Finite Element Analysis of Hydraulically Actuated Excavator’s Attachment

The backhoe mechanism governs the productivity, weight, and reliability of earthmoving machines such as excavators and loaders. For this, the backhoe mechanism must provide the sufficient working range, digging forces, and stability, all of which are influenced by structural parameters such as component length and joint angles. The main goal of the proposed work is to perform the design calculation of excavator attachments and carry out finite element analysis of excavator attachment for validation. For the backhoe attachment with three degrees of freedom, a generalized model was created for calculation of forces and stresses. This model can be used to compute forces as well as simulate the digging process. The forces calculated with this model is used as the boundary conditions for finite element simulations. Static analysis is performed and used to determine the deformation and stresses created in the components. The results of static analysis is used to identify locations that required modification and weight optimization of the attachment. The results of simulation software is matching closely with the results obtain using design calculations.