Project Engineering and Reliability of Soil-cutting Elements of Grain Drill Runner Openers

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32515/2414-3820.2026.56.128-134

Keywords:

project engineering, reliability, soil-cutting element, runner opener, abrasive wear, ceramic-metal coating, self-sharpening, resource length

Abstract

Modern agricultural machinery design demands innovative approaches to project engineering and reliability management for seeding machine components, leveraging system analysis and digital modeling to build competitive equipment. The soil-cutting elements of grain drill runner openers operate under severe abrasive wear and cyclic dynamic loads. Standard 65G steel runners typically provide a lifespan of only 80…120 ha, whereas modern agrotechnical standards require at least 200…250 ha without maintenance. This discrepancy necessitates new project engineering solutions, ranging from structural parameter optimization to advanced surface hardening.

The research methodology integrates structural reliability standards (ISO 9001:2015, EN 13306:2018), wear simulation via FEM (ANSYS Mechanical), analytical tribological models, and field testing of ZS-3.6 grain drill runner openers. The performance of standard blades (65G steel, 40 HRC) was compared against reinforced blades featuring a 0.8…1.2 mm cladding of WC–Ni–Fe ceramic-metal composite ribbon. Field trials were conducted in loamy soil environments (38…52% sand content, cone penetrometer hardness of 1.2…2.1 MPa) in Central Ukraine.

Statistical analysis indicated that 74.4% of runner opener failures are caused by blade wear exceeding a critical cutting edge radius (R > 3.5 mm). FEM analysis revealed that maximum equivalent von Mises stresses at the blade tip reach 512 MPa, exceeding the yield strength of 65G steel (415 MPa). To address this, a generalized wear model was adapted to identify tribological parameters, revealing that the WC–Ni–Fe coating provides a 2.4-fold reduction in wear rate. The analytical condition for blade self-sharpening was formulated, ensuring a stabilized blade angle up to 250 ha. Reliability was evaluated using a multi-criteria index, with time-to-failure modeled via the Weibull–Gnedenko distribution. For the reinforced runners, the characteristic life parameter  increased from 112.4 to 248.6 ha, while KR rose from 0.44 to 0.81. Field data confirmed that the self-sharpening effect reduced draft resistance by 18.2% at 150 ha, yielding a fuel savings of 0.85 L/ha.

A comprehensive project engineering methodology for grain drill runner openers was developed and verified. The reinforced WC–Ni–Fe composite runners achieved an operational lifespan of 230…260 ha, outperforming standard components by 2.1…2.4 times. The developed framework can be extended to design other soil-cutting and engaging components of tillage and seeding machinery.

Author Biographies

Yurii Machok, Central Ukrainian National Technical University, Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine

Associate Professor, PhD in Technics (Candidate of Technics Sciences)

Dmytro Petrenko , Central Ukrainian National Technical University, Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine

Associate Professor, PhD in Technics (Candidate of Technics Sciences)

Dmytro Artemenko , Central Ukrainian National Technical University, Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine

Associate Professor, PhD of technical sciences (Candidate of Technical Sciences), Associate Professor of Agricultural Engineering Department

Ruslan Kisilyov , Central Ukrainian National Technical University, Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine

Associate Professor, PhD in Technical Sciences (Candidate of Technical Sciences), Associate Professor of the Department of Agricultural Machine Building

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Published

2026-06-30

How to Cite

Machok, Y., Petrenko , D., Artemenko, D., & Kisilyov , R. (2026). Project Engineering and Reliability of Soil-cutting Elements of Grain Drill Runner Openers. National Interagency Scientific and Technical Collection of Works Design Production and Exploitation of Agricultural Machines, (56), 128–134. https://doi.org/10.32515/2414-3820.2026.56.128-134

Issue

No. 56 (2026): Design, Production and Exploitation of Agricultural Machines

Section

Engineering

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Yurii Machok, Dmytro Petrenko, Dmytro Artemenko, Ruslan Kisilov

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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