Collaborative design of atmospheric cutterhead opening and disc cutter arrangement

Abstract

As the core components of the shield machine, the cutterhead body and the cutter directly interact with the soil, which plays a vital role in tunneling efficiency and performance. For the atmospheric cutterhead, the cutterhead opening and the cutter arrangement are mutually restricted, which brings great challenges to the design of the cutterhead. To solve this problem, an innovative collaborative strategy for cutterhead structure and cutter arrangement is proposed in this paper. By constructing a parametric model, we deeply analyzed the relationship between the cutterhead parameters and the cutter size and defined the feasible range of parameter changes. On this basis, we have developed a set of cutter arrangement specifications to ensure the coordinated operation between the cutter holders and between the cutter holder and the gate, avoiding potential interference problems, and calculating the minimum cutter spacing. In addition, the study also takes into account the various loads on the cutter and constructs a load model specifically for the atmospheric cutterhead. By taking an atmospheric cutterhead with a diameter of 15 m as an example, we elaborate on the implementation process of this method, which not only maximizes the cutterhead opening but also effectively controls the unbalanced load. The methodology of this study provides a new perspective and solution for the design of other types of cutterhead.