Review of theoretical, experimental, and numerical studies on rotary percussive rock drilling.

Rotary percussion rock drills have been widely used in mining and civil engineering fields, and their performance needs to be further improved. To deeply understand the mechanisms of the rock drills, this article reviews the previous studies from fundamental theories to state-of-the-art techniques on the rotary percussive rock drilling processes, including stress wave propagation, dynamic bit penetration, and factors affecting drilling efficiency and penetration rates. An enormous variety of research approaches and their findings are provided to related researchers and engineers. In addition, important future issues are presented for discussing the further progress of rotary percussive rock drilling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]