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Characterization of the Interactions between Cutting Tools and Rocks during Mechanized Tunneling from a Metallurgical and Rock Mechanical Point of View

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A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 6936

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Hong-Wei Yang

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Guest Editor

School of Civil Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai 519000, China
Interests: geotechnical engineering; in-situ testing method; drilling and tunneling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Shaofeng Wang

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Co-Guest Editor

School of Resources and Safety Enginerring, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China
Interests: rock mechanics; geomechanics; geomaterials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Yu Chen

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Co-Guest Editor

School of Civil Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai 519082, China
Interests: rock mechanics; underground engineering; numerical simulation in multi-field and phase coupling; geothermal tunnel
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Yilin Gui

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Co-Guest Editor

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane City, QLD 4000, Australia
Interests: rock dynamics; mining engineering; rock and soil mechanics; computational geomechanics

Dr. Yinlin Ji

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Co-Guest Editor

Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Interests: geoenergy; geomechanics; faulting mechanics; underground engineering; human-induced seismicity; experimental rock mechanics/physics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is a collection of contributions to the topic entitled ‘Characterization of the Interactions between Cutting Tools and Rocks during Mechanized Tunneling from a Metallurgical and Rock Mechanical Point of View’. The interaction between cutting tools and rocks leading to rock breakage is a basic process underlying many engineering practices, such as in drilling, mechanized tunneling and mining. An accurate characterization of such an interaction is pivotal and beneficial to promote the cutting efficiency and to reduce accidents such as extreme tool wear and jamming of the machine, through the optimized design of cutting tools in terms of shape, material and distribution according to different geological conditions. A large number of studies have been conducted in order to understand the failure process of rocks during mechanized tunneling. Yet, most of them are under simplified conditions without considering the complex geological conditions normally encountered in practice, such as elevated confining pressure, faults, moisture content, etc. Therefore, for the selection of operational parameters and the optimization of cutting tools appropriate to realistic geological conditions in mechanized tunneling, an improved understanding of the interaction between cutting tools and rocks shall be achieved. To this end, this Special Issue welcomes contributions to this specific topic, including but not limited to, the following areas:

Fundamentals of rock behaviors, including brittle fracturing and deformation;
Theoretical analysis of the interactions between cutting tools and rocks;
Novel experimental methods to model the interaction between cutting tools and rocks;
Advanced experimental techniques to monitor the failure process;
Numerical investigations using methods such as the discrete element method, finite element method, etc.

Dr. Hong-Wei Yang
Prof. Dr. Shaofeng Wang
Dr. Yu Chen
Dr. Yilin Gui
Dr. Yinlin Ji
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

rock cutting
rock indentation
brittle fracturing
confining pressures
cracking process
fracture mechanics

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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29 pages, 31830 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mechanical Behaviour of Anchored Rock Containing Weak Interlayer under Uniaxial Compression: Laboratory Test and Coupled DEM–FEM Simulation

by Xinyang Luo, Ping Cao, Taoying Liu, Qingxiong Zhao, Gang Meng, Zhi Fan and Weiping Xie

Minerals 2022, 12(4), 492; https://doi.org/10.3390/min12040492 - 17 Apr 2022

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 1935

Abstract

The reason for instability in a rock mass with a weak interlayer is not only the sliding failure of the rock interlayer structural plane but also the tip crack propagation caused by the stress concentration at the tip of the interlayer. In this study, a uniaxial compression test of an anchored rock mass with a weak interlayer was carried out to determine the influence of the anchorage on the failure pattern and the strength of samples with different interlayer dip angles. In addition, the coupled DEM–FEM numerical simulation method was used to study the internal stress evolution of the sample and the stress distribution of the anchor under the anchorage effect. The results showed that the anchorage effect on reinforcement and strength enhancement was greatest for the sample with an interlayer dip angle of 30°. Under the anchorage effect, crack initiation was limited and there was more shear failure in the samples. The reinforcement range of the anchorage effect for anchors with restrained ends was larger than for anchors with free ends. When the rock–anchor interface was unbonded, the effect of the free-ends anchor reflected the residual friction, but the restrained-ends anchor still worked by limiting the lateral expansion of the rocks. The stress values and deformation of the anchors decreased gradually with an increase in dip angle. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Characterization of the Interactions between Cutting Tools and Rocks during Mechanized Tunneling from a Metallurgical and Rock Mechanical Point of View)

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20 pages, 5633 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Role of Foam in Improving the Workability of Sand: Insights from DEM

by Zhengri Liu, Shuying Wang, Tongming Qu and Xueyu Geng

Minerals 2022, 12(2), 186; https://doi.org/10.3390/min12020186 - 30 Jan 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2128

Abstract

Foam as a soil conditioner can transform the mechanical properties of the excavated natural muck and lubricate the interface between the cutting tools and muck, thus reducing the tools’ wear and promoting the efficiency of earth pressure balance (EPB) shield tunneling. This paper aims to explore the meso-mechanism of foam in improving the workability of sand by combining discrete element modeling (DEM) with experimental investigations of slump tests. A “sand-foam” mixture DEM model was generated by simplifying the sand grains and foam as individual particles with different properties. The particle-scale simulated parameters were calibrated based on a series of experimental observations. The effects of foam on the inter-particle contact distribution and the evolution of contact forces during the slumping process were investigated in detail through numerical modeling. It was found that injecting foam into sand specimens could increase the coordination number and the contact number around sand grains. Although the force transmission pattern changes from “sand-sand” into the coexistence of “sand-foam”, “sand-sand” and “foam-foam” contacts, the magnitude of contact forces transferred by foam particles is significantly lower than that by sand particles. The presence of foam reduces contact-scale frictional strength and thus reduces the stability of the microstructures of sand. In addition, the normal direction of inter-particle contact force deflects from the vertical to the horizontal and the magnitude of contact force decreases significantly with the influence of foam. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Characterization of the Interactions between Cutting Tools and Rocks during Mechanized Tunneling from a Metallurgical and Rock Mechanical Point of View)

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Other

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11 pages, 2105 KiB

Open AccessTechnical Note

Multi-Morphological Characteristics of a Crushed Granitic Rock of Varying Sizes

by Hongwei Yang, Zhengyang Xu and Yan Cheng

Minerals 2022, 12(5), 522; https://doi.org/10.3390/min12050522 - 22 Apr 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2040

Abstract

Crushed rock fragments are usually a mixture of particles with different sizes and morphologies comprising particle shape and surface texture scales. The significant role of particle morphology in the engineering behavior of granular materials has been increasingly appreciated. However, studies on morphology are mainly on particles of similar sizes, and the few studies that reported particles with varying sizes are limited to particle shape scale alone, especially when 3D morphological characteristics are considered. In this paper, we investigate the multi-scale morphological characteristics of crushed rock with a size ranging from sand to gravel by employing a 3D laser scanner and micro-Computed Tomography (μCT) using quantifiers of sphericity, aspect ratio, and roundness for particle shape, and fractal dimension for surface texture. Crushed granitic rock is used as the testing material to elucidate the morphological characteristics of crushed materials, which are not uncommon in geotechnical applications. For the tested crushed granitic rock, as particle size decreases, the overall shape becomes slightly angular, the corner of the particle becomes more rounded, and the surface becomes smoother. Differences in the morphological descriptors for small particles, mainly those with singular mineral composition, have also been observed and might be explained in terms of hardness and fracture features. The observed dependence of morphological descriptors on particle size and mineralogy bears significance for investigations using reconstructed particles of different sizes using 3D-printing techniques and numerical methods. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Characterization of the Interactions between Cutting Tools and Rocks during Mechanized Tunneling from a Metallurgical and Rock Mechanical Point of View)

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