Evaluation of Granular Soil Abrasivity for Wear on Cutting Tools in Excavation and Tunneling Equipment
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 139, Issue 10
Abstract
This paper presents an experimental study of tool wear and abrasivity of granular soils using a testing system specifically designed for the evaluation of wear on earth-moving machines, especially soft ground tunneling applications where the impact of soil abrasion on the operation is significant. In the testing system, a propeller fitted with steel covers of different hardnesses is rotated at 60 rpm in granular soil samples in a chamber under ambient pressures of up to 10 bar. The developed system can quantitatively assess the abrasive characteristics of soils through the measurement of weight loss on the special covers of the propeller, accounting for soil gradation, mineral composition, sphericity and roundness, water content, and tool hardness. Preliminary test results indicate that water content, particle angularity, and relative hardness between the tool and soil have significant impact on tool wear and soil abrasion. For the tests conducted, it is observed that angular sands produce significantly higher tool wear than round sands in dry condition. Tool wear first increases with water content until the water content reaches approximately 7–10%; beyond this range, higher water content reduces tool wear. An increase in hardness ratio (tool/mineral), corresponding to an increase in tool hardness and/or a decrease in mineral hardness, results in a decrease in tool wear in dry sand mixtures, but this trend is not monotonic for sand mixtures with high water content.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
Support of this study is provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Award No. CMMI-0928757. Several individuals and organizations have collaborated with the authors on this project and their input and participation are gratefully acknowledged. This includes Dr. Angelica Palomino of the University of Tennessee, Dr. Mohsen Mosleh of Howard University in Washington DC, Mr. Hamid Riahi of Haley & Aldrich, the machine shop at the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, and several undergraduate students at the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences and College of Engineering at Pennsylvania State University.
References
Alavi Gharahbagh, E., Rostami, J., and Palomino, A. M. (2011). “New soil abrasion testing method for soft ground tunneling applications.” Tunnel. Undergr. Space Technol. J., 26(5), 604–613.
ASTM. (2007). “Standard test methods for laboratory compaction characteristics of soil using standard effort ().” D698-07, West Conshohocken, PA.
ASTM. (2009). “Standard test methods for laboratory compaction characteristics of soil using modified effort ().” D1557-09, West Conshohocken, PA.
Bauccio, M. (1993). ASM metals reference book, 3rd Ed., ASM International, Russell Township, OH.
Dove, J. E., Bents, D. D., Wang, J., and Gao, B. (2006). “Particle-scale surface interactions of non-dilative interface systems.” Geotextiles Geomembr., 24(3), 156–168.
Frank, G., Shinouda, M. M., and Hauser, G. (2010). “Tunneling on Brightwater West.” Proc., North American Tunneling 2010, L. R. Eckert, M. E. Fowler, M. F. Smithson, and B. F. Townsend, eds., Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, Englewood, CO, 855–862.
Frost, J. D. (2010). Characterization and behavior of interfaces, IOS Press, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Gwildis, U. G., Sass, I., Rostami, J., and Gilbert, M. B. (2010). “Soil abrasion effects on TBM tunneling.” Proc., Int. Tunneling and Underground Space Association World Tunnel Congress, ITA-AITES, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Home, L. 2010. “Trends in the use of TBMs worldwide.” Presentation, Norwegian Tunneling Society (NFF) Tunnel Boring Machine Seminar, NFF, Bergen, Norway.
Kishida, H., and Uesugi, M. (1987). “Tests of the interface between sand and steel in the simple shear apparatus.” Geotechnique, 37(1), 45–52.
Langmaack, L. (2009). “The truth about soil conditioning: Dos and don’ts.” Proc., Int. Tunneling and Underground Space Association World Tunneling Congress, ITA-AITES, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Langmaack, L., Grothen, B., and Jakobsen, P. D. (2010). “Anti-wear and anti-dust solutions for hard rock TBMs.” Proc., Int. Tunneling and Underground Space Association World Tunnel Congress, ITA-AITES, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Moore, D. F. (1975). “Wear and abrasion.” Principles and applications of tribology, D. W. Hopkins, ed., Pergamon Press, Oxford, U.K., 177–202.
Mosleh, M., Alavi Gharahbagh, E., and Rostami, J. (2013). “Effects of relative hardness and moisture on tool wear in soil excavation operations.” Wear, 302(1–2), 1555–1559.
Newby, J. E., Gilbert, M. B., and Maday, L. E. (2008). “Establishing geotechnical baseline values for deep soft ground tunnels.” Proc., North American Tunneling 2008, M. F. Roach, M. R. Kritzer, D. Ofiara, and B. F. Townsend, eds., Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, Englewood, CO, 547–557.
Nilsen, B., Dahl, F., Holzhauser, J., and Raleigh, P. (2006a). “Abrasivity of soils in TBM tunneling.” Tunnels Tunneling Int., March, 36–38.
Nilsen, B., Dahl, F., Holzhauser, J., and Raleigh, P. (2006b). “Abrasivity testing for rock and soils.” Tunnels Tunneling Int., April, 47–49.
Nilsen, B., Dahl, F., Holzhauser, J., and Raleigh, P. (2006c). “SAT: NTNU's new soil abrasion test.” Tunnels Tunneling Int., May, 43–45.
Nilsen, B., Dahl, F., Holzhauser, J., and Raleigh, P. (2007). “New test methodology for estimating the abrasiveness of soils for TBM tunneling.” Proc., Rapid Excavation and Tunneling Conf., M. T. Traylor, and J. W. Townsend, eds., Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, Englewood, CO, 104–116.
Oberg, E. (1997). Machinery’s handbook, 25th Ed., Industrial Press, South Norwalk, CT.
Rostami, J., Alavi Gharahbagh, E., Palomino, A. M., and Mosleh, M. (2012). “Development of soil abrasivity testing for soft ground tunneling using shield machines.” Tunn. Undergr. Space Technol., 28, 245–256.
Shinouda, M. M., Frank, G., and Hauser, G. (2009). “Planning and preparation for tunneling at Brightwater West.” Proc., Rapid Excavation and Tunneling Conf., G. Almeraris, and B. Mariucci, eds., Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, Englewood, CO, 1154–1170.
Shinouda, M. M., Gwildis, G. U., Wang, P., and Hoddar, W. (2011). “Cutterhead maintenance for EPB tunnel boring machines.” Proc., Rapid Excavation and Tunneling Conf., S. Redmond, and V. Romero, eds., Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration, Englewood, CO, 1068–1082.
Swanson, P. A. (1993). “Comparison of laboratory abrasion tests and field tests of materials used in tillage equipment.” Tribology: Wear test selection for design and application, STP 1199, A. W. Ruff, and R. Bayer, eds., ASTM, West Conshohocken, PA, 80–99.
Thuro, K., Singer, J., Kasling, H., and Bauer, M. (2007). “Determining abrasivity with the LCPC test.” Proc., 1st Canada-U.S. Rock Mechanics Symp., Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Tsubakihara, Y., Kishida, H., and Nishiyama, T. (1993). “Friction between cohesive soils and steel.” Soils Found., 33(2), 145–156.
Zum Gahr, K. H. (1987). Microstructure and wear of materials, Tribology Series 10, Elsevier, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Aug 1, 2012
Accepted: Jan 16, 2013
Published online: Jan 18, 2013
Published in print: Oct 1, 2013
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.