Commuting tillage operations of hrp under hydraulic cylinder movements on plough-breast performance

Hydraulic Cylinder (HC) is used for the commuting tillage of Horizontally Reversible Plough (HRP). Although the commuting behaviors are demonstrated not to affect basic beam of HRP, whether it has adverse effects on the essential engaging components of HRP, i.e. moldboard is unknown. This study addressed the estimation of the HC movements on the mouldboard, and particularly on the plough-shank of the plough-breast. A combined finite element analysis (FEA), multi-body dynamics analysis (MDA), and scanning electron microscope (SEM) based measurements was applied for five different HC movement scenarios and two actual HRP tilling conditions at the maximum operation depth, i.e. 0.36m. The results demonstrate that the HC movements produce both the maximum stress & strain and the most severe abrasion wear at the plough-shank, but they have no significantly adverse effects on the service life of the plough-breast. The current HC absolutely favors the actual HRP tillage.