In this work, a cylindroid shaped MB plough is considered among the cylindrical, cylindroid, and helical shapes. A design modification through the surface profile of the MB plough is conducted, and its effect on the soil inversion efficiency is studied. The ploughing process is simulated using a commercial DEM tool, EDEM. We introduce a parameter called the inversion index to represent the inversion efficiency. The furrow formed after the tillage process is divided into three regions along the vertical and horizontal directions that define the movement of the soil particles in the vertical, i.e., inversion and the lateral throw of soil layers along the horizontal, respectively. The inversion index is calculated based on the mass fraction transferred from one region to another. The surface of the mouldboard is generated by extruding the directrix curve onto the generatrix curve. Two different surface profiles have been studied in this work. In the modified design, the turning point of the soil layer is shifted to the cutting edge, and an elliptical curve is used instead of a straight line, as seen in the original design. An assembly of three mouldboards separated by a spacing of 100 mm oriented at 45° to a common arm attached to the tractor.

The ploughing process is simulated using EDEM software, considering mono-sized soil particles of radius 2 mm with a ploughing speed of 1 m/s and 0.5 m/s. Hertz-Midlin with linear cohesion V2 model is used with a cohesion energy density of 30,000 J/m^3. The simulation is performed for a particular set of soil parameters with a static angle of repose of 28.5° for two different tools. The soil bed is prepared with a length of 3 m, a width of 0.5 m, and a height of 0.1 m. The depth of cut of the tool is 0.0375 m. The furrow slice is vertically divided into two layers, i.e., top and bottom layers with equal width. The two furrows formed by the centre and left plough are studied. The results showed an increase in inversion index of 23.08%, 32.95%, and 9.96% for the left furrow and 35.08%, 17.81%, and 14.29% for the centre furrow formed by the MB plough with a modified turning point position on an elliptic surface profile at velocities of 0.5, 0.8, and 1.0 m/s, respectively. Furthermore, we have employed the Archard wear model to estimate the wear on the tool due to soil-tool interaction. The results show an impressive wear reduction of approximately 9–23.30% for the modified designs.