Comparative Analysis of Horizontal Self-Burrowing Strategies Using Full-Scale DEM-MBD Co-Simulations
Publication: Geo-Congress 2023
ABSTRACT
In a companion paper, we demonstrated the capability of a coupled discrete element method (DEM)–multi-body dynamics (MBD) framework in simulating self-burrowing behavior in granular media. In this paper, the same framework was calibrated by running direct shear tests and then used to systematically compare various horizontal self-burrowing strategies. The robot of interest has a minimalistic, modular design and mainly consists of a pair of cylinders with or without a cone or auger tip. The robot could achieve extension-contraction movement, and tips have options to rotate. A series of burrowing strategies were simulated: cyclic extension-contraction of the cylinders without a tip, with a static or rotating cone tip, or with a static or rotating auger tip. The rotation of the tip was only activated when the cylinders extended. It was found that without a tip, the kinematics is symmetric in time, and the robot does not have net translation with time. With a tip, the robots all burrowed horizontally due to the fact that the combinations of asynchronous extension-contraction and rotational motions break the kinematic symmetry. The burrowing speed is highest for the case with a rotating auger tip and is lowest for the case with a static cone tip. A net upward force (lift) was also found during the horizontal movement of the robot, which caused the robot to deviate from the planned trajectory and tend to move upward.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this chapter.
REFERENCES
Cundall, P. A., and O. D. L. Strack. 1979. “A discrete numerical model for granular assemblies.” Géotechnique, 29 (1): 47–65.
Ding, Y., N. Gravish, and D. I. Goldman. 2011. “Drag Induced Lift in Granular Media.” Physical Review Letters, 106 (2): 028001.
Dorgan, K. M., P. A. Jumars, B. Johnson, B. P. Boudreau, and E. Landis. 2005. “Burrow extension by crack propagation.” Nature, 433 (7025): 475–475.
Elbaum, R., L. Zaltzman, I. Burgert, and P. Fratzl. 2007. “The Role of Wheat Awns in the Seed Dispersal Unit.” Science, 316 (5826): 884–886.
Fang, L., R. Zhang, C. Vanden Heuvel, R. Serban, and D. Negrut. 2021. “Chrono::GPU: An Open-Source Simulation Package for Granular Dynamics Using the Discrete Element Method.” Processes, 9 (10): 1813.
Härtl, J., and J. Y. Ooi. 2008. “Experiments and simulations of direct shear tests: Porosity, contact friction and bulk friction.” Granular Matter, 10 (4): 263–271.
Hosoi, A. E., and D. I. Goldman. 2015. “Beneath Our Feet: Strategies for Locomotion in Granular Media.” Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech., 47 (1): 431–453.
Huang, S., Y. Tang, H. Bagheri, D. Li, A. Ardente, D. Aukes, H. Marvi, and J. Tao. 2020. “Effects of Friction Anisotropy on Upward Burrowing Behavior of Soft Robots in Granular Materials.” Advanced Intelligent Systems, 2 (6): 1900183.
Huang, S., and J. Tao. 2022. “Bioinspired Horizontal Self-Burrowing Robot.” Geo-Congress 2022, 223–231. Charlotte, North Carolina: American Society of Civil Engineers.
Lommen, S., G. Lodewijks, and D. L. Schott. 2018. “Co-simulation framework of discrete element method and multibody dynamics models.” Engineering Computations, 35 (3): 1481–1499.
Maladen, R. D., Y. Ding, C. Li, and D. I. Goldman. 2009. “Undulatory Swimming in Sand: Subsurface Locomotion of the Sandfish Lizard.” Science, 325 (5938): 314–318.
Maladen, R. D., P. B. Umbanhowar, Y. Ding, A. Masse, and D. I. Goldman. 2011. “Granular lift forces predict vertical motion of a sand-swimming robot.” 2011 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 1398–1403.
Montana, J., J. K. Finn, and M. D. Norman. 2015. “Liquid sand burrowing and mucus utilisation as novel adaptations to a structurally-simple environment in Octopus kaurna Stranks, 1990.” Behaviour, 152 (14): 1871–1881.
Naclerio, N. D., A. Karsai, M. Murray-Cooper, Y. Ozkan-Aydin, E. Aydin, D. I. Goldman, and E. W. Hawkes. 2021. “Controlling subterranean forces enables a fast, steerable, burrowing soft robot.” Science Robotics, 6 (55): eabe2922.
Purcell, E. M. 1977. “Life at low Reynolds number.” American Journal of Physics, 45 (1): 3–11.
Tang, Y., and J. Tao. 2022. “Multiscale analysis of rotational penetration in shallow dry sand and implications for self-burrowing robot design.” Acta Geotechnica.
Tao, J. J. 2021. “Burrowing soft robots break new ground.” Science Robotics, 6 (55): eabj3615.
Tao, J. J., S. Huang, and Y. Tang. 2020. “SBOR: A minimalistic soft self-burrowing-out robot inspired by razor clams.” Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, 15 (5): 055003.
Thoesen, A., S. Ramirez, and H. Marvi. 2019. “Screw-generated forces in granular media: Experimental, computational, and analytical comparison.” AIChE Journal, 65 (3): 894–903.
Trueman, E. R. 1967. “The dynamics of burrowing in Ensis (Bivalvia).” Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 166 (1005): 459–476.
Winter, A. G., V. R. L. H. Deits, D. S. Dorsch, A. H. Slocum, and A. E. Hosoi. 2014. “Razor clam to RoboClam: Burrowing drag reduction mechanisms and their robotic adaptation.” Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, 9 (3): 036009.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
History
Published online: Mar 23, 2023
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.