Performance of large-diameter pneumatic down-the-hole (DTH) hammers: A focus on influences of the hammer structure

Pneumatic down-the-hole (DTH) hammer has been extensively used in air drillings through hard and ultra-hard geological formations. Numerical modeling can offer close observation on the working behaviors by visualizing internal pressure status as well as provide reliable performance predictions for large-diameter DTH hammers to which conventional empirical and experimental approaches cannot be applied. In this study, CFD simulations coupled with dynamic meshing are utilized to simulate the air flow and piston movement inside the large-diameter DTH hammers. The numerical modeling scheme is verified against a theoretical model published in literature. Effects of structural parameters on hammer performance, including piston mass, piston upper-end diameter, piston groove diameter, and lengths of intake and exhaust stroke in both front and rear chambers, are analyzed in detail by virtue of sets of numerical simulations. The simulations suggest that changing the intake stroke of front chamber has a negligible influence on hammer performance while increasing the piston groove would lower all the four indicators of hammer performance, including impact energy, impact frequency, maximum stroke, and air consumption rate. Changing the other structural parameters demonstrates mixed effects on the performance indicators. Based on the numerical simulations, a large GQ-400 DTH hammer has been designed for reduced air consumption rate and tested in a field drilling practice. The air drilling test with the designed hammer provided a penetration rate 1.7 times faster than that of conventional mud drilling.

Numerical Simulation of Impact on Pneumatic DTH Hammer Percussive Drilling

The process of DTH（down-the-hole） hammer drilling has been characterized as a very complex phenomenon due to its high nonlinearity,large deformation and damage behaviors.Taking brittle materials（concrete,granite and sandstone） as impact specimens,the explicit time integration nonlinear finite element code LS-DYNA was employed to analyze the impact process and the penetration boundary conditions of DTH hammer percussive drilling system.Compared with previous studies,the present model contains several new features.One is that the 3D effects of DTH hammer drilling system were considered.Another important feature is that it took the coupling effects of brittle materials into account to the bit-specimen boundary of the drilling system.This distinguishes it from the traditional approaches to the bit-rock intersection,in which nonlinear spring models are usually imposed.The impact forces,bit insert penetrations and force-penetration curves of concrete,granite and sandstone under DTH hammer impact have been recorded;the formation of craters and fractures has been also investigated.The impact loads of piston-bit interaction appear to be relatively sensitive to piston impact velocity.The impact between piston-bit interaction occurs at two times larger forces,whereas the duration of the first impact doesn＇t change with respect to the piston velocity.The material properties of impact specimen do not affect the first impact process between the piston and bit.However,the period between the two impacts and the magnitudes of the second impact forces greatly depend on the specimen material properties.It is found that the penetration depth of specimen is dependent on the impact force magnitude and the macro-mechanical properties of the brittle materials.