Parameters calibration and experimentation of a discrete element model for tomato stems

Parameters calibration and experimentation of a discrete element model for tomato stems | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Parameters calibration and experimentation of a discrete element model for tomato stems Xifeng Liang, Taiyang Wang, Wenshuo Gao, Hui Zhang, Yebo Qin This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9042683/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 12 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The effective optimization of tomato pruning robots was hindered by the lack of accurate simulation models for the shearing process of tomato stems and precise calibration and optimization methods for bonding parameters to predict shearing force. This paper proposed a simulation model along with a bonding parameter calibration method. Taking shearing force as the evaluation metric, a two-level factorial experiment was conducted to screen for significant parameters. A steepest ascent experiment was employed to determine the optimal range of these significant parameters. Then a Box-Behnken design was implemented, and the optimal combination of bonding parameters was derived based on the established regression model. Finally, comparative experiments were conducted to validate the simulation's shearing performance under this optimal parameter set. The results show that the optimal combination for the tomato stem model bonding parameters was a normal stiffness x 3 = 2.05×10⁸ N·m⁻³, tangential stiffness x₈=1.62×10⁸ N·m⁻³, and a bonding radius x₂₁=3.26×10⁻⁴ m. The optimized model reduced the shearing force simulation error by 75.8 and 43.7 percentage points compared to the traditional and pre-optimization models. These results demonstrate that the calibrated parameters of the simulation model are accurate and reliable. It can provide valuable parameters for optimizing the design of a tomato pruning robot. Physical sciences/Engineering Physical sciences/Materials science Physical sciences/Mathematics and computing pruning robot tomato stems shear simulation Box-Behnken error reduction Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviews received at journal 18 May, 2026 Reviews received at journal 17 May, 2026 Reviews received at journal 29 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 27 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 27 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 25 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 24 Apr, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 24 Apr, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 27 Mar, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 18 Mar, 2026 First submitted to journal 18 Mar, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9042683","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":631622395,"identity":"7e62ced2-e386-4740-a0ba-0611a8960cf6","order_by":0,"name":"Xifeng Liang","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAtklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACPgbGBwwSBQxybOztB4jTwsbAbMAgYcBgzMdzJoEELQwGDInzJBwMiNQikcz4wcLgcHqbBEMCw4+KbURo4TnMLCFhcDi3TbrxAGPPmdtEaGHvP8YA1iJzIIGZsY0YLczMbCAt6WwSCQZEamFvBmtJIEELxC/phm3AQD5IlF/4gSH2WaLCWl6+vf3ggx8VRGgBAWYJKOMAceqBgPED0UpHwSgYBaNgRAIAIwMw9QdkJ4UAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"China Jiliang University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xifeng","middleName":"","lastName":"Liang","suffix":""},{"id":631622396,"identity":"e1414265-06b9-4b70-8e51-bd79f3eae176","order_by":1,"name":"Taiyang Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"China Jiliang University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Taiyang","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":631622397,"identity":"cfad33e9-b112-401d-b085-a60488a286d4","order_by":2,"name":"Wenshuo Gao","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"China Jiliang University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wenshuo","middleName":"","lastName":"Gao","suffix":""},{"id":631622398,"identity":"248c251c-0e4c-47cc-92e2-3d500673b22c","order_by":3,"name":"Hui Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Zhejiang Provincial Agricultural Technology Extension Center","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hui","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":631622399,"identity":"828f6982-4b41-41ec-9237-ad4a1508fbfa","order_by":4,"name":"Yebo Qin","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Zhejiang Provincial Agricultural Technology Extension Center","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yebo","middleName":"","lastName":"Qin","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-05 16:53:03","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9042683/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9042683/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":108533443,"identity":"ce17444d-bf0d-40ae-bf3e-6ed83cadb1f4","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-05-05 16:25:34","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":483603,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Parameterscalibrationandexperimentationofadiscreteelementmodelfortomatostems.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9042683/v1_covered_f47cac21-5455-4bc8-b4a3-1a608dc84e56.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Parameters calibration and experimentation of a discrete element model for tomato stems","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"pruning robot, tomato stems, shear simulation, Box-Behnken, error reduction","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9042683/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9042683/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe effective optimization of tomato pruning robots was hindered by the lack of accurate simulation models for the shearing process of tomato stems and precise calibration and optimization methods for bonding parameters to predict shearing force. This paper proposed a simulation model along with a bonding parameter calibration method. Taking shearing force as the evaluation metric, a two-level factorial experiment was conducted to screen for significant parameters. A steepest ascent experiment was employed to determine the optimal range of these significant parameters. Then a Box-Behnken design was implemented, and the optimal combination of bonding parameters was derived based on the established regression model. Finally, comparative experiments were conducted to validate the simulation's shearing performance under this optimal parameter set. The results show that the optimal combination for the tomato stem model bonding parameters was a normal stiffness x\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;2.05\u0026times;10⁸ N\u0026middot;m⁻\u0026sup3;, tangential stiffness x₈=1.62\u0026times;10⁸ N\u0026middot;m⁻\u0026sup3;, and a bonding radius x₂₁=3.26\u0026times;10⁻⁴ m. The optimized model reduced the shearing force simulation error by 75.8 and 43.7 percentage points compared to the traditional and pre-optimization models. These results demonstrate that the calibrated parameters of the simulation model are accurate and reliable. It can provide valuable parameters for optimizing the design of a tomato pruning robot.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Parameters calibration and experimentation of a discrete element model for tomato stems","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-05-05 16:25:01","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9042683/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-05-18T14:20:51+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-05-17T19:33:00+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-04-29T09:06:50+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"30534677410175133986055554531410677001","date":"2026-04-27T10:09:31+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"143488377144406281867274033129631676811","date":"2026-04-27T09:33:13+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"28533852776551710457115795985160138565","date":"2026-04-26T17:22:58+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"2339728759096949852757530562852244870","date":"2026-04-25T12:19:20+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"272187053851502989276407269123705913272","date":"2026-04-24T17:34:06+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2026-04-24T17:20:58+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2026-03-27T08:41:40+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2026-03-18T07:36:27+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Scientific Reports","date":"2026-03-18T05:54:21+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"7c5cfadb-055f-4a68-9600-d0e83cf057c5","owner":[],"postedDate":"May 5th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-05-18T14:20:51+00:00","index":36,"fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-05-17T19:33:00+00:00","index":35,"fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-04-29T09:06:50+00:00","index":34,"fulltext":""}],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":67229542,"name":"Physical sciences/Engineering"},{"id":67229543,"name":"Physical sciences/Materials science"},{"id":67229544,"name":"Physical sciences/Mathematics and computing"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-05T16:25:01+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-05-05 16:25:01","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9042683","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9042683","identity":"rs-9042683","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}