SIMULATION OF CHAOTIC PARTICLE MOTION IN PARTICLE-LADEN JETFLOW AND APPLICATION TO ABRASIVE WATERJET MACHINING

A novel method is presented for modeling the abrasive waterjet machini ng process. Particle motion an the cross section of particle-laden jet flow is simulated in order to quantify, the erosion contributions of m illions of particles having different kinematic behaviors. The simulat ion is performed using fractal point sets with chaotic behavior for th e cases of circular and noncircular (elliptical, triangular) jets. The jetflow constructed can be endowed with any desired velocity profile and/or particle flowrate. In association with a classical constitutive equation for estimating the penetration ability of a particle, the dr illing and cutting operations are simulated and verified by experiment for titanium, glass, and other materials. Roughness and waviness of t he cutting surfaces are also simulated and there is goon consistency b etween theory and experiment. Triangular and elliptical jetflows are u tilized to explore potential applications of noncircular abrasive wate rjets.