Monitoring of drill bit wear using sound and vibration signals analysis recorded during rock drilling operations

The drill bit has significant importance as a tool for breaking rocks in many industries such as mining, petroleum, and civil engineering. Its durability and effectiveness directly impact crucial aspects like drilling expenses, time efficiency, productivity, and safety. Therefore, it is vital to comprehend the rock-bit behavior, including the wear of the bit at the bottom of the well. Consequently, there is a need to establish a model for the purpose of assessing the level of bit wear. This paper introduces a novel approach for examining the correlation between drilling signals and the state of bit wear in drilling operations conducted at a laboratory scale. In this work, an experimental study of the rock drilling process was performed on 30 different rock samples, and sound and vibration signals were collected during the drilling process. Consequently, a range of signal processing techniques was utilized to extract distinctive characteristics from the vibro-acoustic signals in order to indicate the degree of bit wear. Spectral analysis of the signals revealed that the magnitude of rock drilling noise and bit vibration features is influenced by the progressive wear of the bits, which could be utilized as an indicator of the wear conditions of the bits during the drilling process. The findings of this study indicate that the recorded vibro-acoustic signals serve as a comprehensive source of information, providing insights into the condition of the rock drilling bits. The provided information possesses the potential to serve as the foundation for an industrial bit condition monitoring system capable of identifying and notifying the user about excessive wear.