Modeling and Simulation of Theoretical Digging Force of an Excavator Based on Arbitrary Posture

Theoretical digging force is an important performance parameter of the hydraulic excavator. Due to the multi-linkage mechanism, the digging posture of an excavator is ever-changing; thus, it is not easy to calculate the theoretical digging force. Traditionally, the theoretical digging force is calculated by selecting a limited number of postures of the excavator based on experience, which cannot reflect the force condition of each posture in the excavation process. In order to calculate the theoretical digging force of any posture in the excavation process, this paper uses the principle of the analytical method to establish a theoretical excavation force mathematical model of bucket excavation and uses Matlab software to solve the theoretical excavation force mathematical models. In order to verify the model’s correctness, the experimental method is used to determine the actual maximum excavation force of the excavator. The test results showed that there was little difference between the actual maximum digging force and the theoretical maximum digging force, which verified the correctness of the theoretical digging force mathematical models and provided a theoretical digging force calculation method and reference for the structural design and optimization of the excavator.