Assessment of rock drillability prediction in hard rock tunnel boring

Mechanical rock cutting is the fundamental operation in underground construction and mining industry, representing a stochastic process with complicated relations between its variables. Identification and assessment of the parameters affecting the mechanical rock cutting process set up the basic assumptions not only for control and optimization, but also for assessment of the rock drillability as combination of individual parameters of the rock cutting process. Effects of rock mass influencing the rock drillability during the excavation by tunnel boring machine (TBM) are assessed for the purposes of its prediction.