Effect of the Geometric Configuration of the Disc Cutter on the Cutting Behaviour in Tunneling

The disc cutter is a key tool in shield machines that come into direct contact with rock while participating in the removal of rock. Therefore, the reasonable design of the geometric configuration of disc cutters greatly determines the tunnelling efficiency of the shield machine. In this paper, the factors influencing the rock-breaking behaviour of disc cutters are studied. Firstly, to ensure the accuracy of the rock-breaking simulation, the parameters of the Holmquist–Johnson–Cook model of the diorite in the Jinan area were determined. Secondly, using ANSYS/LS-DYNA to simulate the rock-breaking process, the influence of the geometric configuration, including blade width and blade fillet, on rock-breaking behaviour was analysed. The results show that with increasing depth of penetration, the contact force increases approximately linearly. The contact force and the rock-breaking influence range gradually decrease with increasing number of blade fillets. In addition, with increasing number of blade fillets, the shape of the influence range gradually transitions from an approximate circle to a trapezoid, and finally to a triangle. With increasing blade width, the contact force and the rock-breaking influence range both increase, but the shape of the influence range remains largely unchanged as a trapezoid. On the basis of these research results, this paper gives some suggestions for the selection and configuration of disc cutters in different strata, which can give some guidance for practical engineering.