Experimental study on wear behaviors of TBM disc cutter ring under drying, water and seawater conditions

To study the wear behaviors of the tunnel boring machine (TBM) disc cutter ring under drying, water and seawater conditions, a series of cutter-rock wear tests were conducted based on the self-designed TBM cutter performance test bench. The results indicate that the wear behaviors of the cutter ring are affected significantly by wear conditions. The largest mass loss of the cutter ring is under the drying condition, followed by the seawater condition, and the smallest is under the water condition. The differences in mass loss were explained by the cutter force, wear mechanism, and wear debris etc of the cutter ring. These results can provide some references for the wear resistance design and service life prediction of the TBM cutter ring.