Simulation of an Excavator Hydraulic Circuit

The aim of this thesis is the study of a midi Excavator Hydraulic Circuit through the new 3D mechanical library in Simcenter Amesim®. First of all, a description of the excavator classifications, as well as the load sensing working principle will be illustrated, with the explanation of the hydraulic components used on these types of hydraulic circuits. After that, it has been modelled the real excavator created in SolidWorks® given by the FPRL into Amesim® with two element types of this mechanical library: Rigid body and Recursive joints, this latter is able to take into account the inertia transfers from one body to another, useful because the inertia depends on the positions of each element that compose the excavator arm, but also from the load that the bucket has when it is full after dig. Then, it has been implemented the hydraulic circuit in two configurations, pre-compensated and post-compensated, and given the input of the normal duty cycle, verifying that the system works correctly. Moreover, it has been carried out the studies of two critical conditions for both the hydraulic circuits, pressure-saturation and flow-saturation, analysing the results, describing how the system behaves, and make sure that the system works us expected. In conclusion, some considerations about the models limitations and the future challenges in the operating machines construction will be discussed.