Historical evolution and new trends for soil-intruder interaction modeling

Area of Science:

• Geotechnical Engineering
• Robotics
• Bio-inspired Design

Background:

• Soil mechanics modeling is crucial for understanding large-scale geological impacts and developing sustainable land interaction solutions.
• Traditional methods like analytical and finite element methods (FEM) have limitations in simulating discrete soil deformation processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review and compare various modeling techniques for soil-tool interaction.
• To emphasize the advantages of the discrete element method (DEM) for simulating complex soil behaviors.
• To explore the potential of bio-inspired approaches in soil penetration.

Main Methods:

• Review of analytical methods, finite element method (FEM), and discrete element method (DEM) in soil mechanics.
• Discussion of experimental approaches for validating simulation results.
• Integration of bio-inspired designs with DEM for simulating root-like penetrators.

Main Results:

• Analytical methods and FEM have limitations in capturing discrete soil deformation.
• The discrete element method (DEM) effectively simulates soil separation, cracking, and particle flow.
• Bio-inspired designs combined with DEM offer promising avenues for sustainable and adaptive soil exploration.

Conclusions:

• DEM is a powerful tool for analyzing soil-intruder interactions, especially for discrete processes.
• Bio-inspired robotic explorers can be optimized by merging DEM simulations with novel designs.
• Future research should focus on integrating multiple analysis approaches for advanced soil robotic systems.