Design of a New TBM Integrated Cutter System Based on Analysis of Mechanical Properties and Dynamic Characteristics

During the rock-breaking process, severe vibration frequently leads to cutter system failures. The traditional cutter system is complicated in structure, and the cutter-changing operation is highly dependent on the manual operation, resulting in a low construction efficiency and a high risk. Thus, this paper designed an integrated cutter system with a simple structure, which lays a theoretical foundation for popularizing the cutter-changing robot. In the statics performance experiment, we built an integrated cutter system finite element model, calculated the stress value under a nominal load; manufactured the scaled cutter system based on the similarity principle, obtained the measured stress value through the load experiment; and verified the accuracy of this cutter system’s finite element model. In the dynamics experiment, we calculated the cutter system and each components dynamic response based on the concentrated mass method and the Newmark method, obtained the measured vertical vibration displacement through a scaled loading experiment and verified the correctness of the vertical dynamics model, and set the real disc cutter linear cutting load as the external excitation to verify the feasibility of the new cutter system design scheme.