用,可进一步应用于水下抛石过程的结构和参数设计.     

Constitutive model for predicting dynamic interactions between soil ejecta and structural panels

A constitutive model is developed for the high-rate deformation of an aggregate comprising of mono-sized spherical particles with a view to developing an understanding of dynamic soil-structure interactions in landmine explosions. The constitutive model accounts for two regimes of behaviour. When the particle assembly is widely dispersed (regime I), the contacts between particles are treated as collisions, analogous to those between molecules in a gas or liquid. At high packing densities (regime II) the contacts are semi-permanent and consolidation is dominated by particle deformation and inter-particle friction. Regime I is modelled by extending an approach proposed by Bagnold (1954. Experiments on a gravity-free dispersion of large solid particles in a Newtonian fluid under shear. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A 225, 49-63) to a general strain history comprising volumetric and deviatoric deformation. For regime II, classical soil mechanics models (such as Drucker-Prager) are employed. The overall model is employed to investigate the one-dimensional impact of sand against a rigid stationary target. The calculations illustrate that, unlike single-particle impact, the momentum transmitted to a rigid target is insensitive to the particle co-efficient of restitution, but strongly dependent on initial density. The constitutive model is also used to examine the spherical expansion of a shell of sand (both dry and water saturated). In line with initial experimental observations, the wet sand is predicted to form clumps while the dry sand fully disperses. The model shows that this clumping of explosively loaded wet sand exerts higher pressures on nearby targets compared to equivalent dry sand explosions.     

A coupled WC-TL SPH method for simulation of hydroelastic problems

A coupled weakly compressible (WC) and total Lagrangian (TL) smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method is developed for simulating hydroelastic problems. The fluid phase is simulated using WCSPH method, while the structural dynamics are solved using TLSPH method. Fluid and solid components of the method are validated separately. A sloshing water tank problem is solved to test the WCSPH method while oscillation of a thin plate and large deformation of a cantilever beam are simulated to test the TLSPH method. After validating each component, the coupled WC-TL SPH scheme is used to simulate two benchmark hydroelastic problems. The first test case shows the evolution of water column with an elastic boundary gate, and the second one investigates the breaking water column impact on elastic structures. The agreement between WC-TL SPH results and literature data shows the ability of the proposed method in simulating hydroelastic phenomena.