The static structural behavior of an four row planter experimental frame for family farming was tested using the Finite Element Analysis numerical technique, which took into account the efforts that this machine would be subjected, when suspended over the ground by the three-point hitch of the tractor. To validate the implemented model by SolidWorks Simulation, a real scale prototype was submitted to vertical loads to compare the actual structural displacement to the software calculated displacement. Two studies were made from the calculation model of structural displacement; in the first, it was not included the three- point hitch brackets for calculation, and the measured displacements were not comparable to the calculated ones. In the second study, when hitches were included in the calculation, the results were comparable to those obtained in practice. Therefore, it was concluded that the second study is valid and the frame structure calculations performed by the software are reliable.
Mechanization; family farming; displacements; numerical methods
