Research on movement rules of soil particles during EPB machine tunneling with spoke cutterhead

To discover the movement rules of soil particles around cutterhead during shield machine tunnelling, the discrete element model of shield machine tunnelling is established. The model is able to simulate the structure of shield machine, the pressure of ground, the excavation operation process and the flow process of soils. The cutterhead torque is obtained by running the model, which is accord with the theoretical calculation results. The displacements of soil particles in the cutterhead system of shield machine at the different tunnelling time are displayed. The movement of soil particle is periodic, and the period is related to the cutterhead rotation speed.