Reducing sliding resistance of soil against bulldozing plates by unsmoothed bionics surfaces

Unsmoothed bulldozing plates were designed and tested by imitating the surface morphology of the top of the head of the dung beetle (Ohthophagus lenzii harold) on the D-optimum theory. The results showed that the bulldozing resistance of the unsmoothed plates was, on average, reduced by 13.02% and that of the optimum plate was reduced by 18.09% in comparison with a conventional (that is, smooth) plate. The mechanism of reducing sliding resistance of the unsmoothed surfaces was discussed.