Determination of specific rock cutting forces and energy by numerical simulation of disc cutter performance in a full-section tunneling machine

Mohammadi, Reza; Khademi Hamidi, Jafar; Samimi Namin, Farhad

Determination of specific rock cutting forces and energy by numerical simulation of disc cutter performance in a full-section tunneling machine

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Reza Mohammadi ¹

Jafar Khademi Hamidi ²

Farhad Samimi Namin ¹

¹ Faculty of Mining Engineering, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran.

² Faculty of Technology and Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Determining the thrust, torque, and power requirements of a full-section tunneling machine (TBM) requires estimating the forces acting on a disk cutter. In this study, a linear shear test (LCM) of rock was simulated using the commercial finite element code ABAQUS to determine the forces and specific shear energy. Laboratory results from cutting Indiana limestone were used to verify the model. After solving the proposed model, the forces acting on the disk were determined in three directions. Next, using a code developed for this purpose in the MATLAB software environment, the average forces were calculated. A comparison of the results from the numerical simulation and the linear shear test shows an error percentage of 11.1% for the normal force, 5.6% for the rolling force, and 10% for the lateral force. Also, the cutting coefficient obtained from numerical simulation was obtained with values of 0.09, 0.1 and 0.13 at three cutting depths of 2.5, 5 and 7.5 mm, which shows good agreement compared to the laboratory test results. At the end of the study, the specific energy obtained from the rock cutting simulation was calculated.

Keywords

Rock cutting

disc cutter

tunnel boring machine

ABAQUS software

linear cutting test