Numerical modelling of rock fragmentation for TBM based on peridynamics

Abstract

With the rapid development of tunnelling engineering construction, especially the deep buried long tunnels, the full-face hard rock tunnel boring machines (TBMs) have been widely used in excavation process because of its significant advantages including fast advance rate, excellent safety, low disturbance to surrounding rock, and so on. Figuring out clearly the rock fragmentation mechanism is very important for a tunnel project, which attracts extensive attention worldwide all the time. In this study, a 3D model of rock fragmentation induced by a disc cutter was established based on peridynamic theory (PD) to explore and comprehend it. Based on the reasonable values of the model parameters, a series of numerical simulation tests were implemented to investigate the evolution cracks with increase of the penetration. The simulation results shown that the entire process of rock breaking had a good agreement by comparing with results in existing literature. In this paper, the proposed model based on PD provided a novel approach to study further the rock fragmentation mechanism taking more complex conditions into consideration in the future.