Numerical study of the effect of confining stress on rock fragmentation by TBM cutters

This paper investigates the effect of confining stress on rock fragmentation under TBM cutters by numerical simulation. Firstly, based on the characteristics of the force–penetration curve, the confining stress conditions for TBM tunneling are divided into three general classes through an index of confining ratio defined as the ratio of confining stress to uniaxial compressive strength. Then, the rock fragmentation processes with different...