Experimental and Simulation Study on the Hard Rock–Breaking Characteristics of Disk Cutter under the Water Jet Precutting Kerf
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 23, Issue 4
Abstract
The effect of water jet kerf depth (H) and cut spacing (S) on the rock-breaking performance of a disc cutter under water jet precutting kerf was investigated through a full-scale linear cutting test and numerical analysis with a discrete element method (DEM). Rock-breaking force, rock chip, and rock-breaking efficiency are used to evaluate the rock-breaking performance. The rock-breaking experimental results show that the rock failure patterns are closely related to H and S, and distinct rock failure patterns are shown for the different rock-breaking parameters. In addition, this study reveals the variation law of rock-breaking force and specific energy (SE) consumption with H and S. The difference in crack expansion between rock-breaking under conventional and precutting kerf conditions was compared with numerical simulations. The lateral cracks tend to expand toward the bottom of the precutting kerf and are more prone to produce large-sized rock chips in the precutting kerf condition. In addition, the increased H promotes the expansion of the vertical and lateral cracks, which resulted in different rock failure patterns. Therefore, the numerical, and experimental results show that the rock-breaking of the disc cutter under the precutting kerf conditions is promising, which significantly improves the rock-breaking performance of the disc cutter in hard rock conditions.
Practical Applications
Tunnel boring machines (TBMs) are large and complex engineering equipment that are used to complete tunneling operations under removable steel shields. They are widely used in underground space projects, such as subways, water conservancies, and mines. However, with the development of underground space engineering, an increasing number of projects are being carried out under high-strength hard rock geology. When TBMs excavate hard rock, problems, such as low rock-breaking efficiency, slow propulsion speed, and severe tool wear can occur. Therefore, innovative, and efficient rock-breaking methods are necessary for extreme construction conditions. Rock-breaking by water jet-assisted disc cutters could reduce the disc cutter's rock-breaking load and improve the disc cutter's rock-breaking efficiency, which could have broad development prospects. Therefore, in this study rock-breaking experiments with a disc cutter under water jet precutting kerf conditions were carried out on the multifunctional rock-breaking experimental bench, which investigated the effect of H and S on the rock-breaking performance. This could help to further understand the rock-breaking mechanism of a disc cutter under a water jet precutting kerf and provide a reference for the cutter head design of high-pressure water jet-assisted rock-breaking TBMs.
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Acknowledgments
This study is supported by Special funding support for the construction of innovative provinces in Hunan Province (2019GK1010), Project supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2020YFF0426370), a project supported by the Water Conservancy Technology Demonstration of China (SF-202010), Independent Exploration and Innovation Program of Central South University (2021zzts0136), Postgraduate Scientific Research Innovation Project of Hunan Province (CX20210212).
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 23 • Issue 4 • April 2023
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© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: May 4, 2022
Accepted: Oct 28, 2022
Published online: Feb 14, 2023
Published in print: Apr 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Jul 14, 2023
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