Albin Wessling

Numerical modelling of hard rock drilling

Drilling in hard rock is a large economical expense in several applications, such as geothermal, oil and mining industries. A predominant cost factor in rock drilling is the drill bit wear. This cost is not only due to the direct material and personel cost assocaited with replacing broken parts, but also due to the loss in efficiency when drilling with a worn out bit. My research concerns numerical modelling of rock drilling with the aim of optimizing the process and reducing wear. This involves, for example, the numerical modelling of rock fracture, drill bit wear and fluid tranpsport of rock cuttings within the borehole. 

The main numerical methods I work with are the Discrete Element Method (DEM), the Finite Element Method (FEM) and the Particle-Finite Element Method (PFEM). For the dynamic experimental characterization of rock materials I work with the Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) in conjunction with high-speed photograpy and Digital Image Correlation (DIC).

Project

GEOFIT: Numerical modelling of rock drilling for geothermal applications.

OptiRock: A pre-study for a full-scale projekt for drilling and subsequental loading of rock materials for Aitik Boliden.

Supervisors

Main supervisor: Jörgen Kajberg
Assistant supervisor: Pär jonsén
Assistant supervisor: Simon Larsson