Excavator arms: Numerical, experimental and new concept design

Abstract The aim of this work is to design the arms of a specific excavator adopting unconventional materials and comparing the machine performance due to components lightweight. A real excavator is numerically studied under specific load conditions; subsequently a series of experimental tests were performed in order to quantify the dynamic effects induced by moving load. On the basis of the actions determined by the load diagram and the inertia ones, a structural evaluation was performed on the arms in their original configuration. The results obtained were assumed like minimum performance for new design components using aluminum alloy and composite material with carbon fibers instead of structural steel. The geometry developed by adopting the composite material has an elliptical section instead of a classical rectangular section. With the adoption of the new solutions there is a total weight reduction up to 64.1% for the solution made of composite materials.