Exploration
Shirin Jahanmiri; Ali Aalianvari; Majid Noorian-Bidgoli; Jamal Rostami
Abstract
Accurate prediction of rock brittleness is essential for tunneling, excavation, and rock engineering applications. This study develops and compares four intelligent predictive models, namely Gene Expression Programming (GEP), Artificial Rabbit Optimization–GEP (ARO-GEP), Grey Wolf Optimizer–GEP ...
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Accurate prediction of rock brittleness is essential for tunneling, excavation, and rock engineering applications. This study develops and compares four intelligent predictive models, namely Gene Expression Programming (GEP), Artificial Rabbit Optimization–GEP (ARO-GEP), Grey Wolf Optimizer–GEP (GWO-GEP), and Crayfish Optimization Algorithm–GEP (COA-GEP), for estimating the rock brittleness index using uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) and tensile strength (TS). A comprehensive database containing 854 samples from 23 rock types was compiled from published literature. The dataset was divided into training (70%), validation (15%), and testing (15%) subsets. Model performance was evaluated using R², RMSE, MAE, and MAPE metrics. The results demonstrate that all models successfully captured the nonlinear relationship between UCS, TS, and rock brittleness. Among the investigated models, GEP achieved the highest predictive accuracy with a testing R² of 0.95 and RMSE of 1.24, followed closely by ARO-GEP and GWO-GEP. Sensitivity and SHAP analyses confirmed that UCS is the dominant parameter controlling rock brittleness, contributing approximately 60% of the predictive influence. The developed models provide practical tools for preliminary brittleness estimation in situations where direct laboratory determination is unavailable
Morteza Karami; Shokrollah Zare; Jamal Rostami
Abstract
One of the important cost items in mechanized tunneling is the cost of repairing or replacing the disc cutters that have suffered from normal wear during the boring of the hard abrasive rocks. For inspecting the health of the disc cutters, the boring operation shall be stopped, and after checking, the ...
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One of the important cost items in mechanized tunneling is the cost of repairing or replacing the disc cutters that have suffered from normal wear during the boring of the hard abrasive rocks. For inspecting the health of the disc cutters, the boring operation shall be stopped, and after checking, the worn disc cutters may be replaced. In this work, the dynamic process of the TBM boring in the jointed rocks is simulated using a real-scale numerical analysis based on the rock fracturing factor using the discrete element method (DEM). The stress distributions induced within the disc cutters as well as the development of the plastic zones in the rock are investigated and compared with the actual results recorded in the Kerman water conveyance tunnel (KWCT). The numerical results indicate that the increase in the rock fracturing causes a decrease in the induced stresses and an increase in the size of the plastic zone. In other words, a higher penetration rate as well as more lifetime for disc cutters can be achieved in highly fractured rocks. Moreover, the average von Misses stress in the disc cutters in the highly fractured rocks is predicted about 16-23% less than stress induced in the slightly fractured rocks. Due to the TBM tunneling, the volume of the plastic zone as well as the actual penetration depth in the highly fracturing rocks are also about 40% and 42% higher than in the slightly fractured rocks under applying the same TBM parameters, respectively.
Rock Mechanics
M. T. Hamzaban; H. Memarian; J. Rostami
Abstract
Rock abrasivity is an essential factor for selecting cutting tools, estimating tool wear and life, and ultimately, matching various mechanized excavation systems with a given geologic condition. It also assists engineers to determine economic limits of different cutting tools and machines used in civil ...
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Rock abrasivity is an essential factor for selecting cutting tools, estimating tool wear and life, and ultimately, matching various mechanized excavation systems with a given geologic condition. It also assists engineers to determine economic limits of different cutting tools and machines used in civil and mining projects. The Cerchar abrasion test is a simple and most widely used method for rock abrasivity assessments. However, it has some shortcomings to describe the steel-rock interaction during the cutting process. In this work, two new parameters are used to describe the pin-rock interaction in the Cerchar abrasion test and to evaluate the efficiency of the rock scratching process. A set of 41 different rock samples are tested by a newly developed testing device. The device provides a more precise control of the testing operational parameters, and measures the applied frictional force on the pin and its horizontal and vertical displacements on the sample surface. The results obtained are used to calculate the Modified Cerchar Abrasion Index (MCAI) and the Scratch Energy Index (SEi), as two newly developed parameters. The accuracy of the calculated parameters is discussed. Our investigations show that MCAI has closer correlations with rock mechanical parameters than CAI, and therefore, has a higher potential to estimate the rock cutting tool wear in tunneling applications. Also SEi shows sensible correlations with sample hardness and mechanical properties. The results obtained show that SEi can be used to compare the efficiency of various pin hardnesses to create scratches on various rock samples, and could be used as a determinative parameter in selecting the cutting tool hardness.
