Experimental Structural Safety Analysis of Front-End Loader of Agricultural Tractor

Jeong-Hun Kim, Dong-Hyeon Gim and Ju-Seok Nam ()
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Jeong-Hun Kim: Department of Biosystems Engineering, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Gangwon-do, Republic of Korea
Dong-Hyeon Gim: CAE Solution Department of TYMICT, Gongju 32530, Chungcheongnam-do, Republic of Korea
Ju-Seok Nam: Department of Biosystems Engineering, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 24341, Gangwon-do, Republic of Korea

Agriculture, 2024, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-25

Abstract: The agricultural front-end loader is an implement attached to the front of tractors to transport various agricultural materials, including soil. Since they are subjected to various loads due to the working environment, their safety analysis in consideration of actual working conditions is required. However, there are no official standardized test codes to consider various actual working environments currently. In this study, the structural safety of a front-end loader for static and fatigue failures was evaluated using new test code reflecting actual working environments. Thirty-four measurement locations were determined as the stress concentration spots of each component of the front-end loader derived through multibody dynamic simulation. The total testing time was set to 1 h, and the test time for each task was determined considering the duty percentage of the actual loader work. The measurement results showed that the maximum stress that exceeds the material’s yield strength occurred at two locations of the mount, which is the connection to the tractor body, resulting in static yielding. For tasks, the pulling and dumping exhibited the highest stress. The task that had the largest impact on fatigue damage was the dumping. The static safety factor was found to be over 1.93 and the fatigue life met the required lifespan at all measurement locations except for those exhibiting static yielding. Therefore, the most vulnerable part of the front-end loader is the mount, and it is necessary to secure the overall structural integrity by robust design for the mount.

Keywords: failure; fatigue life; front-end loader; static safety factor; structural safety (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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