Study of Frictional Effects of Granite Subjected to Quasi-Static Contact Loading

Abstract

The rock fragmentation response to drilling, in particular percussive drilling, is important in order to improve the efficiency of such an operation. The resulting problem includes spherical contact between the drill bit and the material and therefore, a numerical analysis of frictional effects in quasi-static spherical indentation of Bohus granite is presented. The frictional coefficient between the indenter and the granite surface is accounted for in numerical simulations. A previously determined constitutive law is used for the purpose of numerical analyses. The latter consists of a Drucker-Prager plasticity model with variable dilation angle coupled with an anisotropic damage model. Since the tensile strength is random, Weibull statistics was considered. Using a frictionless contact model, the stress state of Bohus granite corresponding to the first material failure occurrence, observed in indentation experiments, was numerically determined. However, the frictional effects, which are of interest in this study, may lead to changes in the numerically established stress state and consequently the Weibull parameters should be recalibrated. The so-called Weibull stress decreases from 120 MPa for a frictionless contact to 75 MPa for frictional contact, and the Weibull modulus from 24 to 12. It is numerically observed that the predicted force-penetration response, using the new set of Weibull parameters, is not influenced by friction. Conversely, the predicted fracture pattern, in the case of frictional contact, is similar to the case of frictionless contact, but its size is somewhat larger. Last, a parametric study analyzing the dependence of the friction coefficient is carried out and no significant changes are detected. The novelty of the present findings concerns the fact that both an advanced damage description in combination with an advanced plasticity model, both implemented for finite element analyses, is used to analyze frictional effects at granite indentation.