Rock fragmentation under different installation polar angles of TBM disc cutters

The disc cutters of tunnel boring machine (TBM) are installed with different polar angles. This causes the cutting depth difference between adjacent disc cutters on the tunnel face. A rock-cutting model was established to study the rock fragmentation law between adjacent disc cutters with different polar angles based on particle flow code (PFC). The influence of polar angle of adjacent disc cutters on rock cracks and stresses under different cutter spacing and penetration was studied. Research shows that polar angle difference leads to the discontinuity of rock-fragmentation process by adjacent cutters. The effect of rock-fragmentation is influenced by the cutting depth difference between adjacent cutters. The effect of rock-fragmentation performed best, meanwhile large rock blocks were flaked when the difference of cutting depth is half of the penetration. Too large or small difference of the cutting depth will cause high specific energy consumption of rock fragmentation. The specific energy consumption is relatively small when the difference of cutting depth is half of the penetration.