Author(s)

John Ndisya^1*, Ayub Gitau¹, Duncan Mbuge¹, Angela Hiuhu¹

¹Department of Environmental & Biosystems Engineering, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya.

This study set out to investigate the effect of operational parameters (i.e. ripping depth and operational speed) during a ripping operation on the draft requirement during ripping in a sandy-clay soil. Field experiments, laboratory tests and numerical modelling techniques were utilised to observe how the draft force varied with changing values of the operational parameters. The discrete element method in the EDEM Academic^TM software platform was employed to model the soil en-masse to obtain a virtual experimentation platform on which different treatments combing different settings of the operational parameters were investigated. Statistical methods, including ANOVA, regression analysis and the student t-test were applied to establish the significance of the effect of the operational parameters on the draft requirement; statistical analysis revealed that the draft increased linearly with the ripping depth and operating speed suggesting that they are directly proportional. Lower values of the ripping depth and operating speed were found to give the minimum amount of the draft requirement.

Draft Requirement, Discrete Element Method, Numerical Simulation, Specific Draft, Ripping Depth, Operational Speed

Ndisya, J. , Gitau, A. , Mbuge, D. and Hiuhu, A. (2016) The Effect of the Operational Parameters on the Draft Requirement of Ripping in a Sandy Clay Soil. Open Journal of Optimization, 5, 1-13. doi: 10.4236/ojop.2016.51001.