DEM simulation and physical testing of rice seed impact against a grain loss sensor

• Impact behaviour of a rice seed against a losses sensor was DEM simulated.
• Rice seed is modelled using a triaxial ellipsoidal particle.
• Influences of shape, orientation and angle of incidence on impact process were analyzed.
• Distribution of maximum normal impact force and force rise-time were determined.
• Simulation results were verified by laboratory tests.

A triaxial ellipsoidal particle model was established according to the physical properties of rice seed, and its impact behaviour against a grain loss sensor was simulated using the discrete element method (DEM). The contact criterion was developed directly by solving the intersection equations, and the contact forces were calculated according to elastic–plastic and Mindlin models. It was shown that the seeds may perform translational and rotational motion in a 3D space after the impact. With the influences of particle shape, orientation and angle of incidence, three typical impact processes were found: single impact, multiple impacts in a short-time, and continuous impacts. Two important parameters for the design of loss sensors are the maximum normal impact force Fn max and the force rise-time tr. Simulations showed that an increase in particle ellipticity strongly enlarged the differences in Fn max. As the ellipticities increased from unity to 2, the defined force ratio η decreased from 100% to about 40%, and this value decreased to less than 20% when ellipticities continuously increased from 2 to 4. Tangential velocity led to an asymmetric variation of η. tr was generally distributed between 12 and 54 μs. In laboratory tests, rice seeds were allowed to free fall onto a loss sensor from a height of 320 mm. Results indicated that the peak output voltage was fluctuated in 1.5–4.5 V, and the rise-time was in 14–48 μs.