Platform-level design for a crustal movement simulation system

It´s very important to investigate the effect of crustal movement on water cycle and related land surface processes in the laboratory environment for geographic researchers, especially the influence of tectonic deformations on the basin, the river course and the estuary. In this paper, a crustal movement simulation system (CMSS) is proposed, including the mechanical design and related control system of the CMSS. The CMSS is implemented with twelve sets of parallel mechanism supported by four serial chains with three degrees of freedom (DOF). Hierarchical control architecture with embedded controller is constructed, which can control the CMSS to accomplish user-defined tectonic movements automatically. Experimental results, performed on test facilities reproducing the real field conditions, are also presented.