Prediction of Waterjet Cutting Depth Under Multi-Field Coupling Based on Zero-Shot Learning

Sudden collapse accidents in mine roadways occur frequently, and post-disaster emergency rescue faces major challenges in terms of safety and efficiency. Therefore, efficient demolition equipment and intelligent prediction methods are urgently needed. Abrasive waterjet technology has considerable potential for complex disaster environments owing to its high efficiency, environmental friendliness, and cold-cutting characteristics. However, its cutting performance is affected by multiple coupled factors, including jet parameters, material properties, and environmental conditions. This makes accurate prediction difficult, especially under extreme or unseen operating conditions where available samples are limited. To address this problem, this study proposes a zero-shot learning-based multi-physics coupling prediction framework for the “jet–material–environment–effect” relationship. The framework is designed to predict abrasive waterjet cutting performance under unseen working conditions. First, a multi-factor cutting-performance dataset is constructed through a hierarchical experimental design. A generative adversarial network (GAN) is then introduced to expand the sample space and compensate for the discrete nature and limited distributional coverage of the experimental data. Second, a lightweight self-attention mechanism is employed to model high-dimensional input features globally, thereby improving the model’s ability to capture complex feature interactions. Finally, a joint loss function is designed to collaboratively optimize the generation and prediction processes. The experimental results show that the proposed model achieves a prediction accuracy of 98.3% on the test set, with a coefficient of determination R2 of 0.967, outperforming WOA-SVM, BP neural network, EML, and Transformer models. The inference response time is approximately 3.2 s, indicating good engineering applicability. The results demonstrate that GAN effectively expands the sample space and improves model generalization, while the LightTransformer structure provides advantages in modeling high-dimensional coupled inputs. The proposed method can provide theoretical support and technical reference for intelligent demolition rescue and cutting-depth prediction under mine disaster conditions.