Effects of bionic non-smooth surface on reducing soil resistance to disc ploughing

作     者：CHIRENDE Benard SIMALENGA Timothy Emmanuel 

作者机构：Key Laboratory for Bionic Engineering of Ministry of Education of China Jilin University Agricultural Research Council Institute for Agricultural Engineering(South Africa) 

出 版 物：《Science China(Technological Sciences)》 (中国科学（技术科学英文版）)

年 卷 期：2010年第53卷第11期

页      面：2960-2965页

核心收录：

学科分类：09[农学] 0903[农学-农业资源与环境] 090301[农学-土壤学] 

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No 50175045) National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (‘863’ Project) (Grant No 2010AA101401-3) the scientific and technological development plan of Jilin Province, China (Grant No 20050539) 

主　　题：bionics disc plough soil resistance convex units concave units non-smooth surface 

摘      要：Past researches have shown that the non-smooth body surfaces of soil burrowing animals help to reduce soil resistance. In this research, this concept of bionic non-smooth surface was applied to disc ploughs and an experiment was conducted in an indoor soil bin to find out the effects of different bionic units on reducing soil resistance to disc ploughing. Horizontal force acting on the disc plough during soil deformation was measured using a 5 kN sensor. Convex and concave bionic units were used and the material used for making convex ones is ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) which is hydrophobic. From the experiment results, higher or deeper bionic units always resulted in less soil resistance. Convex bionic units gave the highest resistance reduction reaching a maximum of 19% reduction (from 1715.36 N to 1383.65 N) compared to concave bi-onic units. Also, samples with a bionic unit density of 30% gave the highest resistance reduction compared to the other two, which were either plain or had 10% density. In conclusion, the concept of bionic non-smooth units can be applied to disc ploughs in order to reduce soil resistance.