Fundamental Study on the Simulator to Analyze the Behavior of Excavated Soils in an Excavated Soil-Recycling Machine.

A soil-recycling machine has been receiving considerable attentions in order to recycle the excavated soils at the construction site. Excavated soils are fed into this machine and they are mixed with the cement or slaked lime. But, the mixing process is very complicated because not only many mechanical factors such as paddle inclination angle, pitch and shaft rotation number, but also physical properties of soils affect the mixing process in the chamber. In order to design the soil-recycling machine, the effect of these factors on the mixing process has to be fully investigated. However, an experimental investigation requires much cost, and this is not only uneconomical but also ineffective. In this study, the simulation model to estimate the behavior of soils in the mixing chamber is developed by using Distinct Element Method (DEM) to assist the economical and effective design of the soil-recycling machine. A numerical simulation of the soil behavior was carried out based on this developed model. It was confirmed that the processing volume of the soils showed a maximum at 45 degrees of the paddle inclination angle.