• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.243-253
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• 2022

In this study, the cutting efficiency of TBE (Tunnel Boring Extender) was evaluated by using rotary cutting tester. In the rotary cutting test, a specimen which has a drilled hollow hole at the center was made of rock-like material. The specimen was cut by UDC (undercutting disc cutter) with spiral cutting path to simulate the cutting process of TBE. The cutting forces and specific energy were evaluated under different cutting conditions. The results indicated that the cutter forces of UDC linearly increased with the vertical and radial penetration depths. Among the three directional cutter forces, the normal force is larger than other force components. While the specific energy decreased with the two penetration depths, in particular, it was presumed that the specific energy was minimized at a certain value of the ratio of radial to vertical penetration depth.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.141-151
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• 2015

A new rock excavation method using an abrasive injection waterjet system has been developed to enhance the efficiency and reduce the vibration of tunnel excavation. The abrasive feed rate is an important factor for the cutting performance and the economical efficiency of waterjet-based excavation. In this study, various experiments were performed to explore the effects of major process parameters for both the abrasive feed rate and the suction pressure occurring inside the mixing chamber when the abrasives are inhaled. Experimental results reveal that the abrasive feed rate is affected by geometry parameters (abrasive pipe height, length, and tortuosity), abrasive parameters (abrasive particle size), and jet energy parameters (water pressure and water flow rate). In addition, the relation between the cutting performance and the abrasive feed rate was discussed on the basis of the results of an experimental study. The cutting performance can be maximized when the abrasive feed rate is controlled appropriately via careful management of major process parameters.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.332-341
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• 1998

Conventional polishing of stone panel edges has been done by hand. While this has changed somewhat with the advent of automatic machines, it is still very much a hand finishing technology. For the development of edge shape milling tool, the primary test on characteristics of edge shape milling tool was carried out. This paper presents the results of tests focused upon the milling capability that was varied by the variables of operation parameters. Author tried to confirm the effect of six operation parameters of equipment such as rotation speed, advance speed, applied load, water flow rate and rotational direction. The result from test was described in term of shape milling capability that was defined as cutting volume of rock by unit weight of tool wear. The variance of the results could indicate the optimum level of each operating parameters. The test was also carried out to determine the abrasion resistance varied according to the abrasive flow rate. The abrasion resistance was increased with the abrasive flow rate, but over some rate it was not changed.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.54-65
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• 2013

The LCM (Linear Cutting Machine) test is one of the most powerful and reliable methods for designing the disc cutter and for predicting the TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine) performance. It has an advantage to predict the actual load on disc cutter from the laboratory test on the real-size large rock samples, however, it also has a disadvantage to transport and/or prepare the large rock samples and to need an extra cost for experiment. In order to overcome this problem, lots of numerical studies have been performed. In this study, the PFC3D (Particle Flow Code in 3 Dimension) has been adopted for numerical analysis on optimum cutter spacing and failure aspects of Busan Tuff. The optimum cutting condition with s/p ratio of 16 and minimum specific energy of $14MJ/m^3$ was derived from numerical analyses. The cutter spacing for Busan Tuff had the good agreements with those of LCM test and numerical analysis by finite element method.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.469-481
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• 2013

The monitoring of a free surface generated by waterjet cutting technology is very important for an efficient construction process. In this study, experiments using a laser sensor were performed to provide a data processing method and to determine optimized parameters. The experimental parameters here are the angular resolution, measurement distance, and free surface cutting shape. The results show that the monitoring resolution increases with a decrease in the angular resolution and the horizontal measurement distance and with an increase in the cutting (free surface) width. This laser monitoring method can be applied during the measurement of free surface shapes and depths in situ.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.383-399
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• 2020

Optimizing the spacing of the disc cutter is a key element in the design of the TBM cutter head, which determines the drilling performance of the TBM. The full-scale linear cutting test is known as the most reliable and accurate test for calculating the spacing of the disc cutter, but it has the disadvantage of costly and time-consuming for the full-scale experiment. In this study, through the numerical analysis study based on the discrete element method, the tendency between Specific Energy-S/P ratio according to uniaxial compression strength and penetration depth of rock was analyzed, and the optimum spacing of 17-inch disc cutter was derived. To examine the appropriateness of the numerical analysis model, the rolling force acting on the disc cutter was compared and reviewed with the CSM model. As a result of numerical analysis for the linear cutting test, the rolling force acting on the disc cutter was analyzed to be similar to the rolling force derived from the theoretical formula of the CSM model. From the numerical analysis on 5 UCS cases (50 MPa, 70 MPa, 100 MPa, 150 MPa, 200 MPa), it is found that the range of the optimum spacing of the disc cutter decreases as the rock strength increases. And it can be concluded that 80~100 mm of disc cutter spacing is the optimum range having minimum specific energy regardless of rock strength. This tends to coincide with the optimal spacing of previously reported disk cutters, which underpins the disk cutter spacing calculated through this study.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.651-669
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• 2018

This study suggests the prediction model to estimate the specific energy of a pick cutter using a gene expression programming (GEP) and particle swarm optimization (PSO). Estimating the performance of mechanical excavators is of crucial importance in early design stage of tunnelling projects, and the specific energy (SE) based approach serves as a standard performance prediction procedure that is applicable to all excavation machines. The purpose of this research, is to investigate the relationship between UCS and BTS, penetration depth, cut spacing, and SE. A total of 46 full-scale linear cutting test results using pick cutters and different values of depth of cut and cut spacing on various rock types was collected from the previous study for the analysis. The Mean Squared Error (MSE) associated with the conventional Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) method is more than two times larger than the MSE generated by GEP-PSO algorithm. The $R^2$ value associated with the GEP-PSO algorithm, is about 0.13 higher than the $R^2$ associated with MLR.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.440-449
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• 2009

LCM test is one of the most powerful and reliable methods of experiment for the cutter head design and the performance prediction of TBM. In many cases, however, the predicted design model can be directly applied to the field design, because this test may have an uppermost limit in preparation and/or transportation of the large size rock samples and the test for the jointed rock mass is not easy. When the proper and reasonable numerical modeling is considered to overcome this limit, the most adequate cutter head design for TBM could be presented without any complicate preconsideration in the field. In this study, the crack propagation patterns dependent on the contact point of disc cutter and the angle of rock joint are analyzed for the rock specimen with a single joint using the UDEC. The authors could derive the appropriate contact points of disc cutters and their space with respect to the joint angle in rock mass thru the numerical analysis.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.414-424
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• 2023

In this study, a total of 326 data on a variety of geometric parameters of pick cutters and the corresponding cuttable rock conditions were collected and built as a database. Statistical analysis of the database showed that there is a significant positive correlation between the parameters that define the geometry of a pick cutter, especially between the parameters related to the length of a pick cutter and the geometry of a tungsten carbide insert. The diameter of a pick cutter shaft was also strongly correlated with the geometry of the inserts. On the other hand, it was difficult to find a clear correlation between the parameters for the rock conditions defined by the four conditions and the geometric parameters of pick cutters, which may be due to the uncertainty of the rock mass and the fact that the application of a pick cutter is presented as a range rather than a numerical single value. However, the mean values of geometric parameters of pick cutters tend to increase as a rock mass becomes harder. However, the pick length parameters are found to decrease as a rock mass becomes harder, which may be a way to reduce the moments that can occur when using long pick cutters in a hard rock condition.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2023

Roadheaders have been operated in the construction of Korean tunneling projects. The note introduces operation manual and management case of transverse type roadhead in a Korean tunneling site. The cutting and reaction forces of axial and transverse type cutting heads were qualitatively analyzed. The shaping surfaces of tunnel faces were visualized in both cases of fixed and auto-controlled telescopic cylinder conditions. Excavating with fixed cylinder, concave surfaces were shaped on tunnel face. The total processes of sumping and shearing were illustrated for excavating hard rock tunneling. The supplementary graphical explanations for total tunneling procedures in Korea were provided.