• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.386-396
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• 2022

To analyze the influence of variables of roadheaders, the linear cutting testing data of pick cutter were collected from the former literatures. The input factors were set up as uniaxial compressive strength, cutting depth, cutting spacing, attack angle, skew angle, and output factors were determined as specific energy, average cutting force, maximum cutting force, average vertical force, and maximum vertical force. After composing a table of the design of experiment (DOE). The contribution level of each factor was calculated by analysis of variance (ANOVA). As a result, the factors having greatest influence on cutting force and specific energy were uniaxial compressive strength and cutting spacing.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.167-181
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• 2021

New type of rock excavation method using a waterjet system is being developed to secure economic feasibility and to reduce vibrations during excavation. In waterjet rock excavation, overlapping of cutting width is essential for high efficiency. In this study, cutting experiments for granite specimens were performed using abrasive waterjet system according to the overlapping ratio and standoff distance. Based on the experimental results, the granite cutting performance was analyzed according to the overlapping ratio. In addition, removal shapes of the cross-section were analyzed in terms of the cutting depth, width, and volume after waterjet cutting. When the overlapping ratio is less than 58%, rock specimens are partially removed due to the insufficient overlapping ratio. However, when the overlapping ratio exceeds 67%, overcutting phenomenon is observed. For the partial overlapping ratio (i.e., 25~75%), cutting efficiency is increased in the removal volume. This study is expected to be used as the important basic data for determining the optimum overlapping ratio when the waterjet system is applied for rock excavation.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.54-65
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• 2013

The LCM (Linear Cutting Machine) test is one of the most powerful and reliable methods for designing the disc cutter and for predicting the TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine) performance. It has an advantage to predict the actual load on disc cutter from the laboratory test on the real-size large rock samples, however, it also has a disadvantage to transport and/or prepare the large rock samples and to need an extra cost for experiment. In order to overcome this problem, lots of numerical studies have been performed. In this study, the PFC3D (Particle Flow Code in 3 Dimension) has been adopted for numerical analysis on optimum cutter spacing and failure aspects of Busan Tuff. The optimum cutting condition with s/p ratio of 16 and minimum specific energy of $14MJ/m^3$ was derived from numerical analyses. The cutter spacing for Busan Tuff had the good agreements with those of LCM test and numerical analysis by finite element method.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.440-459
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• 2021

Roadheaders have begun to be adopted in Korean tunneling sites. The performance prediction models proposed by the manufacturer are used by Korean construction companies. The models use UCS (uniaxial compressive strength) value to predict the net cutting rate, but the rock specimens conducted for the uniaxial compression test have 1.0 of the diameter to length ratio. It has been reported that the specimen shape generally influences the rock strength. The previous references studying the shape effect were cited, and the UCS data of Korean rocks are also updated to analyze the shape effect on UCS. The cause of effect was discussed by previous theory. The change amount of UCS values of Korean rocks was estimated by the data, and the modified prediction model for NCR was finally suggested.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.519-533
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• 2023

In this study, the linear cutting tests of pick cutters were carried out on a granitic rock with the average compressive strength over 100 MPa. From the tests, the correlation between the cutter acting force and the temperature measured by infrared thermal imaging camera during rock cutting was analyzed. In every experimental condition, the maximum temperature was measured at the rock surface where the chipping occurred, and the temperature generated in the rock was closely correlated with the cutter acting force. On the other hand, the temperature of a pick cutter increased up to only 36℃ above the ambient temperature, and the correlation with the cutter force was not obvious. This can be attributed to the short cutting distance under laboratory conditions and the high thermal conductivity of the tungsten carbide inserts. However, the relatively high temperature of the tungsten carbide inserts was found to be maintained. Therefore, it is recommended that a reinforcement between the insert and the head of a pick cutter or the quality improvement of silvering brazing in the production of a cutter is necessary to maintain the high cutting performance of a pick cutter.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.103-113
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• 2023

This study focused on understanding the relationship between the design of a tunnel boring machine disc cutter ring and its rock-breaking efficiency, as well as the applicable conditions of different cutter ring types. The discrete element method was used to establish a numerical model of the rock-breaking process using disc cutters with different ring types to reveal the development of rock damage cracks and variation in cutter penetration load. The calculation results indicate that a sharp-edged (V-shaped) disc cutter penetrates a rock mass to a given depth with the lowest load, resulting in more intermediate cracks and few lateral cracks, which leads to difficulty in crack combination. Furthermore, the poor wear resistance of a conventional V-shaped cutter can lead to an exponential increase in the penetration load after cutter ring wear. In contrast, constant-cross-section (CCS) disc cutters have the highest quantity of crack extensions after penetrating rock, but also require the highest penetration loads. An arch-edged (U-shaped) disc cutter is more moderate than the aforementioned types with sufficient intermediate and lateral crack propagation after cutting into rock under a suitable penetration load. Additionally, we found that the cutter ring wedge angle and edge width heavily influence cutter rock-breaking efficiency and that a disc cutter with a 16 to 22 mm edge width and 20° to 30° wedge angle exhibits high performance. Compared to V-shaped and U-shaped cutters, the CCS cutter is more suitable for soft or medium-strength rocks, where the penetration load is relatively small. Additionally, two typical case studies were selected to verify that replacing a CCS cutter with a U-shaped or optimized V-shaped disc cutter can increase cutting efficiency when encountering hard rocks.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.1-9
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• 2016

The shaped charge were made for identifying the effect of controled blasting using relatively low VOD explosive for cutting rock mass with changing quality and thickness of metal liner. The metal liner was attached on both sides of a charge for directional cutting, when the shaped charge exploded in rock mass. Also, a efficiency of shaped charge was identified by concrete member experiment. And a center guide used for maintaining stand-off between shaped charge and hole wall. A case of Fe liner of thickness 0.8mm formed the deepest notch of experiments and the directional cutting of concrete member was identified.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.429-437
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• 2017

In this study, the effect of the tensile strength and ratio of disc spacing to penetration depth on the efficiency of tunnel boring machine (TBM) is investigated using Particle flow code (PFC) in two dimensions. Models with dimensions of $150{\times}70mm$ made of rocks with four different tensile strength values of 5 MPa, 10 MPa, 15 MPa and 20 MPa were separately analyzed and two "U" shape cutters with width of 10 mm were penetrated into the rock model by velocity rate of 0.1 mm/s. The spacing between cutters was also varied in this study. Failure patterns for 5 different penetration depths of 3 mm, 4 mm, 5 mm, 6 mm, and 7 mm were registered. Totally 100 indentation test were performed to study the optimal tool-rock interaction. An equation relating mechanical rock properties with geometric characteristics for the optimal TBM performance is proposed. The results of numerical simulations show that the effective rock-cutting condition corresponding to the minimum specific energy can be estimated by an optimized disc spacing to penetration depth, which, in fact, is found to be proportional to the rock's tensile strength.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.141-159
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• 2017

A pick cutter is a rock-cutting tool used in partial-face excavation machines such as roadheaders, and its quality is a key element influencing the excavation performance and efficiency of such machines. In this study, pick cutters with hardfacing deposits applied to a tungsten carbide insert were made with aim of increasing their durability and wear resistance. They were field-tested by being installed in a roadheader and compared with conventional pick cutters under the same excavation conditions for 24 hours. The hardfaced pick cutters showed much smaller weight loss after excavation, and therefore better excavation performance, than the conventional pick cutters. In particular, the damage to and detachment (loss) of tungsten carbide inserts was minimal in the hardfaced pick cutters. A detailed inspection using scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry and three-dimensional X-ray computed tomography scanning revealed no macro- or micro-cracks in the pick cutters. The reason for the absence of cracks may be that the heads of pick cutters are mechanically worn after the tungsten carbide inserts have been worn and damaged. However, scanning revealed the presence of voids between tungsten carbide inserts and pick cutter heads. This discovery of voids indicates the need to improve production processes in order to guarantee a higher quality of pick cutters.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.651-669
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• 2018

This study suggests the prediction model to estimate the specific energy of a pick cutter using a gene expression programming (GEP) and particle swarm optimization (PSO). Estimating the performance of mechanical excavators is of crucial importance in early design stage of tunnelling projects, and the specific energy (SE) based approach serves as a standard performance prediction procedure that is applicable to all excavation machines. The purpose of this research, is to investigate the relationship between UCS and BTS, penetration depth, cut spacing, and SE. A total of 46 full-scale linear cutting test results using pick cutters and different values of depth of cut and cut spacing on various rock types was collected from the previous study for the analysis. The Mean Squared Error (MSE) associated with the conventional Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) method is more than two times larger than the MSE generated by GEP-PSO algorithm. The $R^2$ value associated with the GEP-PSO algorithm, is about 0.13 higher than the $R^2$ associated with MLR.