3D-DEM Simulation and Post-Process Method of Wheel-Terrain Interaction for Planetary Rovers

Abstract

Understanding the physical essence of wheel-terrain interaction is critical to establish the terramechanics model. The discrete element method (DEM) can be used to simulate a series of wheel-terrain interaction quickly and efficiently, which can be convenient to analyze the physical information of the interaction. This paper simulates the interaction of slipping wheel running on soil simulant using 3D-DEM. The information of particles and wheel is obtained from the wheel-terrain interaction. The consequent velocity and stress field of soil simulant is obtained by smoothening the velocity of discrete soil particles and contact interaction force between particles. A method to calculate the fraction field of soil simulant in the particle bed with boundary is proposed to obtain the consequent fraction field distribution. The simulation results are consistent with experimental results. This study can provide instructions for the establishment of physical terramechanics model.