Virtual prototype of pipe wagon articulating (PWA) system has been developed and simulated based on the kinematics and dynamics of machinery and Automatic Dynamic Analysis of Mechanical Systems (ADAMS) software. It has been integrated with real-time three dimensional (3-D) system simulations for detailed and responsive interaction with dynamic virtual environments. By using this virtual model, the conceptual design examination and performance analysis of the PWA system have been realized dynamically in virtual laboratory. System dynamic force, displacement and tension of pipe have been measured through verifying this 3- D virtual prototype. By comparing the static tension and dynamic tension of pipe, the difference between the two kind tensions has been found. The simulated dynamic tension is much greater than the static tension obtained from the static theory. The results attained in this work suggest that the conceptual designed PWA system can meet the requirements of the operation.

Keywords: Pipe Wagon Articulating, Dynamic Modeling, Virtual Prototype, Dynamic Simulation

For efficient and economic extraction and haulage of oil sands from production faces, the “at face slurrying (AFS)” technology is currently being investigated at the research and technology development levels. The AFS technology will be used to create and transport oil sands slurry from production faces through flexible pipeline system to link the existing hydro-transport system. The three options have been proposed to transport oil sands slurry from the face to a fixed pipeline system based on preliminary economic modeling, simulation and analysis of various conceptual models.

The PWA system is one of the three AFS options. A lot of efforts have been invested to conceptualization of the PWA mechanical system and detail numerical modeling for investigation of oil sands multiple-phase problem in pipeline [1-4]. A conceptual design of the PWA system has been proposed in our lab. In this proposal, the PWA system is composed of linkages of pipe wagons connected with flexible pipes. This flexible arrangement accommodates the horizontal and vertical displacements of the mobile system as it follows the hydraulic shovels in the excavation process. In all research, a lot of attention has been given to study the single-phase and multiphase flow of oil sands slurry in PWA flexible pipe. The me- chanics of oil sands slurry flow in PWA flexible pipeline system has been formulated and simulated over an extended period [1]. A numerical simulator has been deve- loped to provide numerical solutions of the flow in flexible pipe as a 3-D multiphase problem [2]. However, implementation of the PWA system in real-time and inside a virtual environment, has not been carried out. And, there has not been investigation on system motion and engineering performance analysis of the PWA system so far. The continuing research will examine the handling performance of the system to represent the motions and forces of various components by modeling and simulateing real-word PWA system in a virtual laboratory.

The literature that been reviewed in reference [5] indicates a consistent viewpoint of the virtual prototype modeling using to simulate the ground articulating pipeline (GAP) system. Therefore, this methodology still will be used in the simulation of the PWA system. Mechanical system simulation (MSS) in ADAMS software can be used for ongoing virtual modeling and simulation of the PWA system. MSS can be employed to simulate the motion and force of the PWA systems based on machinery kinematics and dynamics. In order to realize dynamic modeling of the PWA system, the kinematics and dynamics models of the system are built in terms of the theory of machines and mechanisms [6,7]. The principles of mechanics [8] can be used to static modeling mechanical system. So, the solved kinematics and dynamics of machinery can yield equations for dynamic-motion, static- force and dynamic-force analysis [9].

However, for the dynamic simulation of the PWA system two key factors differ from the GAP system. One of the key factors is system kinematics modeling. The pipelines exhibit highly geometrically nonlinear behavior. They are very flexible and undergo large displacements before attaining their equilibrium configuration. Due to this inherently nonlinear behavior, the flexible pipelines do not fit the assumption of rigidity. They usually have no effect on the kinematics of the system but do play a role in supplying forces. The pipelines of the system are usually ignored during kinematic analysis, and their force effects are introduced during dynamic simulation [7]. Another of the key factors is pipeline modeling. The PWA system is made up of linkages of wagons connected by rubber pipelines. The rubber pipelines are used for transmitting forces or displacements between wagons. Because transmission paths are often convoluted, and the pipe performance is dependent on phenomenon such as friction and stretching, it is difficult to model pipelines using standard tools available in most mechanical system simulation packages. The way to model fixable pipeline in AD- AMS is to discretize the pipe into segments. The segments are then attached with a constraint.

In this work, the theoretical modeling and virtual prototype simulation of the PWA have been focused on. Using the virtual model developed in this work, the following work has been carried out: 1) realization of dynamic simulation; 2) creation of 3-D solid visualization models with 3-D motion for the PWA system; 3) de- termination of important engineering data, such as maxi- mum force necessary to drive the PWA machinery using reality and virtual prototypes; 4) analysis of the distribution of tension along pipe and comparison of static tension with dynamic tension.

The PWA system will facilitate the conveyance of oil sands slurry to joint a fixed pipeline or existing hydro- transport train (HTP). This system has been designed and developed to withstand the oil sands mechanical and chemical characteristics and handle oil sands slurry rate or flow rate of 6100 tph. It must accommodate production face advance of 60 m/day or 400 m/week with a robust system components interfaces. The slurry component sizes must be a fraction of minus 80mm with a specific gravity of 1.6. This system will work with a shovel, mobile slurry system with slurry pump system, PWA system and fixed pipeline system. The PWA system consists of linkages of wagons connected by FlexRite flexible pipelines. In this combined system the shovel excavates and feeds dry oil sands lumps into the mobile slurry system and with the addition of hot water into the system, oil sands are slurried. The resulting oil sands slurry is then pumped through the PWA system to join the fixed pipeline or existing HTP.

The PWA system will consist of a series of rigid truss frames on castors and will be al- lowed to swivel relative to each other. Each frame will support concentrated 24” diameter slurry and 18” diameter fresh water lines. A flexible pipeline assembly is required to allow flow of both slurry and fresh water while permitting the position changes between adjacent trusses. FlexRite pipes are more flexible than conventional steel pipes and provide maximum bending with smooth flow of materials. The flow across the FlexRite pipeline can change in any direction due to the flexible nature of the pipeline system. The flexible pipe can bend to a maximum angle of 60°. Two types of particles or mixtures impingement can occur including straight horizontal flexible pipe and bend (from 0° to 60° deflection) flexible pipe.

In the PWA system, the desired motions of the mechanisms are specified in advance by production requirement. Even though the wagon is driven at constant speed, this does not mean that all points of the pipelines have constant velocity vectors or even that other parts of the system will operate at constant speeds; there will be accelerations and therefore system with moving parts will not be in equilibrium. Analytical methods for investigating dynamic forces in the PWA system employ mathematical models that are solved for unknown forces associated with known mechanism motion. Solving this problem requires definitions of the actual shapes, dimensions, and material specifications to determine the centers of mass and mass moments of inertia of the parts, which will be given in section 4.0. Then, the Lagrange method of multirigid-body system is used to establish the equations of kinematics and dynamics of the PWA system. The displacement, velocity, acceleration and force can be obtained.

It shows a virtual prototype of the PWA system developed in ADAMS environment. The PWA model, including the oil sands terrain, mobile slurry system, wagon subassembly, water line subassembly and slurry line subassembly, is modeled as a multi-body system. The design parameters for the PWA simulation will comprise basic dimension and calculation data as shown in Table 1. In this table, the flexible pipe system material of Flex- Rite is used to PWA pipeline material based on the conceptual design of the flexible pipeline system [1]. This flexible pipe can bend to a maximum degree of 60. Thespecific gravities and pipeline diameters of slurry and water given in this table have been derived from Section 2. The unit length of pipeline and wagon listed in the table is assigned by the results of the PWA system synthesis. To accommodate a shovel advance of 400 m per week, the maximum displacement of every wagon is 7m. In order to operate the system, the drive force has to be applied to fourteen wagons, respectively. 3-step procedures for building the PWA model are described below. The first step involves the creation of 3-D component models of the oil sands terrain, mobile slurry system, wagon subassembly, water line subassembly and slurry line subassembly. The mobile slurry system contains one body and two crawler geometries. The wagon model includes one body and four crawler geometries. The water and slurry models consist of a series of smaller rigid pipe sections as show in Figure 4. The second step defines the connections of the components with joints. The oil sands terrain B0 and mobile slurry crawler B1 and wagon crawler B2 are connected by translational joints H1 and H2, respectively. The mobile slurry crawler B1 and mobile slurry body B3 are connected by revolute joint H3. The wagon crawler B2 and wagon body B4 are connected by revolute joint H4. The mobile slurry body B3 and water line B5 and slurry line B6 are connected by ball joints H5 and H6, respectively. The wagon body B4 and water line B5 and slurry line B6 are connected by ball joints H5 and H6, respectively. The flexible water pipeline B5 and slurry pipeline B6 are separated a lot of small sections that are connected by ball joint H7 and spring-damper H8, respectively. The third step defines the appropriate algebraic variables, which represent the movements of the mobile slurry system. This means that the varying angles applied to the water and slurry pipelines are introduced during operation.

 

The mechanical system of PWA has been simulated by using virtual model, which is developed by combining the theory of machines and mechanisms and the multi-body dynamic simulation software ADAMS. Important engineering data of the PWA system have been determined by simulating reality with a virtual prototype. The virtual prototype model of the PWA system has been tested and verified to be effective with real displacement value. The results show this model is capable of kinematics computing and offering computer-animated simulations of the kinematics behavior. The results of dynamic-motion analysis indicate that the conceptual designed the PWA sys-tem meets the requirement of the variation of angle d from 0° to 60°. The results of dynamic-force simulation have given the maximum force of –1.85E+006N for driving the system and the maximum non-driving force applied on wagon (2.1E+006N) for calculating the bearing capacity of oil sands. The tension analysis of the pipe shows that the distribution of tension along the pipe length is not uniform. The result of comparison between the static tension and dynamic tension illustrates that static tension is much smaller than the dynamic tension. This work will allow further benchmarking of the mechanical event simulation of the PWA system such as examination of bearing capacity and prediction of pipeline stress.

The authors wish to express their gratitude to AERI/- COURSE and Syncrude Canada Ltd. for the financial support and field data for this study.

(1).S. Frimpong, R. M. M. Changirwa, E. Asa and J. Szymanski, “Mechanics of Oil sands Slurry Flow in a Flexible Pipeline System,” International Journal of Surface Mining, Vol. 16, No. 2, 2002, pp. 105-121. doi:10.1076/ijsm.16.2.105.3401

(2)S. Frimpong, O. R. Ayodele and J. Szymanski, “Numerical Simulation Software for Oil sands Slurry Flow in Flexible Pipelines,” SCSC 2003 of the Society for Model- ing and Simulation International, Montreal, 20-24 July 2003, pp. 145-154.

(3)S. Frimpong, O. R. Ayodele and J. Szymanski, “Numerical Simulator for Oil Sands Slurry Flow in Flexible Pipe-line,” In proceedings of the 2002 Summer Computer Simulation Conference, San Diego, 8-14 July 2002, pp. 171- 176.

(4)R. Changirwa, M. C. Rockwell, S. Frimpong and J. Szymanski, ”Hybrid Simulation for Oil-Solids-Water Separation in Oil Sands Production,” Minerals Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 12, 2002, pp. 1459-1468. doi:10.1016/S0892-6875(99)00134-X

(5)S. Frimpong, Y. Li and J. Szymanski, “Mechanical Sys-tem Simulation of the Ground Articulating Pipeline Sys-tem,” Fifteenth IASTED International Conference on Modelling and Simulation, Marina Del Rey, 1-3 March 2004, pp. 209-213.

(6)J. E. Shigley and J. J. Uicker, “Theory of Machines and Mechanisms,” McGraw-Hill, New York, 1995.

(7)C. E. Wilson and J. P. Sadler, “Kinematics and Dynamics of Machinery,” 2nd Edition, Harper Collins College Publishers, New York, 1991.

(8)J. L. Synge and B. A. Griffith, “Principles of Mechanics,” McGraw Hill Book Company, New York, 1959.

(9)C. W. Ham, E. J. Crank and W. L. Rogers, “Mechanics of Machinery,” McGraw-Hill, New York, 1958. N. X. Wu, Q. H. Sun, D. L. Yu and Y. A. Pan, “Kinematics Simulation and Application for Machine Tool Based on Multi-body System Theory,” Journal of Southeast University, Vol. 20, No. 2, 2004, pp. 162-164.

(10)N. X. Wu, Q. H. Sun, D. L. Yu and Y. A. Pan, “Kinematics Simulation and Application for Machine Tool Based on Multi-body System Theory,” Journal of South-east University, Vol. 20, No. 2, 2004, pp. 162-164.

(11)H. A. Buchholdt, “An Introduction to Cable Roof Structures ,’’ Thomas Telford, London, 1999.

虚拟样机的管车铰接(PWA)系统已经开发和模拟基于运动学和动力学的机械和自动动态分析机械系统(亚当斯)软件。它已经集成了实时三维(3 d) 的详细和响应的动态虚拟环境的交互的系统仿真。通过使用这个虚拟模型，PWA系统的概念设计审查和性能分析已实现动态的虚拟实验室。系统动态力、位移和张力测量的管已经通过了这3 - D虚拟样机的验证。通过比较静态张力和动态张力管，两者之间的一种张力的差异已被发现。模拟动态张力远远大于从静态理论观察得到的静张力。在这项工作中取得的成果表明，概念设计的PWA系统的操作能满足要求。

为经济有效的开采和运输生产面临的油砂，“在面浆（AFS）”技术是目前正处于进行调查研究和技术开发水平。AFS技术将被用于从生产面通过挠性管道系统链接现有的液压传输系统以建立并输送油砂浆料。为将油砂泥浆从表面运送到一个基于初步经济建模，仿真和分析各种概念模型的固定的管道系统已提出了三个选项。

PWA系统的AFS的选项之一。为概念化的的PWA机械系统和油砂多相管道问题的调查和详细的数值模拟已投入了大量的努力。在我们的实验室中已经提出的PWA系统的概念设计。在这个提案中，PWA系统组成柔性的管道连接管货车的联系。这种柔性安排，可容纳的移动通信系统的水平和垂直位移，因为它服从在挖掘过程中的液压挖掘机。在所有的研究中，研究PWA柔性管的单相和多相流的油砂泥浆已受到广泛关注。在PWA柔性管道系统的油砂泥浆流动力学已经在较长时间内制定和模拟。数值模拟提供了柔性的管道流动的数值解的三维多相流问题[ 2 ]。然而，在虚拟环境中实现实时的PWA系统尚未进行。而且，目前還没有对PWA系统的运动和工程性能分析的研究。持续的研究将检验代表运动的系统的处理性能和通過在虚拟实验室模拟现实世界的PWA系统的各种成分的力的模拟。

在参考文献[ 5 ]研究表明关于虚拟样机建模的一致观点即使用模拟地阐明管道（GAP）系统。因此，这种方法还将用于PWA系统的仿真。机械系统仿真（MSS）在亚当斯软件可用于进行虚拟建模和仿真的PWA系统。MSS可以用来模拟运动和基于机械运动学和动力学的PWA系统的力。为了实现PWA系统的动态模型，建立了机械原理方面系统的运动学和动力学模型 [ 6,7 ]。力学[8]的原则可用于静态建模机械系统。因此，解决了机械能产生的运动学和动力学方程的动态运动，静力和动态力分析[9]。然而，对于PWA系统动态模拟不同于GAP系统的两个关键因素。其中的关键因素之一是系统运动学建模。管道具有高度的几何非线性行为。他们是非常灵活的，在达到均衡配置进行大位移。由于固有的非线性行为，柔性管道不适合刚性的假设。它们通常会对系统的运动没有影响，但在供给力时确实发挥了作用。管道系统的运动学分析过程中通常被忽略，它们的力量在引入动态模拟过程中发挥作用[7]。另一个关键因素是管道建模。PWA系统由用橡胶管道连接货车联系的。橡胶管道用于传递力或位移之间的车。因为传输路径往往是复杂的，管的性能是依赖于如摩擦和伸展现象，它很难利用机械系统仿真软件最可用的标准工具模型的管道。模型在自修复的管道的AMS是离散的管段的方式。该段然后附有约束。

在这项工作中，理论建模和PWA虚拟样机仿真一直被关注。本研究所开发的虚拟模型，开展了如下工作：1）动态仿真的实现；2）与PWA系统的三维运动的三维可视化模型的建立；3）重要的工程数据测定，例如最大的力量必须以现实和虚拟原型的PWA机械驱动等；4）对沿管和动态张力的静拉伸张力分布的分析比较。

PWA系统将促进油砂料浆输送到关节固定管道或现有的水力运输车（HTP）。已经设计和开发了能够承受油砂机械和化学特性泥和处理油砂浆率或流速每小时6100吨的本系统。该系统将与铲，泥浆泵系统移动浆系统，PWA系统和固定管道系统一起工作。PWA系统由Flexrite柔性管道连接马车的联系组成。在这个复合的系统里，铲挖掘和饲料干油砂肿块进移动水泥浆体系和外加热水进入系统，油砂浆化。由此产生的油砂泥浆被泵通过PWA系统中加入固定管道或现有的色氨酸。

PWA系统包括一系列的带脚轮的刚性的桁架框架，将钮，然后再相对于彼此旋转。每个框架将支持集中24“直径泥水和直径为18”淡水线。需要一个灵活的管道组件，允许浆和新鲜水的流量，同时允许相邻桁架之间的位置变化。Fexrite管比普通钢管更灵活，并且可以提供最大程度的弯曲材料的畅通。由于系统的灵活的性质，在Flexrite管道的流量可以在适当的管道内任意改变方向。软管可弯曲的最大角度到60°。两种类型的颗粒或混合物的冲击可以包括水平柔性管和弯管（从0到60°偏转）软管。

在PWA系统中，机制所需的运动是按生产要求预先指定的。即使以恒定速度驱动手推车，这并不意味着所有的点的管道具有恒定的速度矢量，或者甚至是其它的系统部件以恒定的速度操作，它也会有加速度，因此系统与运动部件不会处于平衡状态。调查在PWA系统中的动态力量的分析方法使用了未知力量与已知的机制运动都解决了的数学模型。解决这一问题需要实际形状，尺寸，材料规格的定义，以确定零件的质量和质量惯性矩的中心，这将在4.0节中给出。然后，对多刚体系统的拉格朗日乘子法建立PWA系统的运动学和动力学方程，可以得到位移，速度，加速度和力。

它展示了虚拟样机ADAMS环境中开发的PWA系统。 PWA模型作为一个多体系统建模，包括油砂地形，移动水泥浆体系，旅行车组件，水线组件及浆线组件。 PWA模拟的设计参数将包括基本尺寸和计算数据，如表1中所示。在此表中，Flex天威的柔性管道系统材料被用来基于PWA管道材料的概念设计灵活的管道系统[1]。这种柔性管道可以最大程度弯曲到60°。表中给出的特定的重力及淤浆和水的管道直径是来自于第2节。表中列出的管道和车单位长度是PWA系统综合的分配结果。为了适应400米每星期一铲的进度，每车最大位移为7m。为操作该系统，驱动力已被分别应用到十四辆车。三步程序建立PWA模型描述如下：第一步涉及三维组件油砂地形，移动水泥浆系统，车组件，水位线组件和浆线组件模型的创建。移动浆系统包含一个主体和两个履带结构。马车模型包括一个身体和四个履带结构。水和泥浆模型由一系列较小的刚性管段组成。第二步定义组件的连接接头。油砂地形B0和移动浆料履带式的B1和B2履带式手推车分别和平移关节H1和H2连接。移动履带浆B1和移动身体B3由转动关节H3连接。履带式货车B2和车体B4由转动关节H4连接。移动泥浆体B3和水位线B5和浆线B6的球关节分别由H5和H6连接。柔性管道B5和B6浆管道分离的小部分，由H7和H8球铰弹簧阻尼器分别连接。第三步，定义相应的代数变量，它代表移动浆系统的运动。这意味着在运行过程中引入了应用于水和泥浆管道的不同角度。

 

PWA的机械系统已经通过使用虚拟模型，它是由机器和机制相结合的理论和多体动力学仿真软件ADAMS模拟。 PWA系统的重要工程数据已确定通过模拟现实与虚拟样机。 PWA系统的虚拟样机模型已经经过测试和验证是有效的实际位移值。结果表明，该模型能够用于运动学计算，并提供电脑动画模拟的运动学行为。动态运动分析的结果表明，设计概念的PWA系统的温度符合规定的从0°到60°角度的变化。动力仿真结果为对驱动系统与应用对货车最大非驱动力（2.1E + 006n），油砂承载力计算的最大力–1.85e + 006n。管道的张力分析表明，沿管的长度张力的分布是不均匀的。静态张力和动态张力之间的比较的结果说明静态张力远小于动态张力。这项工作将有助于进一步标杆的机械事件仿真PWA系统，如检测承载能力和预测管道应力。

作者希望表达他们对AERI/课程与加拿大Syncrude有限公司为这项研究提供的财政和现场数据研究的支持的感激之情。

(1).S. Frimpong, R. M. M. Changirwa, E. Asa and J. Szymanski, “Mechanics of Oil sands Slurry Flow in a Flexible Pipeline System,” International Journal of Surface Mining, Vol. 16, No. 2, 2002, pp. 105-121. doi:10.1076/ijsm.16.2.105.3401

(2)S. Frimpong, O. R. Ayodele and J. Szymanski, “Numerical Simulation Software for Oil sands Slurry Flow in Flexible Pipelines,” SCSC 2003 of the Society for Model- ing and Simulation International, Montreal, 20-24 July 2003, pp. 145-154.

(3)S. Frimpong, O. R. Ayodele and J. Szymanski, “Numerical Simulator for Oil Sands Slurry Flow in Flexible Pipe-line,” In proceedings of the 2002 Summer Computer Simulation Conference, San Diego, 8-14 July 2002, pp. 171- 176.

(4)R. Changirwa, M. C. Rockwell, S. Frimpong and J. Szymanski, ”Hybrid Simulation for Oil-Solids-Water Separation in Oil Sands Production,” Minerals Engineering, Vol. 12, No. 12, 2002, pp. 1459-1468. doi:10.1016/S0892-6875(99)00134-X

(5)S. Frimpong, Y. Li and J. Szymanski, “Mechanical Sys-tem Simulation of the Ground Articulating Pipeline Sys-tem,” Fifteenth IASTED International Conference on Modelling and Simulation, Marina Del Rey, 1-3 March 2004, pp. 209-213.

(6)J. E. Shigley and J. J. Uicker, “Theory of Machines and Mechanisms,” McGraw-Hill, New York, 1995.

(7)C. E. Wilson and J. P. Sadler, “Kinematics and Dynamics of Machinery,” 2nd Edition, Harper Collins College Publishers, New York, 1991.

(8)J. L. Synge and B. A. Griffith, “Principles of Mechanics,” McGraw Hill Book Company, New York, 1959.

(9)C. W. Ham, E. J. Crank and W. L. Rogers, “Mechanics of Machinery,” McGraw-Hill, New York, 1958. N. X. Wu, Q. H. Sun, D. L. Yu and Y. A. Pan, “Kinematics Simulation and Application for Machine Tool Based on Multi-body System Theory,” Journal of Southeast University, Vol. 20, No. 2, 2004, pp. 162-164.

(10)N. X. Wu, Q. H. Sun, D. L. Yu and Y. A. Pan, “Kinematics Simulation and Application for Machine Tool Based on Multi-body System Theory,” Journal of South-east University, Vol. 20, No. 2, 2004, pp. 162-164.

(11)H. A. Buchholdt, “An Introduction to Cable Roof Structures ,’’ Thomas Telford, London, 1999.