ENERGY THEORY OF ROCK CUTTING BY TBM

Rock cutting by disc cutters of tunnel boring machines has been investigated for over 50 years worldwide. The development of advanced computing techniques moved the research from laboratories into the real in-situ conditions, where the monitoring systems of TBM operation enabled to study the simultaneous action of disc cutters installed on the TBM cutterhead during rock excavation. Force action of disc cutters rolling on rock surface on concentric tracks induces the disintegration of rock and thus causes the cutter wear. As rock cutting is an energy-demanding process, the possibilities for optimizing the TBM operation have been investigated in order to minimize the cutter wear and to provide an effective rock mass excavation. The paper describes our findings on the cutter-rock interaction using the energy theory of rock disintegration.