ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Earth Sci.
Sec. Solid Earth Geophysics
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvanced Materials and Technologies for Sustainable Development of Underground Resources - Volume IIView all 9 articles
Study of High-Frequency Impact Extrusion Bionic Drilling Technology for Soft Coal Seams
Provisionally accepted
- CCTEG XI’AN Research Institute, Xi'an, China
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Soft coal seams represent a common geological feature in coal and gas outburst mines. They generate a substantial amount of coal debris during gas extraction drilling, which easily causes hole blockage and leads to drilling hazards such as pipe sticking, pipe jamming, and borehole collapse. This study draws inspiration from the burrowing and soil discharge mechanisms of earthworms and proposes a novel composite drilling process that combines "impact vibration + crawling extrusion" for soft coal seams to mitigate these risks and enhance drilling efficiency. Based on discrete element simulation, the effects of drill bit structure, coal seam pressure, and coal seam condition on drilling performance are investigated. The results show that the concave cone bionic bit exhibits the best cutting performance at a buried depth of 400–600 m, with a drilling speed approximately 18% higher than that of other bit structures. The coal seam pressure demonstrates a negative correlation with drilling speed, and the bit displacement at 600 m is 32% lower than that at 400 m. In addition, the drilling efficiency in loose coal seams is considerably higher than in cohesive coal seams, with a displacement difference of 0.025 m/cycle.
Keywords: soft coal seams1, bionic bit2, impact extrusion3, slagging efficiency4, discreteelement5
Received: 30 Sep 2025; Accepted: 24 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tian, Tian and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Hongjie Tian
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