Deep-sea soft soil and deep-sea mining vehicle interaction: From soil properties to locomotion performance
Ning Zhang, Weikun Zhai, Shiyang Yin, Xuguang Chen, Jianxin Xia, Lubao Luan, Aoshuang Zhai
Abstract
The vast ocean floor holds abundant mineral resources, characterised by a wide variety, large reserves, and high grade. It has tremendous prospects for development and utilisation. Necessitating intensified efforts in key core technology development for deep-sea mineral resource exploitation. As crucial equipment in the field of deep-sea mining engineering, the performance and reliability of heavy-duty equipment for deep-sea mining play a critical role in the development of deep-sea resources. This paper provides a systematic analysis of the development status of deep-sea mining vehicles both domestically and internationally. Starting from the fundamental scientific issues of soil-vehicle interactions, it reviews the progress of research on the mechanical characteristics of deep-sea soft soil, stress response mechanisms under mining vehicle loading, and the behavior of track-soft soil interface contact. The evolution of the walking performance and motion behavior of deep-sea mining vehicles is summarized, and existing issues and future research priorities related to the coupling effect between deep-sea soft soil and dynamic equipment are identified.