• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.193-201
• /
• 2014

This paper presents the development of simulation system on EPB shield TBM Hood operation. In recent, EPB shield TBM is widely used in the tunnel construction. Since the hood system of the EPB shield TBM is most important to excavate the tunnel, it is necessary to perform the simulation of hood system to investigate the design and operation parameters prior to tunnel construction. In order to carry out this study, the scaled simulation system was designed and developed. The model tests were performed to verify the developed system. During the simulation, the earth pressures developed in the chamber during tunnelling were measured to evaluate the operation technique. The test results obtained by the developed simulation system show clearly the similar behaviour of TBM hood compared with the field data. It was also found that the ground loss during tunnelling is dependent on the change of earth pressure in chamber. Therefore, the simulation system developed in this study will be very useful to evaluate the operation technique of the TBM hood prior to tunnel construction. In addition, this system will be applied in a various condition of ground to get the operating information.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.217-230
• /
• 2022

The adequate control of TBM face pressure is of vital importance to maintain face stability by preventing face collapse and surface settlement. An EPB shield TBM excavates the ground by applying face pressure with the excavated soil in the pressure chamber. One of the challenges during the EPB shield TBM operation is the control of face pressure due to difficulty in managing the excavated soil. In this study, the face pressure of an EPB shield TBM was predicted using the geological and operational data acquired from a domestic TBM tunnel site. Four machine learning algorithms: KNN (K-Nearest Neighbors), SVM (Support Vector Machine), RF (Random Forest), and XGB (eXtreme Gradient Boosting) were applied to predict the face pressure. The model comparison results showed that the RF model yielded the lowest RMSE (Root Mean Square Error) value of 7.35 kPa. Therefore, the RF model was selected as the optimal machine learning algorithm. In addition, the feature importance of the RF model was analyzed to evaluate appropriately the influence of each feature on the face pressure. The water pressure indicated the highest influence, and the importance of the geological conditions was higher in general than that of the operation features in the considered site.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.209-222
• /
• 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
• /
• v.22 no.6
• /
• pp.611-622
• /
• 2020

Recently, tunneling projects using shield TBM are increasing in Korea, but the information of client for machine design and manufacturing considering the characteristics of the tunneling phase is not formal, and it is difficult to optimized machine for suitable tunneling works. This paper suggest as for reference the required terms that can be used in Korea on the design items and detailed requirements for ordering of EPB shield TBM based on overseas case study. It would be hope that the TBM user can request the overall tunneling plan and required machine specification when ordering TBM, and the TBM supplier can design and manufacturing that is clear condition and suitable machine for the successful project, so that there are no residential civil complaints and for safe tunneling as well, shield TBM tunneling method will be activated.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.213-224
• /
• 2014

Recently, tunnelling with TBM is getting popular for the construction of cable tunnel in urban area. Mechanized tunnelling method using shield TBM has various advantages such as minimization of ground settlement and prevention of vibration induced by blasting that should be accompanied by conventional tunnelling. In Korea, earth pressure balance (EPB) type shield TBM has been mainly used. Despite the popularity of EPB shield TBM for cable tunnel construction, study on the mechanical behavior of cable tunnel driven by shield TBM is insufficient. Especially, the effect of backfill grout injection on the behavior of cable tunnel driven by shield TBM is investigated in this study. Tunnelling with shield TBM is simulated using 3D FEM. The distance of backfill grout injection from the end of shield skin varies. Sectional forces such as axial force, shear force and bending moment are monitored. Vertical displacement at the ground surface is measured. Futhermore, the relation between volume loss and the distance of backfill grout injection from the end of skin plate is derived. Based on the stability analysis with the results obtained from the numerical analysis, the most appropriate injection distance can be obtained.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.533-549
• /
• 2024

Soil conditioning is a critical process when tunneling with an earth pressure balance (EPB) shield tunnel boring machine (TBM) to enhance performance. To determine the optimal additive injection conditions, it is important to understand the rheological properties of conditioned soil, which is typically assessed using a rheometer. However, a rheometer cannot simulate the actual process of muck discharge in a TBM. Therefore, in this study, a scaled-down model of an 8-meter-class EPB shield TBM chamber and screw conveyor, reduced by a factor of 1:20, was fabricated and its applicability was evaluated through laboratory experiments. A lab-scale model experiment was conducted on artificial sandy soil using foam and polymer as additives. The experimental results confirmed that screw torque was consistent with trends observed in previous laboratory pressurized vane shear test data, establishing a positive proportional relationship between screw torque and yield stress. The muck discharge efficiency according to foam injection ratio (FIR) showed similar values overall, but decreased slightly at 60% of FIR and when the polymer was added. In addition, the pressure distribution generated along the chamber and screw conveyor was assessed in a manner similar to the actual EPB TBM. This study demonstrates that the lab-scale screw conveyor model can be used to evaluate the shear properties and muck discharge efficiency.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.14 no.6
• /
• pp.683-697
• /
• 2012

In this paper, a risk analysis methodology applicable to shield TBM tunnels was studied. Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) was utilized to identify all risk items and to calculate the probability of failure of each item and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to obtain the impact of each risk item. Finally, a risk level of each risk item can be assessed. Developed methodology is applied to a Seoul subway site in which EPB shield tunnel method was utilized and it was found that risk analysis results matched reasonably well with field data.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.31 no.6D
• /
• pp.839-848
• /
• 2011

TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine) tunnel should be carry out with the adopted machine until the end of excavation because of impossibility of replacement or modification of machine. Observation of the face of the tunnel is difficult, especially in EPB(Earth Pressure Balance) shield TBM, predict changes in the ground condition with analyzing data, collected during the excavation, and it should be reflected in construction. Until recently, subjects of studies on TBM are mainly the determination of machine and the development of advance rate prediction model, according to the characteristics of ground which is the target of excavation. However, study focused on the estimation of ground conditions and the improvement in operational methods using excavation data of TBM equipment, the principal of the excavation, has been done not so much. This study examine the variances in advance rate depending on changes in operating conditions and evaluate the optimal operating conditions of adopt machine, using working data obtained from EPB shield TBM project. The result of this study is suggested as follows. First, cutter head RPM and total thrust force are biggest influences on advance rate, Second, it is recommended for proper advance rate that total thrust force is controlled while optimum cutter head RPM is kept, Third, according to the increasing trend of total thrust force, the changes in ground conditions can be predicted, the appropriate operating conditions can be determined.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.163-176
• /
• 2017

The Discrete Element Method (DEM) has been widely used in civil engineering as well as various industrial fields to simulate granular materials. In this study, DEM was adopted to predict the performance of the face plate-type earth pressure balance (EPB) shield TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine). An analysis of the TBM excavation performance was conducted according to two pre-defined excavation conditions with the different rotation speeds per minute (RPM) of the cutterhead. The TBM model which was used in this study has a 6.64 m of diameter and six spokes. Also, 37 precutters and 98 scrapers at an each spoke were modeled with a real-scale specification. From the analysis, compressive forces at the cutterhead face, shield and cutting tools, resistant torques at the cutterhead face, muck discharge rate and accumulated muck discharge by the screw auger were measured and compared.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
• /
• v.30 no.6
• /
• pp.540-550
• /
• 2020

Machine learning has been actively used in the field of automation due to the development and establishment of AI technology. The important thing in utilizing machine learning is that appropriate algorithms exist depending on data characteristics, and it is needed to analysis the datasets for applying machine learning techniques. In this study, advance rate is predicted using geotechnical and machine data of TBM tunnel section passing through the soil ground below the stream. Although there were no problems of application of statistical technology in the linear regression model, the coefficient of determination was 0.76. While, the ensemble model and support vector machine showed the predicted performance of 0.88 or higher. it is indicating that the model suitable for predicting advance rate of the EPB Shield TBM was the support vector machine in the analyzed dataset. As a result, it is judged that the suitability of the prediction model using data including mechanical data and ground information is high. In addition, research is needed to increase the diversity of ground conditions and the amount of data.