Abstract
Bulldozers equipped with different types of blades perform a wide range of earthmoving operations, including land grading, embankment construction, overburden removal, short-distance soil transportation, and backfilling of pits and trenches. This study focuses on a relevant issue: investigating the effect of the cutting angle on the volume of the soil prism formed in front of a bulldozer blade with variable geometry. The objective is to develop and experimentally validate a methodology for calculating the main parameters of the bulldozing process with multi-level side section rotation, aimed at optimizing energy consumption and productivity. The research methodology integrates analytical modeling of soil prism geometry and force interactions with physical modeling using scaled setups and equivalent soil media. A rotatable central composite design (RCCD) was applied to study the influence of digging depth (h), soil strength (Cm), and cutting angle (αp) on output parameters such as resistance forces, prism volume, and energy consumption. Statistical analysis was performed at a significance level of α = 0.05. Analytical relationships for determining the soil prism volume (Vpr) were obtained. It was found that reducing the cutting angle from 80° to 40° increases the prism volume by 55%. Experimental results showed that adjusting the cutting angle during excavation from 55° to 40° reduces specific energy consumption by 6% compared with a conventional fixed blade. The proposed methodology provides a justified approach to selecting rational operating parameters of bulldozers depending on soil conditions, reducing digging resistance by 10–30% and increasing productivity through minimized soil loss.