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Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tust

Research on suction capacity and dust suppression performance of a reverse

circulation air hammer in tunnel drilling
Jiang-fu Hea,b, Bing-xing Sunc,d, Yun-pei Lianga,⁎, Yong-jiang Luoa
a
State Key Laboratory of Coal Mine Disaster Dynamics and Control, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China
b
Post-doctoral Research Station of Mineral Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, China
c
Gas Research Institute, Chongqing Research Institute of China Coal Technology & Engineering Group Corp, Chongqing 400039, China
d
National Key Laboratory of Gas Disaster Detecting, Preventing and Emergency Controlling, Chongqing 400037, China

ARTICLEINFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: The presence of respirable dust in underground space causes serious health hazards for workers while in tunnel
Dust suppression drilling, which could result in pneumoconiosis and silicosis. In order to control the dust dispersion and improve
Tunnel drilling the environment quality of underground space while in tunnel drilling, an innovative drilling system with a
Air hammer reverse circulation (RC) air hammer is proposed. In addition, the structure of the RC air hammer with double-
CFD
row suction nozzles is specially designed, which contributes to the improvement of suction capacity of the air
Suction capacity
hammer. Totally four structural parameters of the RC air hammer are optimized, and the effects of four structural
parameters on suction capacity of the air hammer also have been investigated by means of Computational Fluid
Dynamics (CFD) simulation method, which is crucial for the dust suppression performance of the RC air hammer
drilling system. Simulation results have shown that the inclination angle (θs) has the greatest influence on
suction capacity among the four structural parameters, which is descendingly followed by the defection angle
(θd), the vertical space (L) and the horizontal space (S ). Meanwhile, the optimal parameters configuration of the
air hammer with double-row suction nozzles has been obtained. Additionally, the laboratory and field tests on
the RC drilling system with optimal parameter configuration have been subsequently conducted, and no dust or
rock cuttings were suspended in the underground space, which dramatically improves the internal working
conditions of tunneling drilling. In conclusion, the suction capacity of the air hammer with optimized structural
configuration is outstanding, and the dust suppression performance of the RC air hammer drilling system is
excellent, which is applicable to eliminate the dust dispersion in underground tunnel drilling.

1. Introduction
Dust generated in tunnel drilling is a serious threat to the worker’s
health and safety, and accidents induced by such dust have been con-
tinually reported in recent years, such as pneumoconiosis and dust
explosion in underground mines (Xinxiao et al., 2015; Zheng et al.,
2016). It can be recorded that over 60 thousands of underground mi-
ners are suffered pneumoconiosis to death due to excessive inspirable
dust in tunneling process (Colinet et al., 2010). Moreover, some other
problems would occur while the dust capacity in tunneling is exceeded
(Zheng et al., 2016). Dust reduction technology has been diligently
developed with regard to improve the working environment of under-
ground drilling crews.
Drill and Blast tunneling is one of the most common excavation
methods in a wide range of underground spaces (Lizhen Huang et al.,
2015). As shown in Fig. 1, conventional underground spaces drilling
techniques are diamond drilling technique and direct circulation (DC)
down-the-hole air hammer drilling technique, and the rock cuttings
were discharged from the mouth of borehole, thus a large amount of
dust dispersed into the tunnel, leads to reducing the visibility of the
tunnel and polluting the work environment (Yin et al., 2014). In order
to control the dust capacity in the underground, diverse technologies
and methodologies have been developed and applied to tunnel drilling
throughout the world (Kissell, 2003; Xi et al., 2013). Water spraying,
with pressurized high quality water in spraying nozzles of the power
system, is one of the methods to reduce dust concentration in tunnel
drilling (Xinxiao et al., 2015; Wang et al., 2012). Chemical agent
spraying has also been applied to dust reduction in underground tun-
neling, which leads to soil acidification and calcification (Xi et al.,
2013). Also a dust suppression method with foam has been developed
to eliminate underground dust concentration by 89.73% in tunnel
drilling with low dust concentration, but the real dust suppression effect

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: liangyunpei@cqu.edu.cn, hejf2016@cqu.edu.cn (Y.-p. Liang).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tust.2017.09.008
Received 12 September 2016; Received in revised form 30 August 2017; Accepted 5 September 2017
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Fig. 1. (1) Left: a direct circulation air hammer and drill bit (2) right:
a large amount of dust flowed out of the mouth of borehole and dis-
persed into the tunnel.

Fig. 2. Schematic of the RC drilling system with an air

hammer.

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Fig. 3. Schematic of four structural parameters of the drill bit with

double row suction nozzles.

has not been verified in high dust concentration area (Seibel, 1976).
Fan et al., (2011) have employed an orifice sealer to reduce under-
ground dust dispersion in China, but the wear of the rubber seal ring
between the drill pipe and the orifice sealer is so severe that the dust
escapes from the borehole, which seriously pollutes the air in under-
ground tunnel drilling (Fan et al., 2011). In the meantime, some other
methods for reducing dust capacity of underground space drilling are
also put into practice. The exhausting ventilation are used to discharge
dust while the dust concentration from working face is high,
nevertheless, the dust discharge is not always effective (Toraño et al.,
2011).
The previously mentioned techniques for dust suppression are in-
strumental in underground tunneling or drilling. All dust suppression
methods are utilized after the dust has been generated in tunnel dril-
ling, which could dramatically increase the cost of dust suppression in
underground tunneling or drilling. However, the dust suppression cost
can be directly reduced by controlling the dust concentration during
underground tunnel drilling.

Fig. 4. (1) Left: 3D model of the drill bit (2) right: a typical computational domain was meshed.

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Table 1
The details of the grid sensitivity analysis for a computational domain.

Grids Number of Volume flow rate at Volume flow rate at

cells outlet of the annulus outlet of the central
(m3/min) passage (m3/min)

Coarse grids 267,432 3.48 21.65

Medium grids 423,565 3.38 21.47
Fine grids 781,396 3.32 21.34
Difference 4.82% 1.45%

In this paper, a prototype drilling system, termed as reverse circu-

lation (RC) drilling system with an air hammer, has been proposed and
designed to reduce dust capacity in underground tunnel drilling. The
structure design and the suction capacity of the RC air hammer has
been numerically analyzed, and the influence of various structural
parameters of air hammer with double row suction nozzles on the
suction capacity of RC air hammer drilling system has been investigated
by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. The dust
suppression effect of RC drilling system with an air hammer has been
observed in underground tunnel drilling of Jinping First Stage
Hydropower Station, which is located at the Yalong River in Sichuan
province of China.

2. Description of the RC drilling system with an air hammer

The RC air hammer drilling system consists of several dual-wall drill

pipes, a RC air hammer, a specially designed drill bit, a goose neck tube,
a flexible discharge tube and a dust bag (as shown in Fig. 2). In the
process of drilling, the compressed air flows downward through the
annulus between the internal and external tube of the dual-wall drill
pipe, and then overcomes the initial segment tension of the spring to
open the check valve and flow into the RC air hammer. The RC air
hammer converts a portion of the compressed air energy into piston
kinetic energy, which mechanically and directly influences the drill bit
through the oscillating movement of the piston. Then, the air, which
has driven the piston to work, flows into the drill bit. After a part of the
air jets from the flushing nozzles of the drill bit, the air pressure energy
is transformed into air kinetic energy, and a low-pressure area is formed
in the pressure-restoring groove. Driven by the differential pressure, the
rock cuttings at the bottom of the borehole and the fluid medium in the
annulus between the drill bit and the borehole wall are forced into the
pressure restoring grooves. The drill bit can also be fully cooled (Zhu
et al., 2015). At the same time, the air spirally jetting from the suction
nozzles of the drill bit produces a strong suction phenomenon and
creates a zone of negative pressure at the bottom of the central passage.
Under the action of differential pressure, the rock cuttings in the
pressure restoring grooves are intake into the center passage, then will
be moved up. The exhausted air carries the rock cuttings upward
through the central passage of the drill tools and discharges the rock
cuttings into the dust bag.
In this RC air hammer drilling system, there are no additional
sealing mechanisms at the mouth of the borehole, and the drill bit is
designed according to the principle of the multi-nozzle ejector. The
specially designed drill bit not only possesses a function of high efficient
rock fragmentation, but also plays the most important role in guiding
the compressed air to carry rock cuttings upward through the central
passage of the drill tools, instead of the annulus between the drill tools
and the borehole wall.
Fig. 5. Variation curves of the volume flow rate with the inclination angle (θs).
3. Numerical analysis of the RC air hammer

wall, i.e. the effect of dust suppression is superior.

The suction capacity in previous study has been used to describe the
In this paper, a specialized drill bit with double row suction nozzles
reverse circulation performance of the drill bit (Yin et al., 2013). Thus a
in the air hammer has been designed, and the effect of double row
high suction capacity of the air hammer corresponds to less rock cut-
suction nozzles on suction capacity of the drill bit has also been
tings flowing into the annulus between the drill tools and the borehole

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Fig. 7. Variation curves of the volume flow rate with horizontal space (S ).

Fig. 6. Variation curves of the volume flow rate with the vertical space ( L). and the borehole wall.

conducted. Totally four structural parameters of double row suction
nozzles of the drill bit, including the inclination angle (θs), the defection
angle (θd), the vertical space (L) and the horizontal space (S) have been
analyzed, as shown in Fig. 3. The suction capacity is assessed by the
volume flow rate of air intake into the annulus between the drill tools
3.1. Computational domains and grids
The computational domains of flow field inside the drill bit were
created by Solidworks software, and they were meshed by Hypermesh
software in order to study the suction capacity of the drill bit, as shown

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(a) S=8 mm
(b) S=10 mm
(c) S=12 mm
Fig. 8. Variation curves of the volume flow rate with the defection angle ( θd).
in Fig. 4. Each computational domain consists of the annulus space
between the drill bit and the borehole wall, the space between the drill
bit working face and the borehole bottom, the air-inflow passage be-
tween the drill bit and the guided chuck, pressure restoring grooves, the
central passage, flushing nozzles and suction nozzles. The drill bit is
designed to drill a borehole with 140 mm in diameter and the external
diameter of the drill bit is 128 mm. The diameter of central passage,
flushing nozzles and suction nozzles is 44 mm, 8 mm and 7 mm re-
spectively. All of the above dimensions and the dimensions of pressure
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restoring grooves are kept constant in each computational domain.
For convenience of simulation analysis, the bottom of the borehole
is represented by a horizontal circular plane, whereas the space occu-
pied by the tungsten carbide inserts within the drill bit is ignored. The
air-inflow passage between the drill bit and the guided chuck is as-
sumed to be an annulus with 10 mm in width. The nominal distance
between the drill bit working face and the borehole bottom is 5 mm.
The structured hexahedral grids are used in all of the computational
domains. The grid sensitivity analysis has been carried out for one of
the computational domains. As shown in Table 1, the maximum dif-
ference between the simulation results is less than 5%. It was regarded
that with these computational grids, the simulation results are in-
dependent of grid size. Considering the speed and accuracy of solution,
all of the computational domains have been accomplished by using the
medium grids.
3.2. Boundary conditions
A mass-flow-inlet boundary condition is used to describe the mass
flow rate at the inlet of the air inflow passage between the drill bit and
the guided chuck. The mass flow rate under the standard conditions is
0.3615 kg/s, which corresponds to the air volume flow rate of 18 m3/
min.
A pressure-outlet boundary condition is applied both to the outlet of
the central passage and the annulus between the drill bit and the
borehole wall. The outlet of the central passage and the annulus in the
simulation are exposed to atmosphere. Therefore, the magnitude of the
gauge pressure is set to zero at these two boundaries. In addition, no-
slip stationary wall boundary conditions are applied in the boundaries
of each computational domain.
3.3. Solver settings
Piston movement causes the compressed air to flow into the drill bit
periodically and unsteadily, and rock cuttings are carried to the central
passage of the drill bit during the process of drilling with compressed
air. Thus, the nature of the fluid flow is multiphase and unsteady.
However, at the initial stage for simulative assessment of the suction
capacity of the drill bit by CFD, the flow in the drill bit is dealt with
using steady flow approximation. The CFD code Fluent 6.3.26 is used to
solve the 3D continuity, momentum, and energy equations for com-
pressible flow inside the drill bit. These equations are found in various
books on CFD, user guides on commercial CFD software, and numerous
articles (Diego et al., 2011; Wang et al., 2010; Xu et al., 2013).
The flow inside the drill bit is typically turbulent, and a number of
turbulence models are available in Fluent 6.3.26. These models range
from the standard − model to the more complicated Reynolds stress
turbulence model. Given that the flow inside the flow field of the drill
bit is similar to a multiple-nozzle ejector, the realizable version of the κ-
ɛ turbulence model is chosen in present work, because it has been
successfully applied by other researchers to model flow inside ejectors
(Bartosiewicz et al., 2006; Rusly et al., 2005; Sriveerakul et al., 2007;
Szabolcs et al., 2009). This turbulence model accurately predicts the
spreading rate of jet flows, and it provides better performance for se-
paration and recirculation compared with the standard models.
The second-order upwind discretization is used for convective
terms, and a central difference scheme is used for diffusion terms. The
coupling between velocity and pressure is dealt by using the semi-im-
plicit method for pressure-linked equations algorithm. The second-
order upwind scheme is used to calculate both turbulent kinetic energy
and turbulent dissipation rate. The convergence criterion was con-
sidered 1e−5 for all of the variables.
3.4. CFD simulation results
The variation curves of the volume flow rate with the inclination
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Fig. 9. Velocity contour plots of the eight cross-sections in the central

passage.

angle (θs) are shown in Fig. 5. It can be inferred that the volume flow
rate tends to decrease with the increase of the inclination angle, under
the condition of constant vertical space (L), horizontal space (S) and
defection angle (θd). When the inclination angle (θs) is 30°, the volume
flow rate is maximum.
As shown in Fig. 6, the volume flow rate inclines to increase at first,
and then decreases with the increase of the vertical space (L), in the
context of keeping the defection angle (θd), the inclination angle (θs)
and the horizontal space (S) constant. Anyhow the volume flow rate
reaches peak when the vertical space (L) is 15 mm.
Fig. 7 shows that the variation curves of the volume flow rate with
the horizontal space (S). As shown in Figs. 6 and 7, the volume flow
rate initially increases, then tends to decrease with the increase of
horizontal space (S) while the inclination angle (θs), the defection angle
(θd) and the vertical space (L) are constant. The maximum volume flow
rate appears when the horizontal space (S) is 10 mm.
In order to investigate the effect of the defection angle θd on the
suction capacity of RC drilling system with an air hammer, the hor-
izontal space (S), the vertical space (L) and the inclination angle (θs) are
defined as constant. According to Fig. 8, it can be concluded that the
volume flow rate rises with the increase of defection angle θd while the
defection angle θd is less than 10°. Nevertheless the defection angle θd is
more than 10°, the volume flow rate tends to decrease with the increase
of defection angle θd. Therefore, the volume flow rate comes to the
maximum value while the defection angle (θd) is 10°.
Among the four structural parameters of RC drilling system with an

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Fig. 10. Test apparatus on the suction capacity of RC air hammer with double-row suction nozzles.

air hammer, the inclination angle (θs) has the greatest influence on
suction capacity based on the CFD simulation results, and the volume
flow rate ranges from 6 m3/min to 0.5 m3/min. In addition, the defection
angle (θd), the vertical space (L) and the horizontal space (S) also have
effects on the suction capacity of RC drilling system, and the maximum
volume flow rate is up to 6.55 m3/min while the deflection angle θd is
10°. In conclusion, the optimal parameters configuration of the air
hammer with double row suction nozzles are presented as follows:
θs = 30°, θd = 10°, L = 15 mm and S = 10 mm according to the nu-
merical simulation results.
Allowing for the changes of suction capacity in the RC air hammer,
the flow characteristic in the central passage of the drill bit has been
numerically observed, which is obtained from the optimal parameters
configuration of RC air hammer with double row suction nozzles. A
total of eight evenly distributed cross-sections above the intersections of
the central passage and the suction nozzles were captured, as shown in
Fig. 9. According to the velocity contour plots of the eight cross-sections
in the central passage, the compressed air flows upward in a spiral
manner along the wall of the central passage, and a low-velocity cavity
was formed in the core area of the central passage after the compressed

Fig. 11. Variation of the measured mass flow rate of the RC air hammer with inclination angle θs, defection angle θd, vertical space L and horizontal space S .

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Fig. 12. The comparison of average volume flow rate of between numerical simulation and
measured data.
air jets from the suction nozzles. It can be inferred that the negative
effect, which is called the “wind curtain” leading to the energy loss of
compressed air, is eliminated. Although the jetting fluid gradually dif-
fuses toward the center passage in the process of flowing upward, there
is a low-velocity area at the center of the central passage, and the area
adjacent to the wall belongs to a high-velocity area all the time.
4. Laboratory tests and discussions
The test apparatus on the suction capacity of RC air hammer with
double-row suction nozzles is shown as Fig. 10. The suction capacity of
the air hammer can be quantified as the intake-volume flow rate, which
is timely recorded by the data acquisition system. Totally 81 groups of
experiments have been conducted in order to verify the precision of
numerical simulation results. Furthermore, only one variable of 4
structural parameters is enabled in all tests. In addition, the buffer tank
was applied to the laboratory tests due to the pressure fluctuation of
pumped compressed air is obvious, which is negative to the improve-
ment of measuring accuracy of the data acquisition system.
As shown in Fig. 11, the inclination angle θs, the defection angle θd,
the vertical space L and the horizontal space S all have influence on the
suction capacity of the air hammer with double-row suction nozzles. It
can be inferred that the suction capacity of the air hammer decrease
with the increase of the inclination angle θs while the vertical space L is
15 mm and the horizontal distance S is 10 mm. Although the inclina-
tion angle θs has a negative impact on the improvement of suction ca-
pacity of RC air hammer, the optimal inclination angle θs has been
obtained by the scientific orthogonal analysis on the measured mass
flow, which directly corresponds to the suction capacity of the RC air
hammer with double-row suction nozzles. According to the laboratory
test results, decisions can be drawn that the optimal inclination angle θs
of the RC air hammer with double-row suction nozzles is 30°.
Fig. 13. The designed drill bit of the air hammer with double-row suction nozzles.
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In the same way, the defection angle of the RC air hammer has a
negative impact on the suction capacity of the RC air hammer with
double-row suction nozzles. In accordance with the laboratory test re-
sults, the average intake flow rates of compressed air in the air hammer
is integrally decreasing while the defection angle θd is ranging from 10°
to 20°, and the maximum intake mass flow rate of the air hammer with
double-row suction nozzles is 0.01415 kg/s while the deflection angle is
10°, which is beneficial to the dust suppression while in underground
tunnel drilling. In addition, the intake mass flow rate of the RC air
hammer deceases with the increase of the inclination angle θs, thus the
inclination and deflection angle of the RC air hammer with double-row
suction nozzles should be simultaneously analyzed in order to improve
the suction capacity of the RC air hammer.
Meanwhile, the intake mass flow rate of the RC air hammer initially
increases with the horizontal space S, and the maximum mass flow rate
turns up while the horizontal space S is 10 mm. Due to the spiral flow
path of the mixed particles in the air hammer, it can be proposed that
the horizontal and vertical distance of the RC air hammer have an
unstable influence on the suction capacity of the RC air hammer, and
the intake flow rate of the air is fluctuating with the variation of hor-
izontal distance S.
On the whole, the maximum value of the intake mass flow rate in
the air hammer with double-row suction nozzles can be obtained while
the parameter configuration of the hammer is θs = 30°, θd = 10°,
L = 15 mm and S = 10 mm, which comes to 0.01415 kg/s. Therefore,
the optimal parameter configuration of the designed RC air hammer
with double-row suction nozzles is θs = 30°, θd = 10°, L = 15 mm and
S = 10 mm.
As shown in Fig. 12, the average intake volume flow rate of com-
pressed air obtained from numerical simulation results is exceeding
300m3 /h, yet the measured volume flow rate in laboratory tests is just
40m3 /h.
It can be found that the numerical simulation results of the intake
volume flow rate of dust is much greater than that of the measured
data, which could be resulted from the big difference of boundary
conditions between numerical simulation and laboratory tests. In nu-
merical simulation, the pressure-outlet boundary condition has been
equally applied to the outlet of the central passage and the annulus
space between air hammer and the borehole wall, and the initial outlet
pressure of the air hammer is assigned as zero. However, the real outlet
pressure of the air hammer with double-row suction nozzles in la-
boratory tests is larger than zero, which is definitely equal to the at-
mosphere pressure. Moreover, the pressure assumption of the drilling
system, such as the pressure assumption of the drill pipe, top sub and
the lower sub, would dramatically reduce the outlet pressure and the
mass flow rate of the air in RC drilling system. Nevertheless, it can be
inferred that the numerical simulation results, as well as the laboratory
test results of the intake flow rate in the RC air hammer contribute to
the structure design of the RC air hammer with double-row suction
nozzles, which facilitates the optimization and the development of RC
drilling system with an air hammer.
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Fig. 14. (1) Left: no dust and rock cuttings escaped from the mouth of
the downward hole, (2) right: the dust bag was connected with the
flexible discharge tube and the rock cuttings were collected within the
dust bag.

5. Field test results Table 2

Drilling data of a drainage hole in the marble formation.
The Jinping First Stage Hydropower Station is an important cas-
No. Depth of Net drilling Penetration rates Description of dust
cading hydropower unit located at Yalong River in Sichuan Province of borehole /m time /min /m h−1 suppression
China, and the project will build a 305 m concrete hyperbolic arch dam,
which is the highest arch dam in the world (Fei et al., 2010). The 1 0–1.5 13 6.92 Nearly no dust
geological structures at the dam site are very complex, such as deep 2 1.5–3.0 15 6.00 suspended in the
3 3.0–4.5 14 6.43 cavity
fractures, lamprophyre dyke and tectonic faults (Gong et al., 2010; Wu
4 4.5–6.0 14 6.43
et al., 2010). Complicated geological conditions leads to serious dust 5 6.0–7.5 15 6.00
pollution in underground tunneling while drilling with conventional 6 7.5–9.0 16 5.63
methods. In order to improve the geological conditions, many grouting 7 9.0–10.5 18 5.00
8 10.5–12.0 20 4.50
holes and drainage holes were designed in five layers of horizontal
9 12.0–13.5 19 4.74
tunnels with total length of 11.8 km (Qi et al., 2010). The surrounding 10 13.5–15.0 19 4.74
rock of the tunnels is marble with good quality (Xu et al., 2011). The
Total 15.0 163 Average 5.52
three principle stresses are 64 MPa, 36 MPa and 36 MPa.
A prototype of the drill bit has been developed and manufactured on
the basis of the optimal parameters configuration of RC air hammer

Fig. 15. No dust and rock cuttings dispersed from the mouth of the
vertical upward hole and the large-angle upward hole and rock
cuttings were collected within the dust bag.

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Table 3 suppression while in underground tunnel drilling.

Drilling data of a drainage hole in the sandy slate formation.
No. Depth of Net drilling Penetration rates Description of dust
borehole /m time /min /m h−1 suppression
1 0–1.5 9 10.00 No dust suspended in
2 1.5–3.0 10 9.00 the underground
3 3.0–4.5 9 10.00 cavity
4 4.5–6.0 10 9.00
5 6.0–7.5 11 8.18
6 7.5–9.0 13 6.92
7 9.0–10.5 14 6.43
8 10.5–12.0 15 6.00
9 12.0–13.5 16 5.63
10 13.5–15.0 16 5.63
Total 15.0 123 Average 7.32
with double-row suction nozzles, as shown in Fig. 13. The RC drilling
system with such air hammer was used to drill the grouting hole and the
drainage holes in one of the horizontal tunnel, where the formations are
mainly composed of marble and sandy slate. The angles of each drai-
nage hole and grouting hole are various, such as the vertical downward
holes, vertical upward holes and the large-angle upward holes. The
depth of the boreholes is 10–15 m and the nominal diameter of the
boreholes is 140 mm. A YXZ-50A drilling rig was used to rotate and
power the drilling tools, and the central passage of the power head of
the drilling rig was modified to make the air and rock cuttings go
through it smoothly. An Atlas Copco GA160-13 air compressor, whose
normal effective working pressure and actual free air delivery is
1.25 MPa and 342 L/s, respectively, was used to supply sufficient
compressed air for the tunnel drilling with a RC air hammer. In addi-
tion, the external diameter and length of each dual-wall drill pipe is
89 mm and 1.5 m, respectively.
According to the environmental conditions of tunnel drilling, there
were no visible dust or rock cuttings found from the mouth of the
downward borehole during the process of tunnel drilling, which is
completely different from the working condition with conventional
drilling technology. As shown in Fig. 14, the RC air hammer with
double-row suction nozzles is qualified, and the dust suppression per-
formance of the RC drilling system is superior when used in under-
ground tunnel drilling. All the multiphase fluids, consists of rock cut-
tings, exhausted air, and groundwater inflowing from the borehole
wall, were continuously carried upward through the central passage of
the drilling tools, finally being discharged into the dust bag, which is
mounted at the outlet of the flexible discharge tube. The working en-
vironment in the tunnel was safe and environmentally friendly due to
the length of the flexible tube.
Due to the negative pressure zones are formed near the double-row
suction nozzles, the exhausted air with rock cuttings are accumulated
and intake into the central passage of the air hammer, Thus the dust
suppression has been successfully obtained while drilling with the RC
air hammer. In addition, the value of negative pressure generated by
the RC air hammer with double-row suction nozzles directly represents
the suction capacity of the air hammer. It can be suggested that the
larger value of negative pressure near the suction nozzles is, the more
superior dust suppression of the RC air hammer will have, which is
beneficial to the dust control in underground tunnel drilling.
When the RC air hammer drilling system was used to drill a vertical
upward hole and a large-angle upward hole, there was no sensible dust
dispersion in the tunnel or underground space, whereas a small amount
of the rock cuttings dropped down from the mouth of borehole due to
the gravity of dust particles, as shown in Fig. 15. According to our vi-
sual inspection on the dust suppression performance of the RC air
hammer drilling system with double-row suction nozzles, the dust
dispersion has been diminished without water spraying or other dust
suppression methods, which is more cost-effective for the dust
As shown in Table 2, the penetration rates in different depth of
borehole has been obtained while in tunnel drilling with RC air hammer
drilling system in the marble formation, and the average penetration
rate was 5.52 m h−1. During the tunnel drilling process, nearly no dust
or rock cuttings suspended inside the tunnel, and the dust suppression
of tunnel drilling with the RC air hammer is excellent.
The penetration rates of tunnel drilling with RC air hammer in the
sandy slate formation has been shown in Table 3, and an average pe-
netration rates of 7.32 m h−1 was achieved while drilling a drainage
hole. Being similar to the drilling in marble formations, the dust sup-
pression of tunnel drilling in sandy slate formation with the RC air
hammer drilling system was also superior, and there was no dust gen-
erated inside the underground cavity in the process of tunnel drilling,
which indicates that the dust suppression ability of the designed RC air
hammer with double-suction nozzles is superior to standard methods.
Furthermore, the penetration rate of tunnel drilling is still excellent
while drilling with the RC air hammer drilling system.
6. Conclusions
In order to achieve the dust suppression and improve the environ-
ment quality of underground space while in tunnel drilling, the RC
drilling system with an air hammer was innovatively proposed and
designed. The air hammer has specialized structure with double-row
suction nozzles, which contributes to the improvement of suction ca-
pacity of the air hammer. A total of four structural parameters of the air
hammer with double-row suction nozzles have been analyzed on the
effect of suction capacity by means of CFD simulation. In the end, the
numerical simulation and test results have been obtained, and some
conclusions can be drawn as follows:
(1) The designed RC air hammer with double-row suction nozzles is
qualified in dust suppression while in underground tunnel drilling,
and there is no dust or rock cuttings suspended in underground
cavity during the drilling process, which improves the working
conditions of underground excavation.
(2) According to the numerical simulation and laboratory test results,
the optimal parameters configuration of the air hammer with
double-row suction nozzles is θs = 30°, θd = 10°, L = 15 mm and
S = 10 mm, and the maximum mass flow rate of intake air in RC
drilling system is 0.0134 kg/s.
(3) The dust suppression of tunnel drilling can be effectively dimin-
ished by using the RC drilling system with optimized air hammer,
and the penetration rate is still excellent while in various stratum.
Acknowledgments
This research work is financially supported by the State Key
Research Development Program of China (Grant Nos.
2016YFC0801402 & 2016YFC0801404), the National Science and
Technology Major Project of China (Grant Nos. 2016ZX05045-
004 & 2016ZX05043005), and the National Natural Science Foundation
of China (51674050), which are gratefully acknowledged. The authors
also express thanks to Prof. Yin Kun and Jianming Peng for their pre-
cious advices.
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