Integrated modeling of the ultrasonic/sonic drill/corer - Procedure and analysis results

Rock and soil penetration by coring, drilling or abrading is of great importance for a large number of space and earth applications. An Ultrasonic/Sonic Drill/Corer (USDC) has been developed as an adaptable toot for many of these applications [Bar-Cohen et al, 2001]. The USDC uses a novel drive mechanism to transform the ultrasonic or sonic vibrations of the tip of a horn into a sonic hammering of a drill bit through an intermediate free-flying mass. As the pace of adapting the USDC to various applications has increased, it has become more critical to develop a efficient simulation tool to predict the performance of various designs. A series of computer programs that model the function and performance of the USDC device were previously developed and tested against experimental data [Bao et al, 2003]. The combination of these programs into an integrated modeling package and the analysis of simulated results will be described in this paper.