Modelling, Simulation, and Optimisation Experiment: Wheat Threshing Process of Combine Harvester Based on DEM

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Article- En

Authors

• Q. Li ^{1, 2}
• Y. Wu ¹
• K. Zhao ¹
• H. Wang ²
• J. Ji ^{1, 2}

¹ College of Agricultural Equipment Engineering, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang 471003, China

² Science & Technology Innovation Center for Completed Set Equipment, Longmen Laboratory, Luoyang 471023, China

https://doi.org/10.22067/jam.2025.94433.1409

Abstract

Grain loss and impact damage are key indicators of wheat threshing quality. To explore the mechanisms of grain loss and damage, this study reproduces the wheat threshing process by establishing a discrete element model of wheat plants and a simulation platform for threshing devices. It conducts simulations on the movement laws of material flow and distribution laws of threshed materials under different conditions of feed rate, drum rotational speed, and deflector angle. Based on simulation calculations, the average velocity and force laws of wheat plants were obtained, and the influence laws of feed rate, drum rotational speed, and deflector angle on the threshing process were analysed. Through multi-objective parameter optimisation analysis, it is determined that when the feed rate is 7 kg s^-1, the drum rotational speed is 815 r min^-1, and the deflector angle is 70 degrees, the threshing performance of the device is relatively superior. Bench verification tests before and after optimisation showed that the impurity rate of wheat decreased from 29.19% to 25.02%, and the loss rate decreased from 1.61% to 0.95%, with the error between the model prediction results and the experimental results being less than 5%. The proposed model and optimisation strategy can directly guide the structural improvement of axial-flow threshing devices, significantly shorten the research and development cycle of harvesting equipment, and provide a reliable technical basis for efficient and low-loss wheat harvesting.

Keywords

• Discrete element method
• Parameter optimisation
• Simulation analysis
• Threshing device
• Work performance

Main Subjects

• Modeling

Authors retain the copyright. This is an open access article distributed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0)

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