Development and validation of an integrated mechatronic apparatus for measurement of friction coefficients of agricultural products

An integrated mechatronic apparatus was developed based on tilting plate method in order to precisely measure static friction coefficient(SFC)and dynamic friction coefficient(DFC)of agricultural products.The apparatus consisted of two main parts(mechanical and electrical parts).The main element of mechanical part was rotary container.Meanwhile,the electrical part included control,display,goniometer,level controller,rotational power supply,and infrared unit.The apparatus was initially simulated in simulation environment and practically calibrated to achieve high precision measurements.To appraise performance of the apparatus,the SFC and DFC of three grains were measured on five contact surfaces.Experiments were also conducted by means of a typical apparatus operating based on puling force method.Some statistical descriptor parameters such as mean absolute percentage error(MAPE),average of absolute values of measurement errors(AAVME),maximum of absolute values of measurement errors(MAVME),and correlation coefficient were used to compare accuracy of the apparatus with the typical one.The acceptable AAVME(<10%),MAVME(<10%),MAPE(<5%),and correlation coefficient(>0.9)indicated high accuracy,stability,and efficiency of the apparatus for automatic measurements of the SFC and DFC.From practical point of view,the mechatronic apparatus would be a beneficial tool for experimental,educational,demonstrational,and research works.

Investigation of interaction effect between static and rolling friction of corn kernels on repose formation by DEM

The coefficient of static friction(SF),the coefficient of rolling friction(RF)for particles are two key parameters affecting the repose angle formation and flow characteristics.In this paper,the interaction effects of SF and RF on the formation process of corn repose angle was investigated by the discrete element method.Firstly,five shape kinds of corn models(horse tooth,spherical cone,spheroid,oblate,and irregular shape)were established.Secondly,aluminum cylinder and organic glass box were used to conduct the simulation experiments with taking SF and RF as independent factors and seeing the repose angle as dependent value.Based on simulation results the regression equations were established.Simulation results showed the relation between two factors and the rotational kinetic energy is not nonlinear,and SF does not significantly restrict the flow of corn models after increasing the flow direction,and the effect of SF on the contact number between corns and the bottom plate is remarkable,while the effect of RF on the contact number is not remarkable.Finally,the interaction effect of two factors on the repose angle was analyzed by variance analysis and results showed SF and RF all have a significant impact on the repose angle.Moreover,their interaction effect has an impact on the repose angle.

Determination of the physical and interaction properties of sorghum grains:Application to computational fluid dynamics-discrete element method simulations of the fluid dynamics of a conical spouted bed

Computational simulation is an important tool for design and improvement of industrial units.Computational fluid dynamics(CFD)coupled with the discrete element method(DEM)has been applied to simulate drying equipment that usually involves gas-solid flow.For reliable results of CFD-DEM simulations,the properties related to the interactions of the material within the industrial equipment,such as the restitution or friction coefficients,must be known.In this study,CFD-DEM was applied to simulate the fluid dynamics inside a conical spouted bed operating with sorghum grains.The physical properties of the particulate phase and the particle-particle and particle-wall interaction parameters were determined by the direct measurement approach and applied to CFD-DEM.The interaction parameters were experimentally determined,including the particle-particle interaction parameters ofη=0.46,μ^(S)=0.79,andμ_(R)=0.70,and the particle-wall interaction parameters ofη=0.56,μ_(S)=0.75,andμ_(R)=0.40.The simulated minimum spouting velocity and characteristic curves were compared with the experimental results.There was good agreement between the simulated and experimental results.

Testing development of different surface treatments on pervious concrete

Pervious concrete systems are developing stormwater management technologies which also have wintertime benefits as melting snow may percolate into the system instead of refreezing on the surface. Enhancing the surface microtexture of pervious concrete may also be beneficial in preventing icing or slipping by pedestrians. This research explored different surface treatments on pervious concrete specimens both qualitatively from personal judgements, and quantitatively through static friction measurements with a spring balance with respect to ＂slipperiness＂. The tests were performed on both dry and wet specimens. One aim was to determine whether the spring balance method may be a simple test for comparing surface treatments on pavement samples with little surface area such as laboratory specimens or sidewalk sections. The other purpose was to make a preliminary decision of which surface treatments to use for a sidewalk installation for future studies on wintertime performance. The reliability analysis of the spring balance results showed that there was high operator consistency. In addition, there was a high level of consistency on average results between the quantitative and qualitative methods. This implies that the spring balance test may be an acceptable methodology for comparative analyses with respect to static friction.