Computational Simulation and Experimental Analysis on Wearing Mechanisms of Gypsum and Concrete Samples in Pin-on-Disk ASTM Abrasion Testing

Mechanical excavation machines, like continuous miners and road headers, have been broadly used in tunneling and underground and surface mines. The disc cutters are seated on the different cutter heads’ to cut different parts of the tunnel face. With the increase in the cutters’ size and power, the cutting disc cutters’ capacity has been extended to cut moderate and tough rock types. This experimental and numerical research includes the application of, “Pin-on-Disk” ASTM abrasion testing, in which the failure mechanism of an interface between both the rock-like samples and (WC–Co) tungsten carbide has been investigated under different confining pressures. The research aims to investigate the wear mechanism of gypsum and concrete samples. The Particle Flow Code in three dimensions (PFC3D) was used for test simulations concurrently with the experimental setup. A drilling pin with a diameter of 0.4 m was positioned above the model. The pin was inserted into the model at speeds of 0.01 mm/s at depths of 1, 3, and 5 m. A total of nine lab tests were conducted. The tensile strength of the material was 2.5 MPa. The results show that the values of volume lost for the gypsum and concrete discs were detected as a function of sliding length, fitting to non-linear behavior. The wearing depth increased by increasing the loading force. Under constant loading force, the gypsum sample wears more than the concrete sample because gypsum is less strong than concrete. The PFC generates useful findings that experimental tests cannot provide.