SIMULATION METHOD AND EXPERIMENTAL VALIDATION BASED ON LS-DYNA LASER TBM DISC CUTTER RING FOR ROCK BREAKING

When the tunnel boring machine (TBM) encounters extreme geological conditions characterized by "three highs" (high bearing pressure, high strength, and high quartz content), the overall cutting performance of TBM disc cutters is significantly reduced. This paper proposes a laser-assisted rock breaking method to enhance the efficiency of disc cutter rock breaking and introduces a simulation modeling approach to mitigate the risks and experimental costs associated with the prospective study of laser-assisted disc cutter rock breaking. Using laser drilling-assisted scaled disc cutter penetration in granite as an example, synergistic simulations and experiments are conducted at different cutter-hole distances with a given hole-hole distance of 2mm. The feasibility and effectiveness of this method are discussed in terms of macroscopic rock fragmentation, rock breaking load, and specific energy (SE).The results indicate that the presence of laser holes facilitates rock breaking by the disc cutter, with the best effect observed when the cutter-hole distances is 5 mm.