Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 157 (2019) 38–48

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Computers and Electronics in Agriculture

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compag

Original papers

An ANSYS/LS-DYNA simulation and experimental study of circular saw T

blade cutting system of mulberry cutting machine
Yanmei Meng , Jundong Wei, Jin Wei, Hao Chen, Yaosheng Cui
⁎

College of Mechanical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: The paper describes a method of an explicit kinetic simulation and experimental study of circular saw blade
Circular saw blade cutting system of small mulberry cutting machine. This simulation is based on orthogonal test of numerical
Orthogonal experiment simulation. Firstly, main influencing factors and working conditions in the cutting process were considered
Numerical simulation according to principle of orthogonal test combined with specific working characteristics and material char-
Effective stress
acteristics of circular saw blades. Large-scale CAE software ANSYS/LS-DYNA was used to respectively establish
Cutting force
three-dimensional finite element models of the circular saw blade cutting system with different levels of factors.
The boundary constraints and loads were given to conduct explicit kinetic analysis and calculation. The cor-
rections processing and post-processing analysis of finite element analytical model was conducted by simulation
tests. The Statistics software, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), is used to analyze the simulation
analysis calculating results based on analysis of variance (ANOVA), thus to quickly find the best working
parameters of circular saw blade cutting system. Experiments were conducted to measure cutting forces and to
compare the surface quality of the mulberry branch under different conditions. The cutting force received by the
circular saw blade under the optimal parameter matching was relatively small, and the cutting cross-section
quality of the mulberry branches tended to be good, and the work efficiency could also be guaranteed.

1. Introduction ergonomic hazards and musculoskeletal injury problems (McWilliam,

Ecologically, mulberry leaves are the most vital food source of the
silkworm. To keep the mulberry tree health and increase the production
of the leaves, regular maintenance for the trees is needed. Usually the
branches are cut at the base of the mulberry every summer and winter
season, which can facilitate and increase the production of silkworm.
The summer cutting time from mid-June to mid-July each year, the
cutting position at a distance of 200 mm to 250 mm above the ground
where the cross-section diameter of the mulberry plant is approxi-
mately 300 mm to 350 mm, and the maximum diameter of the mulberry
branch about 35 mm. The winter cutting time before and after the
winter solstice while the cutting position at a distance of 100 mm to
150 mm above the ground. According to the agronomic requirements of
mulberry branch cutting, the cutting cross-section of mulberry branch
should be smooth and flat, without any bark breaking, laceration, or
burning, which will be conducive to reducing the sap loss, accelerating
wound healing, promoting latent bud germination, and increasing the
yield of mulberry leaves (Chen, 2012).
Traditionally, like pruning many other plantation species, cutting
mulberry branch is operated manually which inevitably involves
2008; Gowda et al., 2011). Recent years various new cutting tools have
been developed, such as motor manual pruners, semi-automated pru-
ners (McWilliam, 2008), in the purpose of reducing the labor power and
hazards. However, these tools still cannot meet the requirement of
modern large scale mulberry farms. Based on a survey conducted on the
status of tools and new technology adapted in mulberry harvesting and
punning, Gowda et al. (2011) developed new machines for harvesting
and pruning mulberry plants. The machine which employs circular
blade as the cutting part were claimed great successful in increasing
productivity and safety.
The cutting part of the tool is one of the key parts of mulberry
cutting machine. The durability and stability of the cutting tool and its
smoothness during the cutting process directly affect the cutting quality
and operating efficiency (Sun et al., 2011). At present, the commonly
used agricultural machinery cutters can be classified into four types:
reciprocating, chain sawing, slashing cutter and circular sawing (Copur
et al., 2010; Momin et al., 2017; Shen et al., 2017). To compare these
four types of cutter in cutting mulberry branches, we carried out ex-
tensive field investigation and experiments, through analyzing and
comparison, the following observations are obtained : (1) The cutting

⁎
Corresponding author at: College of Mechanical Engineering, Guangxi University, No. 100, Daxue Road, Nanning 530004, China.
E-mail address: gxu_mengyun@163.com (Y. Meng).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2018.12.034
Received 7 September 2018; Received in revised form 6 November 2018; Accepted 16 December 2018
0168-1699/ © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Y. Meng et al.
quality of reciprocating cutter usually cannot meet the requirements
because the phenomenon of branch-pulled and cutter-pulled is of fre-
quent occurrence during the cutting process. (2) The mulberry branches
are usually broken due to the swing of the branches during the cutting
process with chain sawing. (3) When the diameter of the mulberry
branches is greater than 25 mm, the branches are often cut repeatedly
with slashing cutter, which makes most of the branches lacerated and
results in unsteadily cutting and the cutting quality cannot meet the
requirements. (4) The circular saw blades are relatively stable in the
process of cutting if suitable operation parameters are selected. In ad-
dition, circular blade is more convenient to be implemented in cutting
machines especially for cutting woods of not vary large diameter. The
structure of machine with circular blade can be much simpler than
those with other types of cutting part, making it easier to realize au-
tomation of mulberry plant cutting. Therefore, we selected circular saw
blade for further study. Explicit kinetic simulation and orthogonal tests
in cutting small mulberry trees is to be conducted in our experimental
platform, to find out the optimal working parameter combination
quickly and efficiently while the cutting quality be guaranteed.
The circular saw blade is a typical ultra-thin part, and it is inevitable
to have vibration during operation (Gospodarič et al., 2015). The vi-
bration of circular saw blade is mainly caused by the cutting force when
cutting the mulberry branches. The larger the cutting force the more
significant the vibration, resulting in the faster the circular saw blade
wears, and the shorter the service life (Wang et al., 2017). Since the
cutting force determines the cutting ability of the circular saw blade, it
is particularly important to study the cutting process of the circular saw
blade, understand the cutting mechanism, analyze the cause of the vi-
bration, and optimize the parameters of the circular saw blade (Chang
and Chen, 2016).
Many researchers have been done to the cutting mechanism of cir-
cular saw. Lewis et al. (1996) found the wear mechanisms and the wear
rate combined with the machining of each material by high speed steel
circular saw blade cutting tests. Tian and Hutton (2001) developed a
stability analysis of a circular saw blade wood-cutting system to un-
derstand the mechanics of a lateral vibration instability and verified the
produce predictions by experimental data. Denkena et al. (2003) con-
sidered that the axial deformation of the matrix is one of the main
factors affecting the failure of the saw blade. Carrino et al. (2003) and
Ersoy et al. (2005) conducted in-depth studies on the variation of
sawing force under different process parameters, and tried to establish
the relationship between sawing force and sawing parameters, and the
relationship between machinability and sawing force. Wang et al.
(2010) based on orthogonal test measuring the sawing force at different
feed speed, sawing depth and linear velocity by diamond circular saw
blade granite-cutting system and established relevant empirical for-
mulas. Orlowski et al. (2013) found that the cutting forces may be
considered from a point of view of modern fracture mechanics and
could be also used to ensure shear yield strength and toughness. Li et al.
(2016) found that different roll-tensioning parameters have different
impacts on stress distribution and natural frequencies of circular saw
blades via a range of roll tensioning study. Orlowski et al. (2017) put
forward an approach for measurement work of the fracture toughness
and the shear yield strength through the wood cutting forces research.
Tumac et al. (2018) carried out a study on the sawability of large
diameter circular saws through various physico-mechanical perfor-
mance parameters and presented multiple linear and non-linear re-
gression models. Sasahara et al. (2018) found that the tool wear and
failure and the quality of the cutting surface are all affected by vibration
through circular saw cutting tests.
At present, numerical simulation has become a necessary and
powerful tool to settle the problems of modern engineering (Ahmadi
et al., 2016), and has been increasingly applied to the field of circular
saw cutting process analysis. Qiu et al. (2007) established thermal and
rotary stresses coupled-field analysis model for dry cutting saw blades,
which provided theoretical foundation for structural design of dry
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Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 157 (2019) 38–48
cutting saw blade. Hu et al. (2007) conducted modal analysis of porous
structural saw blades using finite element method, and then determined
the optimal structure parameters. Wang and Zhang (2011) carried out a
study on the mechanical capacity of the circular saw under different
rotational speeds. Yaşıtlı et al. (2012) found that numerical modelling
can effectively simulate the sawing process of natural stone and it can
provide a reference for explaining the sawing dynamic mechanism.
Yuan et al. (2012) conducted a study on the dynamic characteristics
and evaluated the dynamic response of the circular saw system based
on numerical calculation and modal testing analysis. Yao et al. (2013)
established a nonlinear numerical model of stone-cutting circular saw
to forecast and optimize the cutting parameters under the cutting
process. Li et al. (2015) established a finite element model to calculate
the stress field of circular saw blade during loading process. Bílek and
Kovařík (2017) presented a computational model to determine the
parameters of longitudinal wood sawing by circular saw and compare
the calculated state of stress with the FEM model.
In short, the research on cutting force and vibration of the circular
saw blade is mostly aimed at cutting stone materials and metal mate-
rials. There’s little research on the cutting of mulberry tree and other
rod-shaped wood crops. Researches on cutting force and vibration are
mostly conducted through experiments.
The cutting process of mulberry branches is complex and random. It
is a typical penetrating high-speed collision belonging to the scope of
high-speed dynamic impact. The saw-teeth and branches contact with a
non-continuous dynamic pattern. It is difficult to observe and analyze
the interaction process between circular saw blade and mulberry
branch through the conventional methods. It is also time-consuming,
labor-intensive and costly by using the physical test approach.
The finite element method presents a novel approach to the research
of the cutting process. ANSYS program has obvious advantages in the
establishment of finite element model and result processing, the explicit
kinetic simulation algorithm in LS-DYNA program can quickly solve
short-time, large deformation, dynamic issues and a variety of complex
nonlinear contact problems (Souza et al., 2018). The integration of the
two makes the original extremely complex and cumbersome explicit
dynamic analysis to be much less difficult (Goyal et al., 2006;
Khorasany et al., 2012).
The purpose of this article is to analyze and study the stress and
cutting force changes during the cutting process of mulberry branches
with circular saw blade by the finite element numerical simulation of
ANSYS/LS-DYNA. During the numerical simulations, the multi-factorial
orthogonal test method was employed to study the effects of different
parameters, and to determine the optimal parameter matching of cir-
cular saw blade cutting system. This provides a theoretical basis for
optimizing the parameters of circular saw blade, prolonging the service
life, and selecting tool parameters and cutting parameters for the small
mulberry cutting machine.
2. Orthogonal experimental design of numerical simulation
The structure drawing of the circular saw blade cutting system of a
small mulberry cutting machine is shown in Fig. 1. It is mainly com-
posed of drive shaft, belt pulley, cutter rest, chucks and circular saw
blade.
Cutting force is a very important parameter that reflects deforma-
tion, fracture characteristics and the degree of the material removal
process (Luo et al., 2016). Preliminary cutting tests indicated that when
the branch diameter is smaller, the feeding speed of the circular saw
blade is lower, and the rotation speed of the circular saw blade is faster,
the cutting force becomes smaller, and the cross-sectional surface of the
branch tends to be smooth. This demonstrates the cutting quality is
closely associated with the cutting force.
There are lots of factors affecting the cutting cross-sectional quality
of the mulberry branches including circular saw blade structural
parameters such as the diameter and thickness of the blade and number
Y. Meng et al.
Fig. 1. The structure drawing of the circular saw blade cutting system.
of tooth, and operational parameters such as rotation speed and feeding
speed, and material properties of the mulberry branches. Obviously,
this is a multi-factor and multi-objective optimal parameter matching.
In this regard, finite element numerical simulation orthogonal experi-
ment method is used to analyze it. Each run of numerical simulations
with different input of parameters will give a group of output such as
cutting force and stress profile. By varying the input parameters, each
simulation is taken as a test, and the result is closely related to each
influencing factor. Which factor is important, which is not important,
and what level of each factor is better to match with each other, all of
them are the problems to be solved by the multi-factor virtual ortho-
gonal test.
2.1. Evaluation index
According to the principle of orthogonal test, the first is to de-
termine the evaluation index. The circular saw blade with high rotation
speed works under the large nonlinear deformation, and the saw body is
subjected to large periodic stress. Thus, the maximum stress σmax re-
ceived by the circular saw blade is selected as an evaluation indicator.
The actual cutting process of the circular saw is very complicated. In
Fig. 2, the circular saw blade is subject to axial force, tangential force
and radial force in general, where Vc denotes the cutting rotation speed
and Vf is the feeding speed. The cutting force F can be decomposed into
Fig. 2. Circular saw blade cutting force diagram.
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Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 157 (2019) 38–48
a radial force Fn, a tangential force Ft, and an axial force Fa. The radial
force Fn is mainly generated from the impact of the branches on the
circular saw blade during the cutting and the reaction force of the
bending deformation of the branches on the circular saw blade. The
tangential force Ft is mainly generated by the reaction force of the
friction force when the circular saw blade cuts branches. This force is
parallel to the linear speed of the circular saw tooth but in opposite
direction since it opposes the cutting rotation speed direction. The axial
force Fa is mainly generated from the processing error and installation
error of the circular saw blade and the squeezing and collision of the
inclined branches against the circular saw blade, the corresponding
direction is along the direction of the circular saw blade mounting shaft
and perpendicular to the surface of circular saw blade. In order to
simplify the calculation, the resultant force Fxy of the radial force Fn and
the tangential force Ft can be equivalently decomposed into a horizontal
force Fx along the feeding direction in the Oxy plane and a force Fy
perpendicular to Fx in Oxy plane to be measured and analyzed. Fa is
equivalent to Fz (Karakurt, 2014). The factors that affecting the cutting
force are the cutting rotation speed and the transverse feed of the cir-
cular saw blade when the circular saw blade rotates one tooth pitch (for
short: the feed per tooth of the circular saw blade). According to the
formula of feed per tooth (Csanády and Magoss, 2013):
Sn 60. Vf
Sv = =
Z Vc · Z (1)
where Sv represents the feed per tooth of the circular saw blade (mm);
Sn represents the feed per rotation of the circular saw blade (mm); Z
stands for saw-tooth numbers of the circular saw blade (T); Vf is the
cutting feeding speed (km/h); Vc is the cutting rotation speed (r/min).
It can be seen that the feed per tooth is proportional to the cutting
feeding speed and inversely proportional to the cutting rotation speed
and the saw-tooth numbers. Therefore, the cutting feeding speed and
the saw-tooth numbers are also the influence factors of cutting force.
According to spatial mechanics relations:
F= Fx2 + Fy2 + Fz2 (2)
Therefore, Fx, Fy and Fz can be taken as another group of evaluation
indicators.
2.2. Influencing factors and levels
The influencing factors can be considered in several aspects:
(1) The material of the circular saw blade will directly affect its own
service life and cutting quality, in which, 65Mn steel is with good
hardenability and high strength after special heat treatment pro-
cess, the steel with better toughness can be obtained, which is with
the high cost performance, moderate hardness, and good wear re-
sistance, low heating temperature, and is often used for the man-
ufacture of circular saw blades (Csanády and Magoss, 2013).
Therefore, the material of the circular saw blade can be identified as
65Mn steel, which is not an influencing factor of orthogonal test.
(2) Many scholars have carried out a large number of relevant experi-
mental studies on the structural parameters and clamping methods
of the circular saw blade and the impact of moisture content and
others of different branches, and soil conditions on cutting quality,
they have drawn specific conclusions (Kováč and Mikleš, 2010;
Wang et al., 2011; Moradpour et al., 2013; Yu et al., 2015).
Therefore, these parameters are not considered as influencing fac-
tors of the orthogonal test. However, since the sawing number of
the circular saw blade depends on the surface quality requirements
of workpieces to be sawed, and the final surface quality of the
workpiece is determined by the amount of feeding per tooth of the
saw blade (Csanády and Magoss, 2013), thus it is considered as one
of the influencing factors.
Y. Meng et al.
Fig. 3. The influence of different factors on cutting force and stress.
(3) Previous tests have shown that for the matching of circular saw
blade rotation speed, moving feeding speed with branch diameter,
these factors have an impact on the cutting force and stress of the
circular saw blade and quality of cutting surface, and different
combinations will result in different results, thus all of them are
considered as influencing factors.
In order to verify the rationality of selected influencing factors,
relevant single-factor experiments were conducted, as shown in Fig. 3a-
d. After analysis, the influencing law of the main influencing factors on
the cutting force and stress of the circular saw blade and the cutting
quality were obtained.
As showed in Fig. 3a, different numbers of saw-teeth have a certain
impact on the cutting force, and a significant influence on the stress
value. When the number of saw-teeth is greater than 48 T, the cutting
force increases only in small amplitude, while the maximum equivalent
force increases significantly. This is because the larger the number of
saw-teeth, the smaller the space between the teeth, making it difficult
for the branches to enter the space between the teeth, resulting in
higher cutting frequency, the corresponding force and stress will be
larger. And because the greater the speed of the lines between the teeth,
the greater the cutting continuity, so cutting plane has a good
smoothness. It’s found in actual cutting tests that when different saw-
tooth numbers are used to cut branches with different diameters, the
cross-sectional quality after cutting is also different. Thus, the impact of
the saw-tooth number should not be ignored.
As showed in Fig. 3b, the rotation speed of the circular saw blade
has a significant effect on cutting force and stress. When the rotational
speed of the circular saw blade is less than 1000 r/min, the cutting
motion will become difficult and the cutting force will increase dra-
matically. When the rotational speed of the circular saw blade is
2000 r/min to 3000 r/min, the cutting force and the equivalent effec-
tive stress are relatively small. When the rotation speed is greater than
3000 r/min, both the cutting force F, Fx and the maximum equivalent
stress increase significantly. The above analysis shows that the cutting
force and stress are relatively large when the circular saw blade takes a
lower or higher rotational speed. This phenomenon can be explained
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Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 157 (2019) 38–48
from two aspects: (1) When other conditions are certain, the lower the
rotational speed, the higher the feed amount per tooth, the increase in
the volume of materials removed in unit time, the friction resistance
between the circular saw blades and branches will increase, resulting in
increased cutting force is very obvious. (2) When the rotational speed is
too high, it is easy to cause the transverse vibration of the circular saw
blade, which reduces the stability of the circular saw blade, thus
causing the increase of cutting force and stress. Likewise, the impact of
the rotational speed should not be ignored.
As showed in Fig. 3c, with the increase of the feeding speed, both
the cutting force and the maximum equivalent stress increase sub-
stantially. Due to the radial impact of the cut portion of the saw-tooth,
the effect of increasing the feeding speed on the radial component force
Fx is significant. An increase in the feeding speed results in an increase
in the radial impact force. The impact force on the saw-tooth produces
an axial component force. The axial component force easily causes the
circular saw blade to vibrate, leading to an increase in cutting force and
equivalent effective stress. Similarly, the influence of the feeding speed
of the circular saw blade also cannot be ignored.
As showed in Fig. 3d, both the cutting force and the maximum
equivalent stress increase significantly with the increase of the branch
diameter. Because the large diameter branches have a large cross-sec-
tional area. Under the same other conditions, a large cutting area will
cause difficulty in feeding, and the corresponding frictional force and
cutting resistance will raise. Obviously, Fz has the largest increment,
indicating that when cutting large diameter branches, the axial com-
ponent force acting on the saw blade is easy to occur. Axial component
forces cause axial displacement of the circular saw blade, the stiffness of
the saw blade to decrease until the saw blade fatigue fails. So the cir-
cular saw blade is prone to failure when cutting large diameter bran-
ches. Therefore, the branch diameter is an important influential factor
that should be reasonably matched with the rotation speed, feeding
speed of the circular saw blade.
Above single factorial tests have shown that the circular saw blade
rotation speed, moving feeding speed have impact on cutting force and
the cutting surface quality of the branch. In addition, the diameter of
the branch to be cut and the number of the saw teeth are significant
Y. Meng et al. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 157 (2019) 38–48

Table 1 Table 2
Orthogonal experiments the level of form factors. Primary geometric parameters.
Level Factor Model Structure Symbol/Unit Parameters

Z(x1) (T) Vc(x2) (r/min) Vf(x3) (km/h) D0(x4) (mm) Circular saw blade Outer diameter D/mm 400
Inner diameter d/mm 30
1 8 1000 1 10 Thickness s/mm 2.5
2 20 2000 2 20 Saw-tooth number Z/T 8,20,48,72,90
3 48 3000 3 30 Front angle γ/° 15
4 72 4000 4 40 Rear angle α/° 15
Height above ground H/mm 250

Branch Diameter D0/mm 10,20,30,40

factors affecting the cutting force and stress in the blade. Thus, in this Height L/mm 2000
study, four factors are determined as the variables of the Orthogonal Chuck Outer diameter D1/mm 135
numerical simulation: the tooth number of circular saw (Z), the cutting Inner diameter D2(=d)/mm 30
rotation speed (Vc), the feeding speed (Vf), and the branch diameter Thickness s1/mm 10
(D0). Each variable takes four levels. The orthogonal experiment hor-
izontal table is designed as shown in Table 1. It is a four-factor, four-
level orthogonal arrangement. L16(4)5 orthogonal table was used as effectively simulate various irregular entities and accurately analyze
shown in Table 5 in Section 4. stress and strain. The SOLID 164 has 8 nodes and the nodes have de-
grees of freedom for translation, velocity, and acceleration in the x, y,
3. Finite element modeling and z directions, which save modeling time and increase reliability
under large deformation conditions.
3.1. Geometric model
3.2.2. Material model
To simulate the cutting process using finite element method, the The constitutive relations of metallic materials are mainly divided
branches are simplified as equal-section cylinders with the axle line into four types: elasto-plastic, rigid-plastic, elasto-viscoplastic and rigid-
perpendicular to the ground and fully constrained at the bottom, and viscoplastic. The basis material of circular saw blade is 65Mn. In order
the initial distance between the branches and the circular saw blade to consider the acquisition of the strain and stress of circular saw
should be small. Due to the complex shape of the saw-tooth section of blades, the material of circular saw blade is defined as a classic bilinear
the circular saw blade, and in order to reduce the distortion of the si- kinematic hardening plasticity (BKIN) model, which is a very general
mulation process, the three-dimensional geometric model of the cir- rule of plasticity, especially suitable for steel (Huang and Xie, 2011;
cular saw blade cutting system is established using Pro/Engineer three- Qian, 2011). Its physical parameters are listed in Table 3. Because the
dimensional software, as shown in Fig. 4a. In Table 2, its primary physical and mechanical properties of the mulberry branches directly
geometric parameters are listed. affect the cutting performance and cutting efficiency, a linear elastic
orthotropic anisotropic material model is used (Yu et al., 2015), and its
3.2. Physical model constitutive material are listed in Table 4. The chucks are used to clamp
the circular saw blade and drive the motion of circular saw blade. A
The three-dimensional geometric model of the cutting system is rigid body material model is chosen for the chucks. The materials of the
saved in .igs format and then imported into the ANSYS/LS-DYNA pre- chucks is 45 steel with density of 7850 Kg/m3, Young’s modulus of 206
processor module to establish the finite element model of the cutting GPa, and Poisson's ratio of 0.269.
system. The custom unit system is Kg-m-s.
3.2.3. Meshing
3.2.1. Element type Meshing operation is an important step in finite element modeling,
The chosen explicit element is 3D SOLID 164 element type, it can the grid form has a direct affect on calculating accuracy and time. A

Fig. 4. The geometric model and the finite element model of cutting system.

42
Y. Meng et al.
Table 3
Physical parameters of circular saw.
Material Poisson's ratio Density (kg/m3)
65Mn 0.3 7850
reasonable element size must be chosen when meshing. If the selected
element size is too large, the simulation failure process is difficult to
achieve a general agreement with the actual destruction process.
However, if the selected element size is too small, the calculation cost
will increase significantly. Therefore, it is necessary to weigh the cal-
culation accuracy and the calculation speed when meshing.
High quality elements can be partitioned by using mapped grids.
When modeling, the complex models can be divided into simple graphic
elements and then glued. Since the circular saw blade is with complex
shape, in order to improve the grid quality, the circular saw blade is
broken up and divided separately. When cylindrical branches are di-
vided into grids, in order to guarantee the calculation accuracy, the grid
segmentation processing of local positions where the circular saw blade
and the shoots come into contact during the cutting process is con-
ducted under the premise of not greatly increasing the calculation time.
The total of meshes of the model is 50,710. Doubling the number of the
meshes was conducted, and it was found that when the total meshes are
101,420, the maximum value of stress in the blade reduces slightly (by
2%). Therefore the coarser meshing scheme of 50,710 elements is ap-
plied to all models in the simulation tests. After meshing, its final finite
element model is shown in Fig. 4b.
3.2.4. Constraints and loads
Three parts were generated through PARTS OPTIONS: PART1 (cir-
cular saw blade), PART2 (branches), PART3 (chucks). The bottom end
face of the branches was fully constrained according to the growth
characteristics of the branches. In order to study the magnitude of the
cutting force and the corresponding stress state of the circular saw
blade, the corresponding speed and feeding speed loads were loaded.
3.2.5. Define contacts
In the cutting process, the saw-teeth surface of the circular saw
blade and the branch surfaces first come into contact with each other.
As cutting progresses, the elements on the branch surface will fail, so
the surface-to-surface erosion contact algorithm was used as the contact
algorithm, meanwhile, the static friction factor is defined as 0.40, the
dynamic friction factor is defined as 0.38, and the other parameters are
the default settings.
3.3. Post-processing and result analysis
After the solution calculation is completed, LS-PrePost software is
used for visual post-processing of the calculation results. Under the
conditions of the saw tooth number Z = 48 T, rotational speed
Vc = 3000 r/min, feeding speed Vf = 1 km/h and branch diameter
D0 = 20 mm, the cutting force curves is obtained during the cutting
process. In Fig. 5a, where X-force, Y-force, and Z-force are respectively
the cutting force components, corresponding to Fx, Fy, and Fz, and the
resultant force is the cutting force F. It can be seen that the cutting
forces are not constant. The cutting force curve shows the large middle
part and small ends. After the cutting is stable, it fluctuates within a
certain range, which is consistent with the actual situation of branch
Table 4
Branch material constitutive.
Material Density (kg/m3) Moisture content (%) EL (GPa) ER (GPa)
Mulberry 534 12 11.239 1.172
Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 157 (2019) 38–48
Elastic Modulus (GPa) Yield limit (GPa) Shear Modulus (GPa)
206 0.44 78.5
cutting.
Fig. 5b shows the equivalent stress distribution cloud diagram of the
circular saw blade and Fig. 5c shows dynamic changes of the effective
stress distributions on the circular saw blade under this working con-
dition. The branches are gradually cut off over time and the maximum
effective stress value on the circular saw blade during the entire cutting
process is 118.98 MPa, which is well below the yield limit of the cir-
cular saw blade material of 440 MPa, implying the circular saw blade
will not be deformed in this working condition.
3.4. Experimental verification of finite element analysis model
In order to verify the established finite element modelling, cutting
force measurement are conducted during cutting mulberry branches
using circular saw. Fig. 6 shows the design diagram of the mulberry
branch cutting force measuring device. Fig. 7 shows the cutting force
measurement apparatus diagram. In order to facilitate the measurement
of cutting force, the cutting force measuring device was installed on a
mobile trolley, and the mulberry branch was fixed on the ground
gantry. A test was performed through the rotation of the circular saw
blade and the feeding movement of the moving trolley. Multiple mul-
berry branches with a diameter of 20 mm were used for test. These
mulberry trees grow in Wuming County, Nanning, Guangxi Province
and the mulberry branches are cut in winter. A three-way piezoelectric
quartz dynamometer was used. A certain calibration method was
adopted and real-time dynamic data recording was performed through
a dynamic signal test and analysis system, thus to achieve indirect
measurement of the cutting resistance of the circular saw blade. Three
tests were carried out by varying the feeding speed while the rotation
speed remains 3000 r/min. Fig. 8 shows the comparison of the cutting
forces Fx and Fy obtained by numerical modelling and by experimental
measurement. It is seen that the discrepancies between the numerical
model and the experiment is within 10%, indicating the numerical
model is reasonable and reliable. This gives sufficient confidence to
perform simulations of multifactorial orthogonal experiments using the
finite element model.
4. Calculation results and results analysis
4.1. Numerical simulation results
The main tool of orthogonal test design is orthogonal table. The
application of orthogonal table design test is an efficient, fast and
economical multi-factor test design method. The operator can be based
on the number of factors in the test, the level number of factors and
whether there is interaction and other needs to find the corresponding
orthogonal table, and then rely on the orthogonality of the orthogonal
table from the comprehensive test to select some representative point of
the test. It is possible to achieve the equivalent results with a large
number of comprehensive tests with a minimum number of experi-
ments.
As mentioned in Section 2.2, four factors were chosen as
ET (GPa) GLT (GPa) GLR (GPa) GTR (GPa) μRT μLR μLT
0.621 0.690 0.896 0.228 0.72 0.49 0.63
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Y. Meng et al. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 157 (2019) 38–48

Fig. 5. The cutting force curves and the effective stress cloud diagram of circular saw blade.

independent variables including teeth number Z, rotation speed Vc, are filled in the left 4 columns of the L16(4)5 orthogonal table as cor-
feeding speed Vf and diameter of mulberry branch D0, denoted by x1, x2, responding match. These four variables are used as inputs for the finite
x3 and x4. Each variables has 4 levels of variation as shown in Table 1 element modelling. Each row of the table represents an experiment.
where even collocations of levels are used. These variables and levels There are 16 combinations input variables in total and 16 simulations

44
Y. Meng et al. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 157 (2019) 38–48

Fig. 6. The design diagram of the circular saw blade cutting force measuring device.

will be needed to run. Each run of the simulations for each combination
of the inputs will produce a group of outputs including cutting force and
stress. From the outputs, four are chosen as evaluation indexes in-
cluding σmax, Fxmax, Fymax and Fzmax, where σmax indicates the maximum
stress value received by the circular saw blade during operation, and
Fxmax, Fymax, Fzmax indicate the maximum value of component of the
cutting force F in the three directions of axes X, Y, and Z during op-
eration. These outputs from the numerical simulation are filled in the
right-hand side of the table, as shown in Table 5. These 16 experiments
could represent full experiments of 44 = 256 times, which compre-
hensively reflected the influence of various factors on the indicators
(Karakurt, 2014).

4.2. Results analysis

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is a collection of statistical models

and their associated estimation procedures (such as the “variation”
among and between groups) used to analyze the differences among
group means in a sample. The basic idea of ANOVA is to determine the
influence of controllable factors on research results by analyzing the
contribution of variation from different sources to total variation.
ANOVA is useful for comparing (testing) three or more group means for
statistical significance. In orthogonal test design, ANOVA is used to
Fig. 8. Comparison of cutting force of measured and modelled.
determine the optimal level of factors and the significance of the effect
on indicators (Meng et al., 2009). The ANOVA was conducted for re-
sults of the above calculations with large statistical analysis software,
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), and the results are
listed in Table 6.

Fig. 7. The cutting force measuring device diagram.

45
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Table 5
The results of virtual orthogonal experiment.
Serial number Corresponding match Experimental results

x1 (Z) x2 (Vc) x3 (Vf) x4 (D0) σmax (MPa) Fxmax (N) Fymax (N) Fzmax (N)

1 8 1000 1 10 49.43 30.42 20.68 6.25

2 8 2000 2 20 80.42 50.44 39.71 6.43
3 8 3000 3 30 218.52 101.72 34.60 10.42
4 8 4000 4 40 242.60 133.77 119.75 26.90
5 20 1000 2 30 126.96 120.07 31.34 7.03
6 20 2000 1 40 147.24 98.99 24.21 11.13
7 20 3000 4 10 121.02 18.55 10.35 10.22
8 20 4000 3 20 232.67 101.35 57.92 21.45
9 48 1000 3 40 224.50 155.61 37.84 8.71
10 48 2000 4 30 195.91 105.20 30.84 8.65
11 48 3000 1 20 118.98 28.65 18.99 6.91
12 48 4000 2 10 129.73 20.96 18.95 11.05
13 72 1000 4 20 157.53 97.55 68.49 11.67
14 72 2000 3 10 41.34 22.33 12.56 3.46
15 72 3000 2 40 211.32 139.51 98.68 26.07
16 72 4000 1 30 183.26 88.43 38.18 34.28

It can be found that various factor levels have various impacts on
the indicators, and there are different primary and secondary re-
lationships in the significance. Among them, the smaller the P-value of
the F-test, the more significant the influential effect is. For the maximum
stress σmax, the branch diameter has the largest impact, and the rest are
the cutting rotation speed, feeding speed, and saw-tooth number in
sequence. For the X-direction maximum cutting component force Fxmax,
the branch diameter has the largest impact, and the rest are the feeding
speed, cutting rotation speed, and saw-tooth number in sequence. For
the Y-direction maximum cutting component force Fymax, the branch
diameter has the largest impact, and the rest are the saw-tooth number,
feeding speed and cutting rotational speed in sequence. For the Z-di-
rection maximum cutting component force Fzmax, the cutting rotation
speed has the largest impact, and the rest are the branch diameter, saw-
tooth number, feeding speed and in sequence.
4.3. Optimal parameter combination and actual cutting trial
Based on the previous numerical simulation analysis, when the saw-
teeth number is fixed the branch diameter or the feeding speed is
smaller, the cutting forces on the circular saw blade are smaller. When
the cutting rotation speed, feeding speed, and outer diameter of the
circular saw blade are fixed, increasing the number of saw-teeth of saw
blade can reduce the feeding amount per saw-tooth, thereby reducing
the cutting force and improving the surface quality. In addition, Fx
contributes the most to the cutting force F, and Fz is the main cause of
the axial vibration of the circular saw blade. These forces and the stress
of the circular saw blade will simultaneously affect the service life of
the saw. Therefore, the best parameter combination available in Table 5
is x1(4) x2(3) x3(2) x4(1) by summarizing various reasons. That is, the
saw-tooth number is 72 T, the cutting rotation speed is 3000 r/min, the
feeding speed is 2 km/h, and the mulberry branch diameter is 10 mm.
In the actual cutting process, the diameter of the mulberry branch is
random, in order to be able to smoothly cut the large-diameter mul-
berry branches, and to ensure that the cross-section quality of the
mulberry branch after cutting is intact and the work efficiency is im-
proved, it is essential to ensure that the two moving parameters of
cutting rotation speed and feeding speed of circular saw blade tend to
be reasonable. Under this premise, it is essential to reduce the cutting
force of the circular saw blade, and reduce vibration and avoid dynamic
instability. In addition, it is required that the stress received by the
circular saw blade should be less than the yield limit of the material
itself to extend its service life. Taking into account that the lower
feeding speed will make low work efficiency of the mulberry cutting
machine, a moderate feeding speed should be chosen. According to the
result of parameter matching obtained above and considering factors
such as power consumption and economical and others, an optimal
design of circular saw blade with a size of
400 mm * 2.5 mm * 30 mm * 72 T was determined. To demonstrate the
performance of the saw blade, a cutting trial conducted. The device
shown in Fig. 7 was used for the test. In the trial, cutting forces were
measured in order to be compared with the numerical simulation. The

Table 6
Variance analysis of calculated results.
Source σmax (MPa) Fxmax (N)

SS DF MS F P-value SS DF MS F P-value

x1 1005.54 3 335.18 0.285 0.835 239.28 3 79.76 0.300 0.825

x2 14659.99 3 4886.66 4.419 0.137 2541.44 3 847.15 3.189 0.183
x3 9655.00 3 3218.33 2.732 0.216 849.58 3 849.58 3.198 0.183
x4 32930.60 3 10976.87 9.319 0.050 8805.67 3 8805.668 33.14 0.008
Pure error 3533.68 3 1177.89 797.05 3 265.68

Source Fymax (N) Fzmax (N)

SS DF MS F P-value SS DF MS F P-value

x1 2593.79 3 864.60 2.572 0.229 209.13 3 69.71 2.943 0.200

x2 2061.63 3 687.21 2.044 0.286 643.28 3 214.43 9.052 0.052
x3 2289.64 3 763.21 2.270 0.259 34.10 3 11.37 0.480 0.719
x4 6284.53 3 2094.84 6.231 0.084 243.52 3 81.17 3.427 0.169
Pure error 1008.61 3 336.20 71.07 3 23.69

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Y. Meng et al. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 157 (2019) 38–48

Table 7
Comparison of cutting forces of simulation and field trial with optimal design.
Serial number Working parameters Simulation results Test results

Z Vc (r/min) Vf (km/h) D0 (mm) σmax (MPa) Fxmax (N) Fymax (N) Fzmax (N) Fxmax (N) Fymax (N)

1 72 3000 2 30 108.47 86.33 43.60 12.36 76.35 40.32

2 72 3000 3 30 126.82 90.42 52.30 20.12 88.34 43.98
3 72 3000 4 30 157.12 98.18 60.89 27.36 96.52 52.30

Fig. 9. The comparison test of mulberry trees cutting quality.

parameters of the test and its results are listed in Table 7. It is seen that element analysis model is reliable and reasonable.
when the branch diameter is 30 mm and the feeding speed increases
from 2 to 4 km/h the measured maximum cutting force Fxmax increases
5. Conclusion
from 76 to 96 N, while the corresponding values from the simulation
results are from 86 to 98 N. The simulated maximum stress on the blade
The durability and stability of the circular saw blade and smooth-
is 157 MPa, well below the yield limit of 445 MPa of the material of the
ness during the cutting process are essential to the design of mulberry
blade. Fig. 9 shows some of the cross-section surfaces of different dia-
cutting machine. Through the design method of “Numerical Simulation
meter of branches cut by different parameters. It is found that when the
Orthogonal Test”, the changes of the stress and cutting force of the
branch diameter is 30 mm the cutting quality is unstable. With a higher
circular saw blade in the mulberry branch cutting process at the four
feeding speed (4 km/h) the surface has burrs on it (see Fig. 9d). A
factor levels of saw-tooth number, cutting rotation speed, feeding speed
higher rotation speed (4000r/min) makes the surface burnt (see
and branch diameter of circular saw blade were studied. Experiment on
Fig. 9e). A blade with less teeth produces a serious laceration (see
cutting force measurement was conducted and the cutting forces from
Fig. 9f).
the simulations match the experiment well. The cutting forces and
The use of finite element numerical simulation method can obtain a
stress obtained from the finite element simulation provide useful in-
reasonable parameter matching, and when the cutting rotation speed is
formation for determining the circular saw system. The orthogonal
3000 r/min and the feeding speed is 3 km/h, cutting force and stress
numerical simulation test enables the optimization of the combinations
received by the circular saw blade are relatively small. For the mulberry
of operating parameter of the circular saw in cutting mulberry bran-
branches with a diameter of 10 mm, 20 mm, and 30 mm, the cross-
ches. Under the premise of guaranteeing cutting quality and working
section quality of the cutting tends to be good, and the working effi-
efficiency, the parameters matching of 72 T saw-tooth number, cutting
ciency can also be guaranteed, demonstrating the established finite
speed of 3000 r/min and feeding speed of 3 km/h were finally

47
Y. Meng et al.
determined. The cutting force and stress of the circular saw blade was
reduced. Using the designed saw, smooth cutting surfaces of mulberry
branches are obtained with the optimal operation parameters. The good
cutting quality ensures the mulberry tree healthy and high production
of leaves.
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the Guangxi Science and Technology
Development Plan of China (No. AB16380235). We thank our collea-
gues who provided insight and expertise that greatly assisted the re-
search.
Appendix A. Supplementary material
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2018.12.034.
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