Dynamic Modeling and Simulation Analysis of the Cushioning System of

the Impact Roller Based on ADAMS

Zhi Jinning, Zhang Hong, Li Jie
College of Mechanical and Electronical Engineering
Taiyuan University of Science & Technology, Taiyuan, Shanxi, 030024, China
zjnfly@sina.com
Sponsored by Shanxi Provincial Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 2008012006-3);
Youth Fund of Taiyuan University of Science and Technology (Grant No. 200505)
AbstractThe mathematical model of cushioning system is established on the basis of analyzing the structure and
work characteristics of the impact roller. The assembly model of the whole machine was developed in UG software
utilizing the multi-body dynamics theory and imported into ADAMS that is the integrated mechanical system
simulation software. The simulation model was created including tire and road model and was simulated
dynamically in ADAMS under different working conditions. By simulation, the horizontal impact load is acquired
which acted on the traction vehicle. The simulation results are compared with the testing data, which validates the
correctness of the dynamic simulation model. It is simulated and analyzed how the model parameters influence the
traction load. The results suggest that the dynamic model and road model can simulate working conditions of the
impact roller and help engineering designers optimize the parameters.
Keywords-Impact Roller; Cushioning System; ADAMS; Modeling; Dynamic Simulation

I.

INTRODUCTION

The impact roller is a kind of compacting machine which is different from traditional
static roller compaction and vibration compaction. It adopts a rolling impact compaction
technique combining tamping and rolling technology. This technique has the
characteristics of good compacting effect and high work efficiency. However there are
shock, vibration and noise induced by the compacting process of road roller.
Adopting the virtual prototype technology and multibody dynamics theory, the dynamic
simulation is carried out based on the whole machine model of the impact roller in
ADAMS. The law is analyzed emphatically that how the parameters of the buffer and damper
system influence on the traction load, which may shorten the product design cycle in
product design stage.
II.

COMPACTING PRINCIPLE OF IMPACT ROLLER

The impact roller mainly consists of traction vehicle, rolling wheel, frame, buffer and
lifting mechanism, travel structure and so on [1]. Tractor is bulldozer, loader or other
engineering vehicles which can satisfy the requirements of traction assignments. Rolling
wheels outline is an abnormal section, and polygon of the main section is trilateral,
quadrilateral or pentagon. Its section contour includes several arcs.
The working principle of impact roller is that soil is compacted periodically through
rising and declining of the center of scroll wheel with noncircular section. It can use
periodic changes of energy in kinetic and potential form of the rolling wheel to apply
the impact force of large amplitude and low frequency to materials, instantaneously
releasing large impact energy to make large materials particle produce great motion
acceleration and displacement which increase the density of materials to achieve its
compacting objective [2]. The periodic impact loads and road roughness will cause

horizontal, vertical, and transverse impact and vibration within the parts, e.g. the
vehicle frame, rolling wheel, traction vehicle and driver.
III.

CUSHIONING SYSTEM MODELING

Dynamic equations are the mathematical model of vibration isolation system. The main
vibration isolation
objects in impact roller are traction vehicle, frame and driver. Assume that the road
roller works on relatively flat road surface and gets the horizontal traction force from
the tractor. Fig.1 shows the sketch map of 3-DOF cushioning system model containing
tractor, frame and rolling wheel.

As shown in Fig.1, m1, m2 and m3 are respectively the mass of traction vehicle, vehicle
frame and rolling wheel, k1 and k2 are the stiffness of the system, c1 and c2 are the
damping coefficient. F is the traction force of the tractor and f(t) is horizontal
impact force produced by the rolling wheel, and x1, x2 and u are respectively horizontal
displacements of the tractor, frame and rolling wheel, and each balance position is its
coordinate origin.
The hypothesis is that the traction vehicle moves forward at uniform velocity and the
impact roller system is in a state of equilibrium under external forces. According to
the Newton Second Law, dynamics equations of the system are given by

Equations set (1) is converted to the matrix form as

Where M, C, K is respectively mass matrix, damping matrix and stiffness matrix, F is

load vector and X is
displacement vector.
It is assumed that f(t) comes into operation when rolling wheel impacting road, initial
displacements of frame and tractor are zero, and impacting time is very short and the
total impulse is only considered on stage of interaction [3]. The total impulse, J, is
defined by

Due to the impact duration,, is far less than the basic cycles of impact vibration
isolation system, the speed of the frame is expressed as m v =J/m3 and the initial
conditions for
(1) is given by
x1(0) x2 (0) u(0) 0 , x1(0) x2 (0) 0 , u(0) vm (5)
IV. MULTI-BODY DYNAMICS MODELING OF IMPACT
ROLLER

A. Whole machine 3D modeling

The cushioning system is the key component of impact roller which adopts two level
damping systems. One level consists of traction axis, frame and metal spring com
ponents; the other level is formed by rolling wheel axis, rolling wheel, the rubber
block and tire installed between roll wheel axes and rolling wheel.
UG is the parametric 3D design software based on the characteristics developed by
American Unigraphics
Solutions. As shown in Fig.2, the virtual prototype of the single wheel impact roller
was developed in UG [4]. Partial structures of parts such as traction axis or traction
vehicle are simplified by ignoring some details. A simple cube body replaces the solid
model of tractor, and all parts are assembled according to the topology relations
between them.

B. Simulation model
The virtual prototype has been converted into Parasolid format in UG software, and then
transmitted to ADAMS. Constraints can be defined to allow parts to move relative to each
other, and drive torque can also be created to make model move as a function of time.
Fig.3 shows the simulation model of the impact roller (containing road model). The model
consists of well-defined motion joints and force objects which include spring force,
bushing forc and contact force. Simulation model does not include the solid model such
as metal springs, damping rubber blocks and rubber tires. The spring force objects
represent metal springs and bushing objects represent the rubber blocks and cushioning
tires.
1) Defining motion constraints
The rectangular flat plate simulates the road surface contacting with the rolling wheel.
The plate is connected with ground by fixed joint. The revolute joints are defined
respectively between rolling wheel and rolling wheel axis, frame and rolling wheel axis,
tractor and traction axis, drive wheels and axes. The constraint joint between frame and
traction axis is defined as a translational joint.
2) Defining force objects
a) Spring force. The spring force connects traction axis with frame, which simulates
the first damping system Buffer spring stiffness was calculated as 282N/mm.

b) Bushing force. The second stage of damping system consists of rubber blocks and
tires. They can realize reducing the radial and transverse vibration, and be
simulated by bushing forces, flexible connector objects.
c)

Contact force. Contact can model how free-moving bodies interact with one another
when they collide during a simulation. The interaction between rolling wheel and
ground is defined as contact force object that is a solid contact. In ADAMS
contact force is defined as collision function given below

where: step is step function, k is contact rigidity depending on the material and
geometry of the collision objects, x is the actual distance between two collision
objects, e is a positive real value denoting the nonlinear index, c max is damping
coefficient, d is penetrating depth, x1 is a real constant, x is the penetration velocity
at the contact point.
When x x1 it denotes two objects are not at contact and collision force is zero. When
x<x1, it shows the two objects to collide. Contact parameters are respectively specified
as: Rigidity coefficient k is 1.010 3 N/mm, the nonlinear index e is 1.6, coefficient of
damping c is generally 0.1~1 percent of the stiffness value, due to considering the
buffering of road when impact forces operate, here its value is 120 Ns/mm, penetration
depth d is 0.2 mm, static frictional coefficient of contact object is 0.75 and dynamic
frictional coefficient is 0.57.
3) Defining the drive torque
Drive torque between wheel and axle of the tractor is defined in ADAMS, which drives the
tractor to move
forward. In order to keep its balance of movement, all Wheel drive torques are added to
the simulation model.
C. Tire and road modeling
In ADAMS/View the tire model components of vehicle can be created by adding tire force,
and synchronously one road model must be assigned to tire model. There are several tire
types such as Fiala, Delft, PAC89, UA and user-defined type in ADAMS. Here Deflt tire
model is testing model and the others are analytical model [5]. All models can be used
generally for the slippage and manipulative analysis. This
paper adopts PAC89 tire type without considering the nonlinear effect of tire. The basic
size parameters of tire model are specified by modifying the tire property file.
Road model are defined by road property file, the user can also define road spectrum
based on the standard format in order to adapt to the requirements. The initial location
and size of road model, road surface nodes and elements and friction coefficient between
tire and ground can be defined in one road spectrum file. The simulation model adopts
flat road model within software attached on the surface of the ground part.

IV.

SIMULATION ANALYSIS AND VALIDATION

A. Simulation conditions
All wheel drive torques are given by the step function. According to the testing
conditions and data obtained, the average value of traction speed of the road roller is
calculated to be 14.4 km/h under general working conditions.
The measuring units in ADAMS are MMKS units. According to the experimental data, the
structure parameters of vibration isolation system can be set to: spring stiffness k1 is
282N/mm and k2 is 300 N/mm; damping coefficient c1 is 50 NS/mm and c2 is 800 NS/mm.
B. Simulation results and validation
In ADAMS, the system performances were simulated and the law of horizontal impact load
acted on the tractor was acquired correspondingly. Fig.4 shows simulation and testing
curves under compacting condition at mean velocity of 14.4 km/h. The vertical axis is
the tractors horizontal traction load along x direction and the horizontal axis is
simulation time. Fig.5 shows simulation curve under 0~22km/h compacting condition, which
simulates the change of traction load in the process of accelerating mode.

In Fig.4, there appear two adjoining load peaks in testing curve when each edge of the
rolling wheel beating ground. The reason is that tension sensor has additional load, so
the factual load should only take one peak. By comparing the simulation and testing

curves, the variation law of traction load shown in Fig.4 is basically consistent with
that of the testing curve, so do the impacting frequency and range of load value. Its
error is within permitted. The simulation results validate the correctness of the
dynamic model and feasibility of further analysis.
C. Analyzing the influence of structure parameters on dynamic performance
Damping and stiffness parameters of system are defined as design variables, by which the
model is parameterized. Using the study design tool of ADAMS, the simulation is carried
out under 0~22km/h compacting condition and the effect of structure parameters are
analyzed on the traction load.
By changing the first level stiffness, the curves of influence on the traction load is
obtained from simulation.
When parameter k1 is respectively set to 282, 400 and 500 N/mm, the simulation curves of
traction load are shown as Fig.6. The curves denote that with the increase of k 1 value,
the traction load increases not sharply, the maximum peak appears ahead, reverse
traction force increases and the load frequency is basically unchanging, but the rolling
Wheel rebounds from the ground increasingly and the simulation curves vary irregularly.
Fig.7 shows the influence of the first level damping coefficient on the traction load,
c1 is specified as 20, 80 and 130 NS/mm. When damping value increases, the load
increases and the rolling wheel rebounds jerkily from the ground, which affects the
impacting frequency of road roller and compacting effect.

Fig.8 shows the variation curves of traction load when the second level stiffness k 2 is
set to 50, 200, 300 and

400N/mm. As seen from Fig.8, the frequencies of all curves are basically same and the
traction load increases with the increase of k 2; when k2 is 200, 300 and 400, variation
of the curves are similar. The curves explain when the value of k 2 increases greatly the
effect on traction load decreases.Therefore, by reducing k 2, the impact load can be
decreased correspondingly.
Fig.9 shows the simulation curves when second level damping coefficient c 2 is specified
as 400, 600 and 800NS/mm. Seen in Fig.9, with the increase of damping coefficient c2,
the impacting frequency of road roller remains unchanged, traction loads amplitude
increases a little, and the phase advances.
V.

CONCLUSIONS

The effect of stiffness and damping parameters and traction velocity on the horizontal
impact load have been
studied by numeric simulation on the basis of mathematical model of the cushioning
system. Tire and road model are introduced into the dynamic model to simulate the
interaction of the tractor with road.
Simulation results suggest that the traction load is sensitive to the first level
damping coefficient and the
traction velocity, and in normal compacting condition, the range of maximum traction
load is within 60~80kN. Reducing the second level stiffness can weaken the horizontal
impact on the traction vehicle. The second level damping has little effect on the
traction load. With the traction speed of impact roller increasing, the impacting
frequency increases significantly, soil compacting depth and density increases, but its
impact load level are also on the increase. These results may help designers reasonably
and effectively carry out parametric design and optimize the system parameters finally.