Abstract:  Herein, the research results related to the laserassisted rock breaking technology in China and abroad are summarized to investigate its mechanism and application value and provide effective theoretical guidance for researchers. First, the definition of laser and laserassisted rock breaking technology is introduced and the related mechanism is preliminarily presented. Second, the research methods related to the technology are summarized from the aspects of experiment, theory, and simulation. Experiments can directly reveal the process of laserrock interaction and the rock breaking effect; however, it is difficult to monitor and obtain the variation law of temperature and stress fields during laser irradiation on rocks in real time. Numerical simulation methods can provide detailed characteristic information that is difficult or impossible to obtain by experiments and thereby provide effective guidance for further research on the laserassisted rock breaking mechanism. Third, based on the aforementioned research methods and considering laser drilling as an example, the important factors influencing laserassisted rock breaking are comprehensively and systematically analyzed from the following aspects: laser parameters, rock properties, working environment, and methods. Finally, based on the research results related to the laserassisted rock breaking technology in the field of oil and gas drilling, the research status of the technology in the field of tunnel excavation and future development directions are discussed. The results show that the technology can be well applied in the field of tunnel excavation and greatly improves tunnel excavation efficiency. However, the current research on laserassisted tunnel excavation is still in the laboratory research stage, and perfect research equipment and evaluation indicators are lacking. In future, we should focus on improving the rock breaking research system of laserassisted tunneling equipment, and systematically and comprehensively study rock breaking using laserassisted cutters.

Key words: laserassisted rock breaking, breaking mechanism, laser parameters, rock properties, tunnel excavation