Post Hole Digger: EDEM-OS Two Way Coupling

PrasadAvilala
PrasadAvilala
Altair Employee
edited February 7 in Altair Exchange

Background:

A post hole digger is a drilling tool that uses a rotating helical blade to drill holes into the ground/soil. It's also known as a tractor screw auger or earth auger:

  • The auger has a metal blade or bit with a helical, spiral shape
  • The blade rotates, acting like a screw to pull material upward as it drills into the surface
  • The auger is attached to a tractor's power take-off (PTO) shaft, which transfers power from the tractor's engine to the auger
PostHoleDigger.png

Applications:

  1. Digging post holes for fences, telephone poles, or solar posts
  2. Drilling holes for soil sampling or collecting groundwater
  3. Boring holes for planting trees
  4. Tilling garden beds
  5. Digging irrigation trenches

Problem Statement:

In this exercise soil drilling using EDEM-OS two-way coupling is demonstrated to analyze

  • Hole drilling in soil
  • Structural strength of the post hole digger/screw auger
  • Screw auger wear

Key Points to be Noted:

  1. The CAD model chosen in the simulation is a simplified, generic and a representative model.
  2. A non-calibrated material model is chosen.
  3. A linear steel material is assigned to blade.

Prerequisites:

EDEM-OS two-way coupling supports the software version specified below or later versions

  • EDEM – 2024.1
  • OptiStruct – 2024.1
  • SimLab – 2024.1

EDEM Setup:

https://youtu.be/zX6HOLKdTh0

SimLab Setup:

https://youtu.be/sfiIBfAFNHE

Simulation Results:

https://youtu.be/LGPvNxI8JhE

Summary:

Altair EDEM simulation for post hole digger allows to:

  • To obtain the force required to drill hole in various bulk materials
  • Identify wear zones of the screw auger
  • Perform virtual repetitive testing under the same conditions every time
  • Improve performance and durability of every design
  • Increase accuracy compared to traditional approaches
  • Virtually test new equipment performance in a range of material operating conditions
  • Avoid expensive & limiting physical prototyping Increase accuracy compared to traditional approaches
  • Perform virtual repetitive testing – under the same conditions every time

Simulation Files:

CAD:

Tractory_Assembly.zip

FEM Input:

postholedigger.fem

EDEM Deck:

PostHoleDigger.zip

SimLab Setup:

PostHoleDigger.slb

If you are looking for further information on EDEM or other Altair products we have plenty more on the Altair Community:

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