• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.25 no.3
• /
• pp.201-220
• /
• 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
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.225-235
• /
• 2013

Cutter forces acting on a disc cutter in TBM are the key parameters for TBM design and its performance prediction. This study aimed to experimentally evaluate cutter forces with different ring shapes in a hard rock. The stiffness of a cutter ring was indirectly estimated from a series of full-scale linear cutting tests. From the experiments, it was verified that the rolling stress acting on a V-shape disc cutter was much higher than on a CCS disc cutter even though the penetration depth by a V-shape disc cutter could be increased in the same cutting condition. Finally, it is suggested that a prediction model considering the shape parameters of a disc cutter should be used for its better prediction.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.19 no.6
• /
• pp.985-997
• /
• 2017

In many countries, most of the tunneling works have been ordered by the shield TBM, and also Korean companies are actively bidding and execute in this project. In case of Korea, refurbished machines are mainly using in power cable, gas pipelines, and water and sewage tunnel. Also in metro projects, shield TBM of over diameter 7m is required mainly by using brand new machine. Since the shield TBM is not easy to change once it is produced, it is necessary for the client to provide sufficient information on the production conditions so as to satisfy various characteristics of the construction. In this study, to manufacturing optimal shield TBM, the Client's TBM requirements of tunnel construction in Hong Kong and UK was analyzed and compared with the domestic requirements. The results are expected to provide as client's guidelines for bidding stage and manufacturing for shield TBM tunneling in Korea in the future.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.24 no.6
• /
• pp.553-581
• /
• 2022

Shortly after tunnel boring machine (TBM) was introduced in the tunneling industry, the use of TBM has surprisingly increased worldwide due to its performance together with the benefit of being safely and environmentally friendly. One of the main cost items in the TBM tunneling in rock and soil is changing damaged or worn cutters. It is because that the cutter change is a time-consuming and costly activity that can significantly reduce the TBM utilization and advance rate and has a major effect on the total time and cost of TBM tunneling projects. Therefore, the importance of accurately evaluating the cutter life can never be overemphasized. However, the prediction of cutter wear in soil, rock including mixed face is very complex and not yet fully clarified, subsequently keeping engineers busy around the world. Various prediction models for cutter wear have been developed and introduced, but these models almost usually produce highly variable results due to inherent uncertainties in the models. In this study, a case study of design and construction of disc cutter change is introduced and analyzed, rather than proposing a prediction model of cutter wear. As the disc cutter is strongly affected by the geological condition, TBM machine characteristic and operation, authors believe it is very hard to suggest a generalized prediction model given the uncertainties and limitations therefore it would be more practical to analyze a real case and provide a detailed discussion of the difference between prediction and result for the cutter change. By doing so, up-to-date idea about planning and execution of cutter change in practice can be promoted.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.545-560
• /
• 2019

During EPB TBM tunnelling, an appropriate application of additives such as foam and polymer is an essential factor to secure the stability of TBM as well as tunnelling performance. From the '90s, there have been many studies on the optimal injection of additives worldwidely contrary to the domestic situation. Therefore, in this paper, the foam, which is widely adopted for soil conditioning, was selected as an additive in order to investigate the effect of foam injection on TBM performance through a series of laboratory excavation tests. The excavation experiments were carried out on artificial sandy soil specimens with consideration of the variance of FIR (Foam Injection Ratio), FER (Foam Expansion Ratio) and $C_f$ (Surfactant Concentration), which indicate the amount and quality of the foam. During the tests, torque values were measured, and the workability of conditioned soil was evaluated by comparing the slump values of muck after each experiment. In addition, a weight loss of the replaceable aluminum cutter bits installed on the blade was measured to estimate the degree of abrasion. Finally, the foam injection ratio for the optimal TBM excavation for the typical soil specimen was determined by comparing the measured torque, slump value and abrasion. Note that the foam injection conditions satisfying the appropriate level of machine load, mechanical wear and workability are essential in the EPB TBM operational design.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.109-128
• /
• 2022

The precise inspection for safety and diagnosis (PISD) of tunnel has been conducted by the special act on safety control of public structures. However, the present assessment for the segmental lining of TBM tunnel has limitation such as: NDTs for integrity, segmental configuration for field inspection, and consideration for jacking system. Even if the number of TBM tunnel is less than 1% of enrolled facility in FMS, more attention to maintenance should be necessary due to its usage such as multi-use facility and national important facility. Compared to NATM tunnel, excavated by drilling and blasting and then installed lining by cast-in-place within 6~12 m, TBM tunnel is cut out ground by disk and cutter-bit and then assembled 7 pieces of precast segment, 1.2~1.4 m wide. Different features of design, construction, and maintenance should be considered to be more exact evaluation of TBM tunnel. The characteristics of defect is categorized and analyzed with 11 operational TBM tunnels in domestic subway. To be more comprehend various particular defects, foreign studies have been also adapted. Crack and leakage are categorized in 7 patterns. Breakage/spalling and corrosion are also grouped into 3 patterns. Patterned defects or damages are fed back in design, construction, and are useful guidelines for maintenance stage in future.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.475-488
• /
• 2017

Wear prediction of TBM disc cutters is a very important issue for hard rock TBMs as number of cutter head intervention. In this regard, some model such as NTNU, Gehring model, CSM models have been used to predict disc cutter wear and intervention interval. There are some deficiencies in these models. This paper developed a new test method for wear prediction for TBM disc cutter and proposed a new abrasion index. In this regard, different abrasivity indices along with their testing methods are explained. A comparative study is performed to develop the predictability of different cutter life evaluation methods and index. The evaluation of the new methods proposed in this paper shows a very good agreement with the actual cutter life and intervention interval length. The proposed tester and index can be easily used to predict the intervention interval length and cutter wear evaluation in both planning and construction stages of a TBM tunneling project.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
• /
• v.17 no.4
• /
• pp.129-139
• /
• 2018

The Discrete Element Method (DEM) has been widely used in granular material researches. Especially, if material has a large deformation, such as ground, it can be a useful method to analyze. In this study, to simulate ground formations, DEM was used. The main purpose of DEM analysis was to investigate the numerical model which can predict the TBM performance by simulating excavating procedure. The selected EPB TBM has a 7.73 m of diameter and six spokes. And two pre-defined excavation conditions with the different rotation speeds per minute (RPM) of the cutterhead was applied. In the modeled cutterhead, the open ratio of cutterhead was 21.31% and number of cutters (including disc cutter and cutter bit) was 219. From the results, reaction forces and resistant torques at the cutterhead face and cutting tools, were measured and compared. Additionally the muck discharge rate and accumulated muck discharge by the screw auger were evaluated.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.285-303
• /
• 2023

Interest in building underground spaces is increasing for the creation of downtown infrastructure and efficient space utilization. A representative method of utilizing underground space is a tunnel, and in addition to road tunnels, the construction of utility tunnels such as power conduits and utility conduits is gradually increasing. The current basic tunnel construction method can be divided into NATM (New Austrian Tunnelling Method) and TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine). The NATM is a reliable method, but it is accompanied by vibration and noise due to blasting. In the case of the TBM excavation method, there are disadvantages in terms of construction period and construction cost, but it is possible to improve economic feasibility by introducing appropriate complementary methods. In this study, a blasting method was develop using the NATM after TBM pre-excavation using the protective shield method. This is a method that compensates for the disadvantages of each tunnel construction method, and is expected to reduce construction costs, blasting vibration, and noise. In order to review the performance of the developed method, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the performance of explosion-proof tube to which a protective shield scale model was applied, and the impact of blasting vibration of the protective shield method was analyzed.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
• /
• v.18 no.3
• /
• pp.273-282
• /
• 2016

This study estimates tunnel face pressure through existing 8 analytical equations and 3D numerical analysis, and compares and examines it. In general, the estimating tunnel face pressure of domestic shield TBM has been examined by a method according to analytical equation and empirical method, but numerical analysis is combined in a section passing complicated stratigraphic condition and special soil condition. Therefore, the researcher is to find a reliable method to examine of tunnel face pressure by confirming a correlation between tunnel face pressure estimated by equation and tunnel face pressure estimated by numerical analysis program. When tunnel face pressure is estimated, both analytical equation and numerical analysis were identically examined in soil conditions such as sandy soil and cohesive soil. In addition, existing analytical equation is used as equation, and 3D analysis copying construction process and shield tunnel as numerical analysis.