Assisted ultrasonic vibration technology has received great interest in the past few years for petroleum and mining engineering related to hard rock breaking. Understanding the fatigue behaviour and damage characteristics of rock subject to ultra-high-frequency loading is vital for its application. In this research, we conducted ultrasonic vibration breaking rock experiments combined with an ultra-dynamic data receiver and strain gauges to monitor the development of strain in real time. The experimental results show that the strain curve is U-shaped, and it can be divided into three stages: the strain first decreases, then remains steady (with light fluctuations) and finally increases. The sample first underwent compressive deformation, and no rupture occurred. As the vibration continued, the compressive deformation decreased with the initiation and propagation of cracks, and fragmentation occurred. To elucidate the crack evolution mechanism of the granite specimens, numerical simulations were performed using particle flow code in two dimensions (PFC2D), and an improved fatigue damage model based on the flat-joint contact model was proposed. The numerical results indicate that this model can effectively reproduce the fatigue characteristics of hard brittle rocks under ultrasonic vibration. By analysing the stress and strain fields and cracking process, the crack evolution mechanism in the brittle hard rock under ultra-high-frequency loading is revealed. These experimental and numerical results are expected to improve the understanding of the fragmentation mechanism of rock under assisted ultrasonic vibration.

Cats protract claws while hunting or pawing on the ground and retract to muscles when relaxing. Inspired by this behavior, and in order to solve the problem of short service life and low comprehensive drilling efficiency of polycrystalline diamond compact bits which results from its poor adaptability to soft-hard interbedded strata, a self-adaptive bionic polycrystalline diamond compact bit was designed, which can use the elastic element to adjust its back-rake angle according to the formation hardness to improve the adaptability of polycrystalline diamond compact bits. Theoretical analysis and drilling test results show that the self-adaptive bionic polycrystalline diamond compact bit has a strong adaptability to soft-hard interbedded rock strata. When drilling in soft rock, the back-rake angle is small and the rate of penetration is high; when drilling in hard rock, the angle becomes larger to reduce the abnormal damage of cutters. Thus, it can improve the integrated drilling efficiency and service life of polycrystalline diamond compact bits. In the whole drilling test, the average penetration rate of the self-adaptive bionic polycrystalline diamond compact bit increases by 10%–13% over conventional polycrystalline diamond compact bits with the same dimension and material.

Deep geothermal resources are becoming an increasingly important energy source worldwide. To achieve the optimal efficiency of this resource, the heat transfer characteristics between flowing water and rock need to be further studied. Using the stereotopometric scanning system 3D CaMega, the fracture geometry data of five cuboid granite rocks were obtained to determine the effects of fracture roughness on the heat transferability of rock. A 3-D model was built based upon the scanned geometry data to assess the effects of rock temperature, water velocity, and roughness, and aperture size of fracture surface on the heat transfer coefficient. The simulation tests show that water velocity has the most noticeable effect, followed by aperture size and rock roughness. On the other hand, the initial rock temperature has the least influence. A new heat transfer coefficient was proposed considering aperture size, water flow velocity, and rock fracture roughness. The calculated values of Reynolds, Prandtl, and Nusselt numbers obtained using this coefficient are in good agreement with the numerical simulation results. This study provides a reference for enhancing the heat transfer coefficient to benefit the exploitation of heat energy of hot dry rock.