Numerical Simulation and Experiment on Excavating Resistance of an Electric Cable Shovel Based on EDEM-RecurDyn Bidirectional Coupling

The electric cable shovel (ECS) is one of the core pieces of equipment used in open-pit mining, and the prediction of its excavating resistance is the basis and focus of optimization design, such as excavation trajectory planning and structure optimization of the ECS. Aiming to predict the excavating resistance of an ECS, a computer simulation method for the excavating resistance based on EDEM-RecurDyn bidirectional coupling simulation is proposed herein. Taking the China-made WK series ECS as the research object, a 1/30 scale model of the ECS was set up, a prototype model test bench of the ECS was built, and the kinematics solution and force analysis of the excavating process were carried out. According to the actual excavation conditions and excavating process of the ECS, a discrete element model of the material stack and a multibody dynamics model of the ECS prototype were established. The EDEM-RecurDyn bidirectional coupling simulation of the excavating process were realized using interface technology, and the excavating resistance levels under different speed combinations and different material repose angles were simulated and analyzed. In order to verify the accuracy of the simulation results, the feasibility and reliability of the EDEM-RecurDyn bidirectional coupling simulation were verified by physical experiments. The results show that the simulated excavating resistance is basically consistent with the excavating resistance measured in the experiment in terms of peak value and change trend, which verifies the feasibility and reliability of the EDEM-RecurDyn bidirectional coupling simulation to study the excavating resistance of an ECS.