Theoretical and experimental studies of impact energy and rock-drilling efficiency in vibro-impact drilling

Vibro-impact drilling has been proven to be a viable technique for enhancing the Rate of Penetration (ROP) in deep and ultra-deep well drilling. It is essential to study the effects of impact parameters on impact energy and rock-drilling efficiency for impact tool design and operating parameter optimization. In this paper, the influences of impact parameters including impact frequency, dynamic loading amplitude and loading on impact energy were analyzed by theoretical method. Then a full-scale drilling experiment was conducted to study the rock-drilling efficiency. The results are as follows: the optimal frequency is higher than the resonance frequency of the rock. The impact energy increase with the dynamic loading amplitude. The penetration rate at dynamic loading amplitude of 4 KN (0.13137 mm/s) is 38.7% higher than that of 2 KN (0.09473mm/s). When the impact frequency is lower than150 Hz, the rock-drilling efficiency increases with the impact frequency and dynamic loading amplitude. The penetration rate is 0.1051 mm/s at impact frequency of 150 Hz, which is 29.8% higher than that of 10 Hz. The impact energy and penetration rate at square loading waveform are the largest. The impact energy per second at loading waveform of square, sine and triangular is 19.6 J, 12 J and 7.91 J respectively when the impact frequency is set to optimal frequency of impact energy. This study provides a theoretical guidance for the optimization design of vibro-impact drilling technology.

Experimental and Numerical Analyses of the Rational Loading Waveform in SHPB Test for Rock Materials

Aiming at the determination of the rational loading waveform for rock materials, the comparative impact tests under the loadings of rectangular and half-sine stress waves were performed on red sandstone using an Ø50 mm SHPB apparatus. Experimental results with the rectangular stress wave affirm that the waveform dispersion and stress-strain curve oscillation frequently exist during the test of rock materials, which signifies that the accuracy of test results derived from the rectangular stress wave loading cannot be guaranteed. Under the loading of the half-sine stress wave, the phenomenon of wave dispersion during the tests has been eliminated radically, and there is no oscillation in the stress-strain curves. To further demonstrate the rationality of the half-sine wave loading in the SHPB test, by utilizing the three-dimensional numerical simulation approach, the propagations of rectangular, triangular, and half-sine stress waves travelling in the axial and radial directions of the SHPB with four elastic bar diameter sizes are analyzed and compared. The results show that the waveform dispersion of the rectangular and triangular stress waves always exists and will be more and more serious with increasing diameter size and propagation distance. For the half-sine stress wave, the waveform dispersion effect is very weak and not affected by the bar diameter size and propagation distance. The half-sine stress wave is the rational loading waveform for rock SHPB tests with different bar diameters.

Effect of Loading Waveform Pattern and Rest Period on Fatigue Life of Asphalt Concrete Using Viscoelastic Continuum Damage Model

Fatigue cracking is one of the most critical types of distress in asphalt pavements and is due to actions of repetitive traffic loading over time. The fatigue life of asphalt concrete is often estimated from laboratory experiments where the performance depends directly on the test method, loading conditions, temperature, rest period, and aging in addition to the composition and properties of the mixture itself. The uniaxial fatigue test has become a popular method for developing constitutive models that describe the fatigue behavior of asphalt concrete mixture owing to the uniform states of stress across the specimen section. This study investigates the effect of the loading waveform (sinusoidal versus haversine) and rest period (continuous versus intermittent) on the laboratory fatigue life of asphalt concrete mixtures. The fatigue analysis was performed using the simplified viscoelastic continuum damage (S-VECD) approach where the damage characteristic (C-S) curves were established for all the cases, and then used to estimate the fatigue laws through simulated predictions. The proposed uniaxial fatigue test and analysis method were able to determine the fatigue life relationships of asphalt concrete mixture at different waveform and rest period conditions with a reduced testing time compared to other traditional testing and analysis methods. Overall, both rest period and waveform pattern were found to affect the laboratory fatigue life of asphalt concrete mixture. Model predictions show that pulse-rest loading yields an equivalent fatigue life to continuous loading at strain values that are approximately four times greater.

A unified criterion for fatigue–creep life prediction of high temperature components

A unified ductility criterion for fatigue–creep life prediction is presented based on the static fracture toughness exhaustion and dissipated cyclic strain energy density of high temperature components. It provides a general failure criterion for both low and high cycle fatigue regimes. The effects of mean stress, creep and loading waveform on fatigue life are incorporated into this criterion. Applicability and prediction accuracy of the newly proposed criterion was validated through comparing model predictions to experimental results taken from the literature. The results show that the proposed criterion is robust for different loading conditions and more accurate than other existing strain energy/ductility-based methods.