Algorithm and implementation of soil–tire contact analysis code based on dynamic FE–DE method

One of the fundamental problems in terramechanics is soil–tire system. Past achievements on this topic can be observed in various literatures. Fast development on CPU power of PC system enables us to apply numerical methods to this basic subject. Among others, finite element method (FEM) has been applied to simple problems of soil–tire system not only in 2D but also in 3D approach. However, it is noted that the current FEM technology cannot handle “singular” boundary conditions with sufficient accuracy of analysis. Typical example of this limitation can be seen in an application to traction tire–soil contact problems, where the contact point of tire lug tip behaves as the singular point of stress field. On the other hand, distinct or discrete element method (DEM) has in essence the capability of analyze microscopic deformation (or flow) of soil as many researchers have already been demonstrated. It is noted that DEM suffers large calculation time that is consumed not only at contact check between particulate elements but also at incremental time step. In our present study, we try to combine both merit of FEM and DEM together in order to analyze the soil–tire system interaction, where, for example, a tire and deep soil layer are modeled as FEM and soil surface layer as DEM. We propose simple algorithm of this FE–DE coupled method and sample program is developed that can solve some basic terramechanics problems in order to verify our idea. The obtained result shows qualitatively sufficient accuracy.