Optimum Redesign of an Agricultural Water Bowser

Abstract

There are many types of agricultural water bowsers on the market, which vary in geometry and size. However, in all such bowsers there are “unused spaces„ between the bottom of the tank and the axle. The objective of this research was to design an agricultural water bowser with improved capacity by exploiting the “unused spaces„. This would allow a sufficient amount of water to be supplied to wide areas in a short time. Each concept of agricultural water bowser was generated as an integrated chassis water tank to be hitched to a tractor, and the best concept was chosen using a multi-criteria decision-making methodology (house of quality matrix and Pugh selection matrix). The selected design consisted of an U-shaped angle bent bottom sheet welded to a top circular sheet. The Agreement Dangerous Road (ADR) European standard was used for the sizing of the bowser and the selected material was S275 steel. The resultant forces on the shell of the bowser were calculated using analytical methods. A 3-D model of the bowser was developed in SolidWorks 2015, and the static structural analysis tool was used to examine stresses on the body for various types of loading, roads, and driving maneuvers. The shape and size of the bottom part of the proposed bowser increased the capacity of the tank by 20.3%.

Keywords

• agricultural water bowser
• finite element analysis
• house of quality
• Pugh selection matrix
• roll stability