Intelligent modeling of thrust force in drilling process

In this paper, an intelligent modeling strategy for thrust force in drilling-process is proposed. First of all, neural network (NN) models are developed to model the thrust force in drilling process. Second, drill head position information is included in the NN model to get better force prediction accuracy for entrance and exit drilling stages. Third, a fuzzy switching strategy is proposed to deal with the gain variation problem due to transitions from one drilling stage to another Finally, gain variation due to drill wear is studied and the related modeling strategy is developed. Simulation and experimental results show that the proposed model works well over a wide operating range.