Mining Engineering Commons^™

Percussive Penetration Of Unconsolidated Granular Media In A Laboratory Setting, Leslie S. Gertsch

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This controlled study examined the feasibility of a simple percussive approach to drilling through unconsolidated regolith deposits on Mars. The experiments showed that the approach is feasible at the low power levels and low confining pressures used, and that the rate of impact is more important to the penetration rate than is the mass of the impactor (hammer). More massive impactors tend to lower energy efficiency, as they do in terrestrial pile-driving. Unexpectedly, penetration plotted against applied energy tends to cluster into parallel linear trends. Within a given cluster, penetration is very sensitive to applied energy, while between clusters, the …

An Investigation Of Combined Thermal Weakening And Mechanical Disintegration Of Hard Rock, George Bromley Clark, T. F. Lehnhoff, Vernon Dale Allen, Mahendrakumar Ramkrishna Patel

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

"The research under modified Contract No. H0220068 has been devoted to experimental thermal-mechanical fragmentation of Missouri red granite in place, and to supporting theoretical analyses. The results of the previous year's experimental work showed that thermal stresses are several times more effective in fragmenting hard rock when they are created within the rock rather than upon the surface. Also, large blocks {4-foot cubes) are not adequate to simulate the response of in situ rock.

Based upon laboratory tests an experimental round was designed analogous to an explosive blasting round with coiled wire heating elements placed in drill holes. Three displacement …

Combined Thermal Weakening And Mechanical Disintegration Of Hard Rock, George Bromley Clark, T. F. Lehnhoff, Gary F. Fenton, M. R. Patel, Jaw K. Wang, Vernon Dale Allen

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This investigation of the combined effects of thermal weakening and mechanical disintegration (thermomechanical fragmentation) was initiated with a view toward better understanding of the processes required for more rapidly and economically fragmenting or excavating hard rock. Boring machines for utility tunnels, transportation tunnels or mining operations may be able to utilize the advantages of processes such as thermomechanical fragmentation. Secondary fragmentation or rock crushing processes also can conceivably employ the data obtained from this study.