Numerical modelling and simulation can be used to gain insight about rock excavation processes such as rock drilling. Since rock materials are heterogeneous by nature due to varying mechanical and geometrical properties of constituent minerals, laboratory observations exhibit a certain degree of unpredictability, e.g. with regard to measured strength and crack propagation. In this work, a recently published heterogeneous bonded particle model is further developed and used to investigate dynamic rock fracture in a Brazilian disc test. The rock heterogeneities are introduced in two steps—a geometrical heterogeneity due to statistically distributed grain sizes and shapes, and a mechanical heterogeneity by distributing mechanical properties using three Weibull distributions. The first distribution is used for assigning average bond properties of the grains, the second one for the intragranular bond properties and the third one for the bond properties of the intergranular cementing. The model is calibrated for Kuru black diorite using previously published experimental data from high-deformation rate tests of Brazilian discs in a split-Hopkinson pressure bar device, where high-speed imaging was used to detect initiations of cracks and their growth. A parametric study is conducted on the Weibull heterogeneity index of the average bond properties and the grain cement strength and evaluated in terms of crack initiation and propagation, indirect tensile stress, strain and strain rate. The results show that this modelling approach is able to reproduce key phenomena of the dynamic rock fracture, such as stochastic crack initiation and propagation, as well as the magnitude and variations of measured quantities. Furthermore, the cement strength is found to be a key parameter for crack propagation path and time, overloading magnitudes and indirect tensile strain rate.

In this work, we apply the Particle Finite Element Method (PFEM) and Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) to simulate the orthogonal cutting chip formation of two workpiece materials, i.e., AISI 1045 steel and Ti6Al4V titanium alloy. A modified Johnson–Cook constitutive model is used to model the plastic behavior of the two workpiece materials. No damage or strain softening is included in the model. The friction between the workpiece and the tool is modeled following Coulomb’s law with a temperature-dependent coefficient. The accuracy of PFEM and SPH in predicting thermomechanical loads at various cutting speeds and depths against the experimental data are compared. The results show that both numerical methods can predict the rake face temperature of AISI 1045 with errors less than 34%. For Ti6Al4V, however, the temperature prediction errors are significantly higher than those of the steel alloy. Errors in force prediction were in the range of 10% to 76% for both methods, which compare very well with those reported in the literature. This investigation infers that the Ti6Al4V behavior under machining conditions is difficult to model on the cutting scale irrespective of the choice of numerical method.

By utilizing numerical models and simulation, insights about the fracture process of brittle heterogeneous materials can be gained without the need for expensive, difficult, or even impossible, experiments. Brittle and heterogeneous materials like rocks usually exhibit a large spread of experimental data and there is a need for a stochastic model that can mimic this behaviour. In this work, a new numerical approach, based on the Bonded Discrete Element Method, for modelling of heterogeneous brittle materials is proposed and evaluated. The material properties are introduced into the model via two main inputs. Firstly, the grains are constructed as ellipsoidal subsets of spherical discrete elements. The sizes and shapes of these ellipsoidal subsets are randomized, which introduces a grain shape heterogeneity Secondly, the micromechanical parameters of the constituent particles of the grains are given by the Weibull distribution. The model was applied to the Brazilian Disc Test, where the crack initiation, propagation, coalescence and branching could be investigated for different sets of grain cement strengths and sample heterogeneities. The crack initiation and propagation was found to be highly dependent on the level of heterogeneity and cement strength. Specifically, the amount of cracks initiating from the loading contact was found to be more prevalent for cases with higher cement strength and lower heterogeneity, while a more severe zigzag shaped crack pattern was found for the cases with lower cement strength and higher heterogeneity. Generally, the proposed model was found to be able to capture typical phenomena associated with brittle heterogeneous materials, e.g. the unpredictability of the strength in tension and crack properties.

The question of effective energy utilisation in grinding mills is not new. There are several conflicting arguments about tumbling mills, whether the efficiency is around one per cent or maybe ten per cent, or even much lower. The energy not used is assumed to be lost as heating of the pulp, the grinding mill body, the charge, generation of shockwaves and vibrations, etc. Stirred media mills on the other hand are generally considered to have better energy utilisation, but their energy efficiency is still not that clear. To shed some light on this a pilot-scale, wet stirred media mill was investigated over a range of operating conditions. The wet stirred media mill is a Drais PMH 5 TEX pearl mill fitted with an electric motor at 11 kW. It has been investigated over a range of operating conditions to try to balance the dissemination of the input energy in forms of the net grinding energy, mechanical energy losses, and the heating transferred to the pulp, the mill, the charge, and the cooling water. It is found that approximately 20 – 40 per cent of the input energy accounts for the grinding process. Also, that the difference between gross and net input electrical energy is mainly disseminated as heating of the pulp and cooling water. Mechanical energy losses appear to be much smaller than the heating effects. The use of a dispersant seems to mainly influence the heating effect.

Sandwich structures are commonly used to increase bending-stiffness without significantly increasing weight. In particular, micro-sandwich materials have been developed with the automotive industry in mind, being thin and formable. In the present work, it is investigated if micro-sandwich materials may be modeled using commercially available material models, accounting for both elasto-plasticity and fracture. A methodology for calibration of both the constitutive- and the damage model of micro-sandwich materials is presented. To validate the models, an experimental T-peel test is performed on the micro-sandwich material and compared with the numerical models. The models are found to be in agreement with the experimental data, being able to recreate the force response as well as the fracture of the micro-sandwich core.

Percussive rotary drilling is recognized as the mostefficient method for hard rock drilling. Despite clearadvantages over conventional rotary methods, there arestill some uncertainties associated with percussivedrilling. For geothermal applications, drilling accountsfor a large portion of the total cost. Specifically, thewear of drill bits when drilling in hard rock is apredominant cost factor and drilling parameters areoften based on the experience of the field operator.Within the framework of the H2020 project GEOFIT,numerical simulations of percussive drilling areperformed in order to evaluate the rock drilling processand gain insight about the trade-off between wear andRate of Penetration (ROP). In the simulations, the rockmaterial was represented by the Bonded DiscreteElement Method (BDEM), the drill bit by the FiniteElement Method (FEM), the drilling fluid by theParticle Finite Element Method (PFEM) and theabrasive wear on the surface of the drill bit wasrepresented by Archard’s wear law. The drillingsimulations were conducted for two rock materials; asedimentary rock material corresponding to what wasfound when drilling at the GEOFIT pilot site in AranIslands, Ireland, and a harder reference rock similar togranite. The results show that, at a drill bit impact forceof 10 kN, the ROP in the sedimentary rock was 6.3times faster than for granite. When increasing theimpact force to 40 and 50 kN, however, the ROP for thesedimentary rock is only 1.9 and 1.6 times faster,respectively. Furthermore, the wear rate decreased withincreased impact force when drilling in the granite rock.For the sedimentary rock, however, the loadingresulting in the best trade-off between abrasive wearand ROP was the second highest loading of 40 kN,which suggests that an increase in impact energy mayincrease the rate of penetration but may not beeconomically motivated.

This work presents the development of an explicit/implicit particle finite element method (PFEM) for the 2D modeling of metal cutting processes. The purpose is to study the efficiency of implicit and explicit time integration schemes in terms of precision, accuracy and computing time. The formulation for implicit and explicit time marching schemes is developed, and a detailed study on the explicit solution steps is presented. The PFEM remeshing procedures for insertion and removal of particles have been improved to model the multiple scales of time and/or space of the solution. The detection and treatment of the rigid tool contact are presented for both, implicit and explicit schemes. The performance of explicit/implicit integration is studied with a set of different two-dimensional orthogonal cutting tests of AISI 4340 steel at cutting speeds ranging from 1 m/s up to 30 m/s. It was shown that if the correct selection of the time integration scheme is made, the computing time can decrease up to 40 times. It allows us to affirm that the computing time of the PFEM simulations can be excessive due to the used time marching scheme independently of the meshing process. As a practical result, a set of recommendations to select the time integration schemes for a given cutting speed are given. This is intended to minimize one of the negative constraints pointed out by the industry when using metal cutting simulators.

Numerical modelling of the fracture of heterogeneous brittle materials is of interest for several industries, such as rock excavation and comminution applications. A numerical model of brittle materials needs to be able to capture the unpredictable results, e.g. with regards to measured strength and fracture pattern, as observed experimentally. In a previous work [1], the Bonded Discrete Element Method [2] was combined with statistical methods in order to generate heterogeneous rock bodies. Grains of random sizes and shapes, consisting of multiple bonded discrete elements, were generated in the body and the micromechanical parameters of these grains were governed by the Weibull distribution [3]. In this work, this modelling approach was used to evaluate the fracture behaviour of experiments commonly found within the field of rock mechanics - the unconfined and confined axial compression test, Brazilian disc test and the three point bend test. For each test, a large set of numerical samples were generated and simulated. The fracture behaviour, e.g. initiation, propagation and coalescence of cracks, were investigated for different levels of heterogeneity and grain cement strengths. The results show that a variety of different fracture modes can be obtained with this modelling approach. Further, the results suggests that the statistical methods employed in this work improves the versatility of the Bonded Discrete Element Method for rock modelling.