DYNAMIC ANALYSIS OF THE RIGID-FLEXIBLE EXCAVATOR MECHANISM BASED ON VIRTUAL PROTOTYPE

In this paper, the excavator’s dynamic performance is considered together with the study of its trajectory, stress distribution and vibration. Many researchers have focused their study on the kinematics principle while a few others focused their work on dynamic performance, especially the vibration analysis. Previous studies of dynamic performance analysis have ignored the vibration effects. To address these challenges, the rigid-flexible coupling model of the excavator attachment is established and carried out based on virtual prototyping in this study. The dipper handle, the boom and the hoist rope are modeled as a flexible multi-body system for structural strength. The other components are modeled as a rigid multi-body system to catch the dynamic characteristics. The results show that the number of flexible bodies has little effect on the excavation trajectory. The maximum stress determined for the dipper handle and the boom are 96.45 MPa and 212.24 MPa, respectively. The dynamic performance of the excavator is greatly influenced by the clearance and is characterized by two phases: as the clearance decreases, the dynamic response decreases at first and then increases.