Influence of cutter velocity, friction coefficient and rake angle on the formation of discontinuous rock fragments during rock cutting process

Tribological properties during rock cutting under extremely high pressure and high temperature (HPHT) conditions are important in deep mining and drilling operations. In the present investigation, a rigid cutting tool of different rake angles was moved at different velocities against a stationary rock material. Rock material properties have been incorporated using an advanced damage constitute material model. In addition, the friction factors at the cutting tool - rock interface were varied in the contact model. The variation of cutting forces, stresses and rock fragment morphology have been investigated. In the numerical simulation, the separation of rock fragments from the rock slab was predicted using the numerical model and demonstrated the importance of the explicit finite element model for simulating rock cutting and the fragmentation process. The rake angle was found to have significant influence on the cutting forces and fragment morphology during rock cutting. Moreover, the cutting forces and the discontinuous fragmentation process were strongly influenced by the friction and cutting velocity. The current numerical predictions found a good agreement with experimental and numerical results obtained in the literature.