• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.1-24
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• 2018

The use of TBM (tunnel boring machine) gradually increases in worldwide tunneling projects. TBM machine are often applied to more difficult and complex geological conditions in urban area, and many problems and difficulties have been reported due to these geological conditions. However, in Korea, there is a lack of research on difficult grounds so far. This paper discussed general aspects of investigation method, and problems of TBM tunneling in difficult grounds. Construction cases that passed through the difficult grounds in worldwide were analyzed and the typical difficult grounds were classified into 11 cases. For each case, the definition and general problems were summarized. Particularly, for mixed ground and boulder ground, and fault zone, which are frequent geological conditions in urban area with shallow depth, classification system, investigation methods and major considerations were discussed, and proposed the direction of future research. This paper is a basic study for the development of TBM construction technology in difficult ground, and it is expected that it will be useful for related research and construction of TBM in difficult ground in the future.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2001.03a
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• pp.25-32
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• 2001

Doosan Construction & Engineering Co., Ltd is building a railway tunnel beneath the Soo-Young River connecting MinLak Station and Centum City Station, a section 230, subway line 2, Pusan City, Korea. When completed the tunnel will have a finished inner diameter of 6.5m(21.311) throughout its total length of 840m(420m = 0.52 miles, Two Single Track Tunnel : 420m＋420m). The ground profile of the face toward shield machine is composed of multi layers, silty clay, clayey gravel, soft rock etc. This research paper is to predict ground deformation and variation of stresses around tunnel using Hyperbolic model, and to reflect the works on the next shield tunneling project. And this research paper is analyzed data of measuring instrument (such as settlement gauge, inclinometer, Multiple extensometer, etc.) which is installed along tunnel line for safety of tunnel. For calculations, the finite difference Method is applied. Backfill grouting material is supposed to have instantly strength of 10kg/$\textrm{cm}^2$ above, although its strength is available after 24 hours passed.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.291-300
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• 2022

Tunnel boring machines combined with the earth pressure balanced shield method (EPB shield TBMs) have been adopted in urban areas as they allow excavation of tunnels with limited ground deformation through continuous and repetitive excavation and support. Nevertheless, the expansion of TBM construction requires much more minor and exquisitely controlled surface settlement to prevent economic loss. Several parametric studies controlling the tunnel's geometry, ground properties, and TBM operational factors assuming ordinary conditions for EPB shield TBM excavation have been conducted, but the impact of excessive excavation on the induced settlement has not been adequately studied. This study conducted a numerical evaluation of surface settlement induced by the ground loss from face imbalance, excessive excavation, and tail void grouting. The numerical model was constructed using FLAC3D and validated by comparing its result with the field data from literature. Then, parametric studies were conducted by controlling the ground stiffness, face pressure, tail void grouting pressure, and additional volume of muck discharge. As a result, the contribution of these operational factors to the surface settlement appeared differently depending on the ground stiffness. Except for the ground stiffness as the dominant factor, the order of variation of surface settlement was investigated, and the volume of additional muck discharge was found to be the largest, followed by the face pressure and tail void grouting pressure. The results from this study are expected to contribute to the development of settlement prediction models and understanding the surface settlement behavior induced by TBM excavation.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.299-311
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• 2023

Continuous excavation technologies are developed to improve the excavation rate of shield TBM. Continuous excavation is a technology that provides thrust to segments, excluding being installed one, to reduce tunneling downtime. This paper investigated the prior technology related to continuous excavation segments. The main technology was classified into helical segment, honeycomb segment, and conventional segment methods. The helical segment method has not been applied in actual construction yet, and the honeycomb segment method has not succeeded in commercialization. The continuous excavation method using conventional segments has been successfully demonstrated. The thrust force and operation method of the thrust jacks for the semi-continuous technology were analyzed. Continuous excavation TBM research is also progressing in Korea, and through the analysis of successful cases, the need to develop independent continuous excavation methods has been identified.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.214-225
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• 2020

Uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of rock is one of the important factors to determine the advance speed during shield TBM tunnel excavation. UCS can be obtained through the Geotechnical Data Report (GDR), and it is difficult to measure UCS for all tunneling alignment. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to predict UCS by utilizing TBM machine driving data and machine learning technique. Several machine learning techniques were compared to predict UCS, and it was confirmed the stacking model has the most successful prediction performance. TBM machine data and UCS used in the analysis were obtained from the excavation of rock strata with slurry shield TBMs. The data were divided into 8:2 for training and test and pre-processed including feature selection, scaling, and outlier removal. After completing the hyper-parameter tuning, the stacking model was evaluated with the root-mean-square error (RMSE) and the determination coefficient (R²), and it was found to be 5.556 and 0.943, respectively. Based on the results, the sacking models are considered useful in predicting rock strength with TBM excavation data.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.345-352
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• 2022

The existing NATM (New Austrian Tunneling Method) has induced civil compliants due to blasting vibration and noise. Machanized excavation methods such as TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine) are being adopted in the planning and construction of tunneling projects. Shield TBM method is composed of repetition processes of TBM excavation and segment installation, the machine has to be stopped during the later process. Consecutive excavation technology using helical segment is under developing to minimize the stoppage time. The modification of thrust jacks and module are planned to ensure the advance force acting on the inclined surface of helical segment. Also, the integrated system design of hydraulic circuit will be remodeled. This means that the system deactivate the jacks on the installing segment while the others automatically act the thrusting forces on the existing segments. This report briefly introduces the mechanical research part of the current consecutive excavation technological development project of TBM.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2005.03a
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• pp.401-408
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• 2005

Recently shield TBM tunnellings are being applied to subway construction in Korean cities. Generally these kinds of tunnellings have the problems in the stability of ground such as subsidence because urban subway is constructed in the shallow depth. A sinkhole occurred on the road just above the tunnel during tunneling in Kwangju, so a survey for upper layer of the tunnel was needed. But conventional Ground Probing Radar can't be applicable due to the presence of steel-mesh screen in the shield segment, so no existent geophysical method is applicable in this site. Because the outer surface of each shield segment is electrically insulated, dipole-dipole resistivity method which is popular in engineering site investigation, was tried to this survey for the first time. Specially manufactured flexible ring-type electrodes were installed into the grouting holes at an interval of 2.4 m on the ceiling. The K-Ohm II system which has been developed by KIGAM and tested successfully in many sites, was used in this site. The system consists of 1000Volt-1Ampere constant-current transmitter, optically isolated 24 bit sigma-delta A/D conversion receiver - maximum 12 channel simultaneous measurements, and graphical automatic acquisition software for easy data quality check in real time. Borehole camera logging with circular white LED lighting was also done to investigate the state of the layer. Measured resistivity data lack of some stations due to failing opening lids of holes, shows general high-low trend well. The dipole-dipole resistivity inversion results discriminate (1) one approximately 4 meter diameter cavity (grouted but incompletely hardened, so low resistivity - less than $30{\Omega}m$), (2) weak zone (100-200${\Omega}m$), and (3) hard zone (high resistivity - more than 1000${\Omega}m$) very well for the distance of 320 meters. The 2-D inversion neglects slight absolute 3-D effect, but we can get satisfactory and useful information. Acquired resistivity section and video tapes by borehole camera logging will be reserved and reused if some problem occurs in this site in the future.

• KEPCO Journal on Electric Power and Energy
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.305-313
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• 2020

The use of cable tunnels for electric power transmission as well as their construction in difficult conditions such as in subsea terrains and large overburden areas has increased. So, in order to efficiently operate the small diameter shield TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine), the estimation of advance rate and development of a design model is necessary. However, due to limited scope of survey and face mapping, it is very difficult to match the rock mass characteristics and TBM operational data in order to achieve their mutual relationships and to develop an advance rate model. Also, the working mechanism of previously utilized linear cutting machine is slightly different than the real excavation mechanism owing to the penetration of a number of disc cutters taking place at the same time in the rock mass in conjunction with rotation of the cutterhead. So, in order to suggest the advance rate and machine design models for small diameter TBMs, an EPB (Earth Pressure Balance) shield TBM having 3.54 m diameter cutterhead was manufactured and 19 cases of full-scale tunneling tests were performed each in 87.5 ㎥ volume of artificial rock mass. The relationships between advance rate and machine data were effectively analyzed by performing the tests in homogeneous rock mass with 70 MPa uniaxial compressive strength according to the TBM operational parameters such as thrust force and RPM of cutterhead. The utilization of the recorded penetration depth and torque values in the development of models is more accurate and realistic since they were derived through real excavation mechanism. The relationships between normal force on single disc cutter and penetration depth as well as between normal force and rolling force were suggested in this study. The prediction of advance rate and design of TBM can be performed in rock mass having 70 MPa strength using these relationships. An effort was made to improve the application of the developed model by applying the FPI (Field Penetration Index) concept which can overcome the limitation of 100% RQD (Rock Quality Designation) in artificial rock mass.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.433-452
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• 2018

The shield tunneling method can minimize surface settlements by preventing the deformation of tunnel face and tunnel intrados due to tunnel excavation. For this purpose, it is very important to control the operating conditions of shield TBM. The face pressure and backfill pressure for tail void grouting should be the most important and immediate measure not only to restrain surface settlement, but also to influence the effective stress and pore water pressure around the circumstance of tunnel during excavation. The reaction of the ground to the application of face pressure and backfill pressure relies on the stiffness and permeability of ground. Especially, the reaction of saturated clayey ground formations, which shows the time-dependent deformation, is different from the permeable ground. Hence, in this paper it was investigated how the TBM operating conditions, ground stiffness, and permeability impact on the surface settlement of saturated clayey ground. For this purpose, a series of parametric studies were carried out by means of the stress-pore water pressure coupled FE analysis. The results show that the settlement of soft clayey ground is divided into the immediate settlement and consolidation settlement. Especially, the consolidation settlement depends on the ground stiffness and permeability. In addition, the existence of critical face pressure and backfill pressure was identified. The face pressure and backfill pressure above the critical value may cause an unexpected increase in the ground settlement.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.38-45
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• 2019

In this paper, the stability of the tunnel boring machine (TBM), used in tunnel excavation, according to the thrust force of the thrust jack was investigated. The existing hydraulic cylinder analysis method is fluid-structure interaction (FSI) analysis, where all of the flow setting and dynamic characteristics should be considered. Therefore, there is a need for a method to solve this problem simply and quickly. To facilitate this, the theoretical pressure in the hydraulic cylinder was calculated and compared with the analytical and experimental results. In the case of the analysis, the pressure generated inside the cylinder was analyzed statically, considering the operating characteristics of the shield TBM, and the stress and pressure were calculated. This method simplifies the analysis environment and shortens the analysis time compared to the existing analysis method. The obtained theoretical and analytical data were compared with the measured data during actual tunneling, and the analysis and experimental data showed a relative error of approximately 23.89%.