• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.528-546
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• 2018

Cases of TBM tunnelling have been consistently increasing worldwide. In many recent subsea and urban tunnelling projects, TBM excavation has been preferably considered due to its advantages over drill and blast tunnelling. Difficult ground conditions are highly probable to appear in subsea and urban tunnels because of the shallow working depth and alluvial characteristics. Under the difficult ground conditions, ground reinforcement measures should be considered including grouting, while it is of great importance to select the optimal grout material and injection method to cope with the ground condition. The benefits from TBM excavation, such as fast excavation, increased safety, and reduced environmental impact, can be achieved by applying appropriate ground reinforcement with the minimum overrun of cost and time. In this report, various grouting methods were reviewed so that they can be applied in difficult ground conditions. In addition, domestic and international cases of successful ground reinforcement for difficult grounds were introduced for future reference.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.201-220
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• 2023

Power cable tunnels is one of the underground structures meant for electricity transmission and are constructed using shield TBM method when transitting across urban and subsea regions. With the increasing shaft depth for tunnels excavation when the shield TBM excavated the rock mass, the review of selecting closed-type shield TBM in rocks becomes necessary. A simplified shield TBM design method is also necessary based on conventional geotechnical survey results. In this respect, design method and related design program are developed based on combined results of full-scale tests, considerable amount of accumulated TBM data, and numerical simulation results. In order to validate the program results, excavation data of a completed power cable tunnel project are utilized. Thrust force, torque, and power of shield TBM specification are validated using Kernel density concept which estimates the population data. The robustness of design expertise is established through this research which will help in stable provision of electricity supply.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.209-222
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• 2024

The Earth Pressure Balance (EPB) shield Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) is widely used for underground tunnel construction for its advantages, such as eliminating the need for additional facilities compared to the slurry shield TBM, which requires Slurry Treatment Plant (STP). During EPB shield TBM excavation, a soil conditioning technique is employed to enhance the physical properties of the excavated soil by injecting additives, thus broadening the range of applicable ground conditions to EPB shield TBMs. This study explored the use of xanthan gum, a type of biopolymer, as an alternative to the commonly used polymer additive. Biopolymers, derived from biological sources, are fully biodegradable. In contrast to traditional polymers such as polyacrylic acid, which contain environmentally harmful components, xanthan gum is gaining attention as an eco-friendly material due to its minimal toxicity and environmental impact. Test conditions with similar workability were established through slump tests, and the rheological characteristics were assessed using a laboratory pressurized vane shear test apparatus. The experiments demonstrated that, despite exhibiting similar workability, the peak strength in the flow curve decreased with increasing the content of xanthan gum. Consequently, a correlation between the xanthan gum content and peak strength was established. Replacing the traditional polymers with xanthan gum could enable stable EPB shield TBM operation by reducing equipment load, in addition to offering environmental benefits.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.375-392
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• 2018

The shield TBM method is widely adopted for tunneling works in urban area because it has more beneficial ways to control settlement at ground surface than conventional mined tunneling. In the shield tunneling, backfill grouting at tail void is crucial because it is supposed not only to restraint ground deformation around tail void during excavation but also to compensate precedent ground settlement by pushing up the ground with highly pressurized grout. However, the tail void grouting has been found to be ineffective for settlement compensation particularly in sandy ground, which might be caused by complicate interaction between ground and tail void grouting. In this paper, the effects of tail void grouting on behavior of ground in shield TBM tunneling were investigated based on 3-dimensional finite element analyses. The results of numerical analyses indicated that backfill grouting actually reduces settlement by degrading settlement increasing rate in excavation, which means decrease of volume loss. Meanwhile, the grouting could not contribute to compensate the precedent settlement, because reduction of volume loss by grouting was found to be counterbalanced by volume change of ground.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.261-275
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• 2012

This paper presents numerical analysis of the mud cake infiltration behaviour which is influenced tunnel face stability during excavation by slurry shield TBM. This analysis method can make useful data to select proper shield TBM type and to set up the construction plan. But effective analysis did not proposed until now. In this paper, we carried out numerical analysis using by $PFC^{2D}$ fluid coupling simulation which is suitable for sandy soil modelling. As a analysis result, we checked that the slurry infiltration behaviour varied with soil permeability and slurry characteristic(specific weight, viscosity etc). This analysis method is helpful safety excavation through anticipating the proper slurry viscosity at the design stage and verifying the slurry quality at initial excavation stage.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.197-217
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• 2020

Shield TBM tunneling, used in the construction of Seoul subway line 7 and line 9, has been well known as a very efficient, as well as safe, tunneling method. Although the Shield TBM method has been known to be effectively used in poor ground conditions, a number of troubles have occurred during the use of the shield TBM, due to inappropriate machine selection, machine breakdown, and unpredicted ground conditions etc. In this study, several accidents and trouble cases occurred during excavation by Shield TBM, reported from Japan, were investigated. A series of numerical analysis was then performed to compare with the trouble cases and back-analysis results for the cause analysis. The lessons learned from the case studies are presented at the end.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.117-124
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• 2014

The interest in the use of shield TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine) on the tunnel excavation has been increased rapidly in Korea. The shield TBM tunnel is generally designed as non-drainage tunnel. Consequently, if water leakage through the segment joints happens, big problems on the usage and stability of tunnel can be occurred. In this study, the variation of waterproof capacity of hydrophilic waterstop by the construction error and excessive displacement of segment was studied firstly. Secondly, the decrease of durability of hydrophilic waterstop by the sulphate and chloride contained in the groundwater and seawater was investigated. The results showed that if the angle discordance at the segment joints is beyond the 2 degree, the proper waterproof capacity of hydrophilic waterstop can not be guaranteed. In addition, if the hydrophilic rubber waterstop is exposed to the sulphate for a while, the proper durability of hydrophilic waterstop can not be expected.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.95-105
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• 2014

Reinforced concrete (RC) shield tunnel lining must be designed for fireproof performance because the lining is sometimes exposed to very high temperature due to traffic accidents. Both experimental and numerical studies are carried out to evaluate fire resistance performance of precast RC tunnel lining systems. In the experimental studies, six full-scale precast RC tunnel segments are exposed to fire in order to examine the influence of various parameters on the fire resistance performance of precast RC tunnel lining. We used the temperature curve of the RABT criteria, which are severe conditions of fire temperatures. The fire test showed that the explosive spalling was not observed by substituting concrete to PP fiber reinforced concrete. A transient heat flow analysis was carried out in consideration of the material properties that change with temperature, and the results showed good agreement with the test results.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.233-242
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• 2011

This study aims to evaluate the applicability of high-strength concrete mixed with blast furnace slag to shield segment lining in order to improve its performance and economic efficiency. Especially, it was also intended to derive the optimum replacing ratio of ground granulated blast furnace slag to ordinary cement as well as the optimum steam curing condition for shield segment concrete with the design strength of 60 MPa. From a series of experiments, the condition of 50% replacement of ordinary cement by ground granulated blast furnace slag and unit water content of 125 kg/$m^3$ was proposed as the optimum mixing condition. Comparing with standard curing conditions, it was also possible to expect approximately 110~442% strength improvement of concrete by steam curing in the same mixing condition.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.421-435
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• 2017

Recently, due to the saturation of ground structures and the overpopulation of pipeline facilities requires to development of underground structures as an alternative to ground structures. Thus, mechanized tunnel construction of the shield TBM method has been increasing in order to prevent vibration and noise problems in construction of the NATM tunnel for the urban infrastructure construction. Tunnel construction plan for the tunnel line should be formed in a sharp curve to avoid building foundation and underground structures and it is inevitable to develop a shield TBM technology that suits the sharp curve tunnel construction. Therefore, this study is about the structural stability technology of the articulation jack, shield jack and skin plate for the shield TBM thrust in case of the mechanized tunnel construction that is a straight and sharp curve line. The construction case study and shield TBM operation principle are examined and analyzed by the theoretical approach. The torque of the cutter head, the thrust of the articulation jack and the shield jack, the amount of over cutting for curve is important respectively in shield TBM construction of straight and sharp curve line. In addition, it is very important to secure the stability of the skin plate structure to ensure the safety of the inside worker. This study examines the general structure and construction of the equipment, experimental simulation was carried out through numerical analysis to examine the main factors and structural stability of the skin plate structure. The structural stability of the skin plate was evaluated and optimizes the shape by comparing the loads of the articulation jack by selecting the virtual soil to be applied in a straight and sharp curve line construction. Since the present structure and operation method of the shield TBM type in domestic constructions are very similar, this study will help to develop the localized shield TBM technology for the new equipment and the vulnerability and stability review.