Coal Rock Breaking Simulation and Cutting Performance Analysis of Disc Cutters

Abstract

The coal rock breaking ability of disc cutters directly affects the construction efficiency and safety of rescue tunnels in collapsed coal rock formations. This paper establishes the plastic constitutive relationship under the Drucker-Prager (D-P) plasticity criterion, builds up a finite-element analysis (FEA) model for the coal rock breaking with a single cutter on Abaqus FEA, and explores the influence laws of different penetrations and cutting velocities on the rock breaking performance of the cutter. The results show that: as the penetration increased from 3.0 mm to 7.0 mm, the mean vertical force of the cutter grew from 16.97 kN to 23.36 kN, and the mean rolling force rose from 1.79 kN to 3.95 kN. The increase of the cutter's vertical force improves the cutting efficiency, but intensifies the vertical impact, which undermines construction safety. As the cutting velocity increased from 0.6 rad/s to 1.5 rad/s, the mean vertical force grew from 15.64 kN to 22.94 kN, and the mean rolling force rose from 1.46 kN to 4.23 kN. With the increase of cutting velocity, the cutting force grew at an increasing speed. The increase of cutting velocity can improve cutting efficiency, but an excessively fast cutting velocity will weaken the stability of the cutting operation, and add to the wear of the tool. The research method provides theoretical supports to the cutterhead design of tunnel boring machine (TBM) and tunnelling control in broken coal rock formation.

Study on rock-breaking efficiency evaluation of TBM disc cutters based on Rostami prediction equations

“…The working principle of the disc cutter involves the combined effect of the hydraulic propulsion and rotary system on the excavation surface to break the rock (Hu et al, 2022). Previous studies have shown that the load and impact are directly applied on the disc cutter and the tunneling efficiency and reliability of TBM is closely related to its rock-breaking condition (Zhang et al, 2021;Li et al, 2022).…”

Development and Performance Evaluation of Graphene-Enhanced Polycrystalline Diamond Compact Cutter

“…The Polycrystalline Diamond Compact (PDC) bits pull and shear rock by means of PDC cutters, which has the advantage of high rock breaking efficiency in soft to medium hard formations. However, when drilling into complex and hard formations, PDC bit is subjected to serious impact and vibration, and PDC cutters are often worn seriously or even broken, which results in short bit life and low drilling efficiency [1][2][3][4].…”