Bucket wheel excavators: Dynamic response as a criterion for validation of the total number of buckets

•A method of selection and validation of the total number of buckets was developed.•The method used for the research is based on the dynamic response analysis.•Limiting accelerations were used as cut off criteria. An original method for validation of the number of buckets on the working device of a bucket wheel excavator based on the dynamic response of its slewing superstructure (SS) is presented. A set of 16 seemingly acceptable solutions which satisfied the rigid design restrictions, based on the preservation of the existing (a) bucket wheel drivetrain, (b) theoretical capacity, (c) characteristics of the excavated soil and (d) position of the superstructure centre of gravity (CoG), was analysed. Already on the basis of the limiting vertical and lateral accelerations of the bucket wheel centre, which represents a well-grounded indicator of its dynamic behaviour prescribed by the code DIN 22261-2, 14 out of 16 analysed design variants have been discarded, reducing the set of possible solutions to only two – the originally-designed variant (with 17 buckets), and the variant with 20 buckets. Conclusions on the validity of these two design variants were derived on the basis of the dynamic response analysis of the referent points of the SS. The analysis of the impact of soiling on the dynamic response of the SS has shown that negative dynamic effects, observed in the preceding analysis of the originally-designed solution, increase with the amount of the adhered material. Although the redesigned variant with 20 buckets has proven as the only suitable solution from the standpoint of dynamic behaviour of the SS, the results have to be assessed carefully due to the fact that the reduction of the mass of the bucket wheel steel structure by more than 14% leads to the appearance of unfavourable dynamic effects, even though the SS CoG position is preserved.