Finite element analysis of plane soil cutting

This study develops the finite element method (FEM) of solution to provide a theoretical means for determination of soil performance under the actions of a cutting blade—and the forces required to promote cutting. The developed FEM takes into account the effect of progressive and continuous cutting of the clay soil at the tip of the blade, with possible development of failure zones in the soil whenever the shear strength of the soil is exceeded. The solution provides detailed information on stress and deformation fields in the soil, together with tangential and normal pressures developed at the blade soil interface Correspondence between theoretically computed displacement fields and measured values has been obtained. In addition, the theoretically computed and experimentally measured values for forces developed in blade thrust are seen to be in close agreement.