Development of a 3D discrete element method approach to study the evolution of rock cutting mechanism in high-depth conditions: application to Vosges Sandstone.

While wells reach deeper and deeper targets, understanding the cutting mechanism under confinement is not yet fully mastered. Among the numerical methods used to study this problem, the Discrete Element Method has already shown promising results, but the evolution of rock behavior with confinement is not always considered. This work proposes a calibration method based on UCS and triaxial tests to represent the evolution of rock behavior with confinement. This calibration procedure is implemented on Vosges Sandstone. The rock model failure envelope is built based on further triaxial tests and agrees with the experimental one. Secondly, linear cutting tests under confinement were implemented on the calibrated model. The results are compared to experimental ones. Their good agreement allows the validation of the proposed approach.