Numerical Research on Cutting Force and Fracture Morphology of Rock Plate with Two Sides Fixed and Two Sides Free

Conical pick is a diffusely applied cutting tool in rock excavation in the coal-mining industry. In order to enhance the capability of conical pick, a new rock cutting method based on increased free surface is proposed. To research the peak cutting force and fracture morphology, ANSYS/LS-DYNA is used to establish the conical pick and rock interaction model. To obtain the fracture morphology of rock plate, eroding contact, erosion element failure, and damage constitutive are considered in the numerical model. Mechanical properties test and rock plate cutting experiment are carried out to guarantee and verify the correctness of the numerical model. The width and height of rock plate influencing peak cutting force and fracture morphology are studied, and the stable peak cutting force is defined. Lower width and height contribute to more fragments in smaller dimension produced during the rock plate cutting process. Besides, higher skew angle leads to more fragments. The peak cutting force decreases with the increasing width and height of rock plate while reaching stable peak cutting force, and it reduces and then remains stable with the increasing cutting position and symmetrical with skew angle of zero degree.