Analytical solution and finite element method simulation on the temperature characteristics of disk cutter during tunnel boring machine driving

With the rapid economic and social development in China, using the full-face rock tunnel boring machine (TBM) in construction is becoming increasingly common. As the principal tool for rock breaking, the efficiency and service life of disk cutters used by the TBM will affect project progress and cost. The failure mechanism of disk cutters is still unclear. The specific impact of the changing temperature during rock breaking on tool failure behavior remains unclear. Therefore, this paper studies the temperature characteristics of disk cutters using the theoretical solution and finite element method (FEM) simulation. The finite difference method discretized the heat conduction equation and boundary conditions. The temperature distribution and variation are solved using coding in MATLAB. FEM simulation using ABAQUS is established to characterize the heat transfer process and analyze the temperature field. Several experiments are conducted for verification. The simulated results correlate well with analytical ones, proving the correctness and accuracy of the proposed method.