Cutting Characteristics and Layout of Pre-cutting Machine Cutter

The pre-cutting machine is becoming valued due to its ability to effectively prevent surface settlement and reduce vibration in tunnel construction. To obtain the cutting characteristics and layout of pre-cutting machine cutter, the cutting tests by the pre-cutting machine cutter are conducted and the cutting laws are also studied. The research results show that the cutting force rather than normal force and side force is responsible for the rock breaking. With the increase of the cutting depth and cutting spacing, the cutting forces increase generally. But for the little value of cutting spacing, the cutting force can not increase continuously when the cutting depth increase to a relatively large value. Furthermore, for a given cutting depth, the cutting force will keep at an approximate constant rather than continuous increase with the increase of the cutting spacing when the cutting spacing increases to a relatively large value. The specific energy decreases nonlinearly with the increase of cutting depth and the decrease of specific energy is not significant when the cutting depth is more than 12 mm. Moreover, there exists an optimal cutting spacing for a given cutting depth. To maintain a desirable cutting efficiency, the ratio of cutting spacing to cutting depth should be controlled between 1 and 2. Finally, the layout plan of the pre-cutting machine cutter is proposed based on the research results and is applied in the actual manufacturing of the pre-cutting machine.