Evaluation of the indirect measures of rock brittleness and fracture toughness in rock cutting

Performance prediction models for partial face mechanical excavators, when developed in laboratory conditions, depend on relating the results of a set of rock property tests and indices to specific cutting energy (SE) for various rock types. There exist some studies in the literature aiming to correlate the geotechnical properties of intact rocks with the SE, especially for massive and widely jointed rock environments. However, those including direct and/or indirect measures of rock fracture parameters such as rock brittleness and fracture toughness, along with the other rock parameters expressing different aspects of rock behavior under drag tools (picks), are rather limited. With this study, it was aimed to investigate the relationships between the indirect measures of rock brittleness and fracture toughness and the SE depending on the results of a new and two previous linear rock cutting programmes. Relationships between the SE, rock strength parameters, and the rock index tests have also been investigated in this study. Sandstone samples taken from the different fields around Ankara, Turkey were used in the new testing programme. Detailed mineralogical analyses, petrographic studies, and rock mechanics and rock cutting tests were performed on these selected sandstone specimens. The assessment of rock cuttability was based on the SE. Three different brittleness indices (B1, B2, and B4) were calculated for sandstones samples, whereas a toughness index (T-i), being developed by Atkinson et al.(1), was employed to represent the indirect rock fracture toughness. The relationships between the SE and the large amounts of new data obtained from the mineralogical analyses, petrographic studies, rock mechanics, and linear rock cutting tests were evaluated by using bivariate correlation and curve fitting techniques, variance analysis, and Student's t-test. Rock cutting and rock property testing data that came from well-known studies of McFeat-Smith and Fowell(2) and Roxborough and Philips(3) have also been employed in statistical analyses together with the new data. Laboratory tests and subsequent analyses revealed that there were close correlations between the SE and B4 whereas no statistically significant correlation has been found between the SE and T-i. Uniaxial compressive and Brazilian tensile strengths and Shore scleroscope hardness of sandstones also exhibited strong relationships with the SE. NCB cone indenter test had the greatest influence on the SE among the other engineering properties of rocks, confirming the previous studies in rock cutting and mechanical excavation. Therefore, it was recommended to employ easy-to-use index tests of NCB cone indenter and Shore scleroscope in the estimation of laboratory SE of sandstones ranging from very low to high strengths in the absence of a rock cutting rig to measure it until the easy-to-use universal measures of the rock brittleness and especially the rock fracture toughness, being an intrinsic rock property, are developed.

Drop formation and breakup of low viscosity elastic fluids: Effects of molecular weight and concentration

The dynamics of drop formation and pinch-off have been investigated for a series of low viscosity elastic fluids possessing similar shear viscosities, but differing substantially in elastic properties. On initial approach to the pinch region, the viscoelastic fluids all exhibit the same global necking behavior that is observed for a Newtonian fluid of equivalent shear viscosity. For these low viscosity dilute polymer solutions, inertial and capillary forces form the dominant balance in this potential flow regime, with the viscous force being negligible. The approach to the pinch point, which corresponds to the point of rupture for a Newtonian fluid, is extremely rapid in such solutions, with the sudden increase in curvature producing very large extension rates at this location. In this region the polymer molecules are significantly extended, causing a localized increase in the elastic stresses, which grow to balance the capillary pressure. This prevents the necked fluid from breaking off, as would occur in the equivalent Newtonian fluid. Alternatively, a cylindrical filament forms in which elastic stresses and capillary pressure balance, and the radius decreases exponentially with time. A (0+1)-dimensional finitely extensible nonlinear elastic dumbbell theory incorporating inertial, capillary, and elastic stresses is able to capture the basic features of the experimental observations. Before the critical "pinch time" t(p), an inertial-capillary balance leads to the expected 2/3-power scaling of the minimum radius with time: R-min similar to(t(p)-t)(2/3). However, the diverging deformation rate results in large molecular deformations and rapid crossover to an elastocapillary balance for times t>t(p). In this region, the filament radius decreases exponentially with time R-min similar to exp[(t(p)-t)/lambda(1)], where lambda(1) is the characteristic time constant of the polymer molecules. Measurements of the relaxation times of polyethylene oxide solutions of varying concentrations and molecular weights obtained from high speed imaging of the rate of change of filament radius are significantly higher than the relaxation times estimated from Rouse-Zimm theory, even though the solutions are within the dilute concentration region as determined using intrinsic viscosity measurements. The effective relaxation times exhibit the expected scaling with molecular weight but with an additional dependence on the concentration of the polymer in solution. This is consistent with the expectation that the polymer molecules are in fact highly extended during the approach to the pinch region (i.e., prior to the elastocapillary filament thinning regime) and subsequently as the filament is formed they are further extended by filament stretching at a constant rate until full extension of the polymer coil is achieved. In this highly extended state, intermolecular interactions become significant, producing relaxation times far above theoretical predictions for dilute polymer solutions under equilibrium conditions. (C) 2006 American Institute of Physics

Cutting management of multipurpose tree legumes: effects on green herbage production, leaf retention and water-use-efficiency during the dry season in Timor, Indonesia

Edible herbage production and water-use-efficiency of three tree legumes (Leucaena leucocephala cv. Tarramba, L. pallida x L. leucocephala (KX2) and Gliricidia sepium), cut at different times of the year (February, April, June and uncut) were compared in a semi-arid area of Timor Island, Indonesia. Cutting in the early and mid dry-season (April and June) resulted in higher total leaf production (P< 0.05) and water-use-efficiency (P< 0.05), than cutting late in the wet-season (February) or being left uncut. For the leucaena treatments removing leaf in the early to mid dry-season reduced transpiration, saving soil water for subsequent regrowth as evidenced by the higher relative water contents of leaves from these treatments. This cutting strategy can be applied to local farming conditions to increase the supply of feed for livestock during the dry season.

The benefits of oscillating disc cutting

The benefits of Oscillating Disc Cutting (ODC) over all conventional cutting techniques is that it is capable of breaking very hard rock at acceptable-to-good excavation rates with very low cutter forces. This paper outlines that the oscillating cutting action and the water jets as well as the inertial mass all serve to reduce cutter forces.

Laminar heat transfer to non-Newtonian fluids in pipes with abrupt changes in diameter

In this thesis the results of experimental work performed to determine local heat transfer coefficients for non-Newtonian fluids in laminar flow through pipes with abrupt discontinuities are reported. The fluids investigated were water-based polymeric solutiorrs of time-indpendent, pseudoplastic materials, with flow indices "n" ranging from 0.39 to 0.9.The tube configurations were a 3.3 :1 sudden convergence, and a 1: 3.3 sudden divergence.The condition of a prescribed uniform wall heat flux was considered, with both upstream and downstream tube sections heated. Radial temperature traverses were also under­ taken primarily to justify the procedures used in estimating the tube wall and bulk fluid temperatures and secondly to give further insight into the mechanism of heat transfer beyond a sudden tube expansion. A theoretical assessment of the influence of viscous dissipation on a non-Newtonian pseudoplastic fluid of' arbitrary index "n" was carried out. The effects of other secondary factors such as free convection and temperature-dependent consistency were evaluated empirically. In the present investigations, the test conditions were chosen to minimise the effects of natural convection and the estimates of viscous heat generation showed the effect to be insignificant with the polymeric concentrations tested here. The final results have been presented as the relationships between local heat transfer coef'ficient and axial distance downstream of the discontinuities and relationships between dimensionless wall temperature and reduced radius. The influence of Reynolds number, Prandtl number, non-Newtonian index and heat flux have been indicated.

The influence of cutting tool geometry upon aspects of chip flow and tool wear:a theoretical, three dimensional examination of the cutting geometry and the shape of the twist drill

This work is undertaken in the attempt to understand the processes at work at the cutting edge of the twist drill. Extensive drill life testing performed by the University has reinforced a survey of previously published information. This work demonstrated that there are two specific aspects of drilling which have not previously been explained comprehensively. The first concerns the interrelating of process data between differing drilling situations, There is no method currently available which allows the cutting geometry of drilling to be defined numerically so that such comparisons, where made, are purely subjective. Section one examines this problem by taking as an example a 4.5mm drill suitable for use with aluminium. This drill is examined using a prototype solid modelling program to explore how the required numerical information may be generated. The second aspect is the analysis of drill stiffness. What aspects of drill stiffness provide the very great difference in performance between short flute length, medium flute length and long flute length drills? These differences exist between drills of identical point geometry and the practical superiority of short drills has been known to shop floor drilling operatives since drilling was first introduced. This problem has been dismissed repeatedly as over complicated but section two provides a first approximation and shows that at least for smaller drills of 4. 5mm the effects are highly significant. Once the cutting action of the twist drill is defined geometrically there is a huge body of machinability data that becomes applicable to the drilling process. Work remains to interpret the very high inclination angles of the drill cutting process in terms of cutting forces and tool wear but aspects of drill design may already be looked at in new ways with the prospect of a more analytical approach rather than the present mix of experience and trial and error. Other problems are specific to the twist drill, such as the behaviour of the chips in the flute. It is now possible to predict the initial direction of chip flow leaving the drill cutting edge. For the future the parameters of further chip behaviour may also be explored within this geometric model.

A class of perfect fluids in general relativity

This thesis is concerned with exact solutions of Einstein's field equations of general relativity, in particular, when the source of the gravitational field is a perfect fluid with a purely electric Weyl tensor. General relativity, cosmology and computer algebra are discussed briefly. A mathematical introduction to Riemannian geometry and the tetrad formalism is then given. This is followed by a review of some previous results and known solutions concerning purely electric perfect fluids. In addition, some orthonormal and null tetrad equations of the Ricci and Bianchi identities are displayed in a form suitable for investigating these space-times. Conformally flat perfect fluids are characterised by the vanishing of the Weyl tensor and form a sub-class of the purely electric fields in which all solutions are known (Stephani 1967). The number of Killing vectors in these space-times is investigated and results presented for the non-expanding space-times. The existence of stationary fields that may also admit 0, 1 or 3 spacelike Killing vectors is demonstrated. Shear-free fluids in the class under consideration are shown to be either non-expanding or irrotational (Collins 1984) using both orthonormal and null tetrads. A discrepancy between Collins (1984) and Wolf (1986) is resolved by explicitly solving the field equations to prove that the only purely electric, shear-free, geodesic but rotating perfect fluid is the Godel (1949) solution. The irrotational fluids with shear are then studied and solutions due to Szafron (1977) and Allnutt (1982) are characterised. The metric is simplified in several cases where new solutions may be found. The geodesic space-times in this class and all Bianchi type 1 perfect fluid metrics are shown to have a metric expressible in a diagonal form. The position of spherically symmetric and Bianchi type 1 space-times in relation to the general case is also illustrated.

The cutting performance of sialon ceramic tools

The thesis deals with a research programme in which the cutting performance of a new generation of ceramic cutting tool material is evaluated using the turning process. In part one, the performance of commercial Kyon 2000 sialon ceramic inserts is studied when machining a hardened alloy steel under a wide range of cutting conditions. The aim is to formulate a pattern of machining behaviour in which tool wear is related to a theoretical interpretation of the temperatures and stresses generated by the chip-tool interaction. The work involves a correlation of wear measurement and metallographic examination of the wear area with the measurable cutting data. Four main tool failure modes are recognised: (a) flank and crater wear (b) grooving wear (c) deformation wear and (d) brittle failure Results indicate catastrophic edge breakdown under certain conditions. Accordingly in part two, the edge geometry is modified to give a double rake tool; a negative/positive combination. The results are reported for a range of workpiece materials under orthogonal cutting conditions. Significant improvements in the cutting performance are achieved. The improvements are explained by a study of process parameters; cutting forces, chip thickness ratio, chip contact length, temperature distribution, stress distribution and chip formation. In part three, improvements in tool performance are shown to arise when the edge chamfer on a single rake tool is modified. Under optimum edge chamfer conditions a substantial increase in tool life is obtained compared with the commercial cutting geometry.