Ma. Wilkinson et Jw. Tester, COMPUTATIONAL MODELING OF THE GAS-PHASE TRANSPORT PHENOMENA DURING FLAME-JET THERMAL SPALLATION DRILLING, International journal of heat and mass transfer, 36(14), 1993, pp. 3459-3475
Rock spallation induced by thermal stress can be used to drill through
hard rock at high rates. In order to characterize the importance of o
perating parameters on rock penetration rate and hole geometry, a mode
ling effort was initiated. Because supersonic flame jets are used to i
nduce thermal stress in practical spallation drilling systems, a compr
ehensive treatment of turbulent gas phase heat, mass, and momentum tra
nsport was developed and coupled to a rock mechanics-based model of th
ermal stress induced failure. Work reported in this paper provides the
mathematical framework, governing equations, and computational algori
thms and compares model-predicted results to experimental data when po
ssible.