Modeling of Waterjet Abrasion in Mining Processes Based on the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) Method

Abstract

Abrasive waterjet is widely used for mass-cutting during coal mining or other mining process. Such a cutting process involves complex fluid–solid coupling, which require an effective method capable of simulating the large deformation and spalling of materials. This paper uses method of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) to establish a model to simulate the cutting process of coal seams by abrasive waterjets. In our SPH model, both fluid and solid are discretized with SPH particles. These particles are different in physical properties representing waterjet, abrasive particles and target materials. The waterjet is treated as viscous fluid and the coal (as a target material) is modeled as a brittle solid material. All these SPH particles of various medium are governed by the Navier–Stokes (NS) equations. Our established SPH model is then applied to study the efficiency of coal cutting using different waterjet formations. The results show that the cutting efficiency of the abrasive waterjet is higher than that of the standard waterjet. Our SPH model is capable of reveal the detailed interactions of the micro waterjet abrasive particles with the particles on the surface of coal. It enables the study on the mechanisms of coal seam breaking and cutting processes. It provides an effective computational tool for improving the efficiency of coal mining and of the development of new techniques for coal mining.