ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: Light soils amenable to erosion are excavated by dredges by free suction. Heavy soils (high density) not amenable to erosion are excavated by dredges by means of cutters. Cutter Suction Dredger is a vessel, which uses a rotating cutter head and a suction inlet for loosen and suction of material from the seabed. A cutter-suction dredger’s suction tube has a cutting mechanism at the suction inlet. The material that is loosened by the cutter head will be taken away by the vacuum force that is created by the pump. To improve efficiency of the cutter head, it is necessary to study the characteristics of driving power of the dredger cutter head. This paper introduces the way that cutter suction dredgers work. And then, the three dimensional distinct element methods were applied in the numerical simulation to study efficiency of the rotating cutter head. The driving power for the whole cutter head and the power for each cutter tooth were discussed respectively. The numerical modeling results were verified by the collected data of a specified cutter head working in the field tests. The driving power results show periodic features of the cutter head while working, and indicate that the distinct element methods are effective for analyzing the required power and efficiency of the cutter head.
