Mechanics of Actuated Disc Cutting

This paper investigates the mechanics of an actuated disc cutter with the objective of determining the average forces acting on the disc as a function of the parameters characterizing its motion. The specific problem considered is that of a disc cutter revolving off-centrically at constant angular velocity around a secondary axis rigidly attached to a cartridge, which is moving at constant velocity and undercutting rock at a constant depth. This model represents an idealization of a technology that has been implemented in a number of hard rock mechanical excavators with the goal of reducing the average thrust force to be provided by the excavation equipment. By assuming perfect conformance of the rock with the actuated disc as well as a prescribed motion of the disc (perfectly rigid machine), the evolution of the contact surface between the disc and the rock during one actuation of the disc can be computed. Coupled with simple cutter/rock interaction models that embody either a ductile or a brittle mode of fragmentation, these kinematical considerations lead to an estimate of the average force on the cartridge and of the partitioning of the energy imparted by the disc to the rock between the actuation mechanism of the disc and the translation of the cartridge on which the actuated disc is attached.