Verification of Decreasing Bearing Capacity While Imparting Vibration to Ground in Discrete Element Method Simulation

Numerous missions have been launched to explore various planets. Enhancing these rovers’ mobility is imperative to broaden the exploration scope. Our study group has been investigating a vibration-based movement method for planetary exploration rovers. After imparting vibration, the ground compacts and becomes hard. On the other hand, the ground becomes soft, and the ground particles behave like fluids while vibrating. In these proposed movement mechanisms, the condition of the ground, altered by vibration, is crucial. In this study, we used the discrete element method (DEM) to simulate the bearing capacity of the ground when vibrations are applied for optimizing the design of the vibration-based movement mechanisms. This study simulated an experiment in which a rod was dragged on the ground while vibrating from the rod to the ground. The bearing capacity was measured when the rod was dragged on the ground. The simulated results were compared with the experimental results.