Laboratory simulation of service loading on a rotary cultivator

Abstract The machine involved was a semi-mounted, p.t.o. driven rotary cultivator with a multi-bladed horizontal rotor. Field tests gave data on the external loads and strains in the hull, the main structural member. Field data analysis and static testing revealed that the two most important loadings imposed on the machine were the rolling moment about the fore-aft axis and the horizontal force on the rotor. A two channel servo-hydraulic endurance test rig was designed to apply a horizontal force to the cultivator rotor and a roll moment to the frame. The problem of achieving all the combinations of loading necessary to produce the extremes of strain in different parts of the machine was conveniently solved by cycling the two sinusoidal inputs at slightly different frequencies.