• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.857-870
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• 2017

The use of shield TBM is gradually increasing due to the urbanization of social infrastructures. Reliable estimation of advance rate is very important for accurate construction period and cost. For this purpose, it is required to develop the prediction model of advance rate that can consider the ground properties reasonably. Based on the database collected from field, statistical prediction procedure for field penetration index (FPI) was modularized in this study to calculate penetration rate of shield TBM. As output parameter, FPI was selected and various systems were included in this module such as, procedure of eliminating abnormal dataset, preprocessing of dataset and ridge regression with best subset selection. And it was finally validated by using field dataset.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.219-237
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• 2020

Rapid economic development and urban population growth have been increasing the necessity for underground space exploration and utilization due to the need of upgrading and expanding the existing infrastructures. TBM has been widely used to construct underground structures with high advance rate and minimal ground disturbance. Two important design parameters, which are available thrust capacity and cutterhead torque, should be estimated for any project in addition to proper selection of TBM type. However, the conventional thrust force and torque estimation model only depends on the empirical equation, which hinders the design process of the optimal thrust hydraulic system and the appropriate hydraulic components. In this study, four thrust and torque calculation models are derived and explained. For TBM design practice, the four estimation models are compared and discussed.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.29-40
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• 2019

Mechanized constructions have been frequently increased in soft ground below sea bed or river bed, for urban tunnel construction, and for underpinning the lower part of major structures in order to construct a safer tunnel considering various risk factors during the tunnel construction. However, it is difficult to estimate the subsidence behavior of the ground surface due to excavation and needs to be easily predicted. Thus, in this study, when a twin tunnel is constructed in the soft ground, it is proposed a simpler equation relating to the settlement behavior and a corrected formula applicable to soft ground and large diameter shield tunnels based on the previously proposed theory by Peck (1969). For this purpose, it was analyzed to long-term measurement values such as the amount of maximum settlement, the subsidence range by ground conditions, and interference volume loss due to the parallel construction, etc. As a result, a equation was suggested to predict the amount of maximum settlement in the soft sediment clay ground where is located at the upper part of the excavation site. It is turned out that the proposed equation is more suitable for measurement data in Korea than Peck (1969)'s.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.277-286
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• 2009

A suitability of a thixotropic grout developed in this study has been examined through laboratory tests on strength, segregation, and viscosity. The thixotropic grout is a mixture of two types of liquid components. The A-liquid component consists of cement, water, and MG-A and the B-liquid component consists of scarlet, water, and MG-B. Unconfined compressive strength of specimens prepared with a prefer mix-proportion satisfied a design criteria for the backfilling of tail voids. A material segregation phenomenon under water condition was not observed in the thixotropic grout whereas it was observed in the existing silica-type grout. In addition, viscosity tests have been rallied out on the thixotropic grout to verify the capability of a long-distance delivery in the field. Both the A-liquid component and the B-liquid component maintained a viscosity of below 2,000 cP for 120 minutes. This experimental result confirms that two liquid components guarantees a long-distance delivery in tile field application.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.269-286
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• 2018

Backfill injection pressure in shield TBM affects not only ground settlement but also adjacent underground structures. Therefore, it is essential to estimate a suitable backfill injection pressure in advance in design stage. In this paper, seven suggested equations worldwide to calculate the backfill injection pressure were reviewed and compared. By assuming 6 cases of virtual ground condition, backfill injection pressures were calculated and analyzed. it was confirmed that the backfill injection pressure increases as the depth of overburden increases, but the increasing ratio decreases. The numerical analysis was carried out by applying the calculated backfill injection pressure to investigate the influence of backfill injection pressure on the settlement of surface and crown of tunnel. It was confirmed that the final settlement at the surface and crown of tunnel on the both unsaturated and saturated condition are more influenced by the applied face pressure than the applied backfill injection pressure. In addition, the effect of backfill injection pressure decreases as the depth of overburden increases, and the effect of backfill injection pressure increases as the applied face pressure decreases.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.735-747
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• 2019

Due to the lack of ground space by urbanization, the demand of utility tunnels for laying social facilities is increasing. During the construction of a utility tunnel in downtown area using a shield TBM, various problems may occur when difficult ground is encountered such as mixed ground and cobbly ground. Thus, in this study, using MIDAS GTS NX (Ver. 280), a numerical analysis was performed on characteristics of difficult ground, reinforced area, depth of cover and groundwater level to analyze the optimal ground reinforced area according to combination of parameters. As a result, it was difficult to secure stability in unconstrained excavation cases on both the mixed ground and the cobbly ground. However, when ground reinforcement grouting as much as 2.0D is applied, convergence occurred within the allowable limit, except for mixed ground with a depth of cover 30 m. In addition, excessive leakage occurred during excavation of both the mixed ground and the cobbly layers. It was able to secure stability after applying waterproof grouting.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.457-471
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• 2015

A domestic cutterhead with the diameter of 3.6 m was designed and manufactured in this study. Then, it was attached to an existing earth-pressure balanced shield TBM to excavate a cable tunnel with the length of 1,275 m. Especially, the procedures for TBM cutterhead design and its corresponding performance prediction were also summarized. From field data analyses of the refurbished shield TBM, its maximum advance rate was recorded as 14.4 m/day. Penetration depths of disc cutters were found to be approximately 4 mm/rev, which is equal to the maximum penetration depth designed for the strongest rock strength condition in the target tunnel. Every TBM operating thrust and cutter normal force during TBM driving was much smaller than their corresponding maximum capacities. When cutter acting forces recorded in the field were analyzed, their prediction errors by the CSM model were very high for weak rock conditions. In addition, rock strength showed very close relationships with cutter normal force and penetration depth.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.261-275
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• 2020

When excavating a small cross-section tunnel in a fault fracture zone using the shield TBM method, there is a high possibility of excessive convergence and collapse. Appropriate ground reinforcement is required to minimize construction cost loss and trouble due to a fault fracture zone. In this study, the optimal reinforcement area was suggested and the surrounding ground behavior was investigated through numerical analysis using MIDAS GTS NX (Ver. 280). For the parameters, the width of the fault fracture zone, the existence of fault gouge, and the groundwater level and depth of cover were applied. As a result, when there is not fault gouge, the convergence and ground settlement are satisfied the standard when applying ground reinforcement by up to 0.5D. And, due to the high permeability coefficient, it is judged that it is necessary to apply 0.5D reinforcement. There is a fault gouge, it was possible to secure stability when applying ground reinforcement between the entire fault fracture zone from the top of the tunnel to 0.5D. And, because the groundwater discharge occurred within the standard value due to the fault gouge, reinforcement was unnecessary.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.75-85
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• 2010

The focus of this study is to evaluate the field applicability of the newly developed inorganic thixotropic-grout in various ways. In order to do this, the volume stability and the permeability of the inorganic thixotropic-grout have been measured and compared to the existing silica type grouts. In addition, the filling capability of the grout into the tail void has been evaluated through both an experiment with a miniature tail-void filling equipment and a test filling at the shield TBM construction site. The volume loss of the inorganic thixotropic-grout after a 14 day-curing under the atmosphere condition was appeared to be minimal. The excellent waterproofing ability of the inorganic thixotropic-grout was confirmed through a permeability test. The toxicity of the inorganic thixotropic-grout has been evaluated through a toxicity test of aquatic fishes (KS M 0111) and the pH value of the liquid eluviated from inorganic thixotropic-grout was measured as an average of 8.0 and a fatality rate of goldfish after 96 hours was 10% or so. The existence of harmful heavy metals in the liquid eluviated from the inorganic thixotropic-grout has been also examined through an atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) test. Any of harmful heavy metals were not detected and the detected level of $Cr^{6+}$ and Cd was far below the standard. Based on both an experiment with a miniature tail-void filling equipment and a test filling at the shield TBM construction site, the filling ability of inorganic thixotropic-grout into the tail void was proved to be excellent.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.91-111
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• 2024

Most of utility cable tunnels are constructed utilizing shield TBM as part of the underground transmission line project. The TBM chamber is the only space inside the tunnel that encounters rock and soil, and is the place with the highest frequency of accident exposure, such as collapse and collision accidents. Since there is currently no way to measure the disc cutter wear from outside the chamber, frequent inspection by workers is essential. Accordingly, in this study, in order to prevent safety accidents inside the TBM chamber and expect the effect of shortening the construction period by reducing the number of chamber openings, the concept of disk cutter wear measurement technology was established and a prototype was produced. By considering prior technology and determining that magnetic sensors are most suitable for the excavation environment, wear measurement sensor package were developed integrating magnetic sensors, wireless communication modules, power supply, external casing, and monitoring systems. To verify the performance of the prototype in an actual excavation environment, a full-scale tunnelling test was performed using a 3.6 m EPB shield TBM. Based on the full-scale tests, five prototypes were operated normally among eight prototypes. It was analyzed that sensor measurement, wireless communication, and durability performance were secured within a maximum thrust of 3,000 kN and a rotation speed of 1.5 RPM.