• 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.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.623-641
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• 2020

About 5 km length of tunnels were constructed by mechanized tunnelling method using closed type shield TBM. In order to avoid construction delay problems for ensuring timely electricity transmission, it is necessary to increase the prediction accuracy of the excavation process involving machines according to rock mass types. This is important to corroborate the project duration and optimum operation for various considerations involved in the machine. So, full-scale tunnelling tests were performed for developing the advance rate model to be appropriately used for 3.6 m diameter shield TBM. About 100 test cases were established and performed using various operational parameters such as thrust force and rotational speed of cuttterhead in representative uniaxial compressive strengths. Accordingly, relationships between normal force and penetration depth and, between UCS and torque were suggested which consider UCS and thrust force conditions according to weathered, soft, hard rocks. Capacity analysis of cutterhead was performed and optimum operational conditions were also suggested based on the developed model. Based on this study, it can be expected that the project construction duration can be reduced and users can benefit from the provision of earlier service.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.237-248
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• 2014

Linear cutting test is known to be very effective to determine machine parameters (i.e. thrust force and torque) and to estimate penetration rate of TBM and other operation conditions. Although the linear cutting test has significant advantages, the test is expensive and time-consuming because it requires large size specimen and high load capacity of the testing machine. Therefore, a few empirical prediction models (e.g. CSM, NTNU and QTBM) alternatively adopt laboratory index tests to estimate design parameters of TBM. This study discusses the estimation method of TBM machine parameters and disc cutter consumption using punch penetration test and Cerchar abrasion test of which the researches are rare. The cutter forces and cutter consumption can be estimated by the empirical models derived from the relationship between laboratory test result with field data and linear cutting test data. In addition, the estimation process was programmed through which the design parameters of TBM (e.g. thrust, torque, penetration rate, and cutter consumption) are automatically estimated using laboratory test results.

• 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.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.440-449
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• 2009

LCM test is one of the most powerful and reliable methods of experiment for the cutter head design and the performance prediction of TBM. In many cases, however, the predicted design model can be directly applied to the field design, because this test may have an uppermost limit in preparation and/or transportation of the large size rock samples and the test for the jointed rock mass is not easy. When the proper and reasonable numerical modeling is considered to overcome this limit, the most adequate cutter head design for TBM could be presented without any complicate preconsideration in the field. In this study, the crack propagation patterns dependent on the contact point of disc cutter and the angle of rock joint are analyzed for the rock specimen with a single joint using the UDEC. The authors could derive the appropriate contact points of disc cutters and their space with respect to the joint angle in rock mass thru the numerical analysis.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.54-65
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• 2013

The LCM (Linear Cutting Machine) test is one of the most powerful and reliable methods for designing the disc cutter and for predicting the TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine) performance. It has an advantage to predict the actual load on disc cutter from the laboratory test on the real-size large rock samples, however, it also has a disadvantage to transport and/or prepare the large rock samples and to need an extra cost for experiment. In order to overcome this problem, lots of numerical studies have been performed. In this study, the PFC3D (Particle Flow Code in 3 Dimension) has been adopted for numerical analysis on optimum cutter spacing and failure aspects of Busan Tuff. The optimum cutting condition with s/p ratio of 16 and minimum specific energy of $14MJ/m^3$ was derived from numerical analyses. The cutter spacing for Busan Tuff had the good agreements with those of LCM test and numerical analysis by finite element method.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.383-399
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• 2020

Optimizing the spacing of the disc cutter is a key element in the design of the TBM cutter head, which determines the drilling performance of the TBM. The full-scale linear cutting test is known as the most reliable and accurate test for calculating the spacing of the disc cutter, but it has the disadvantage of costly and time-consuming for the full-scale experiment. In this study, through the numerical analysis study based on the discrete element method, the tendency between Specific Energy-S/P ratio according to uniaxial compression strength and penetration depth of rock was analyzed, and the optimum spacing of 17-inch disc cutter was derived. To examine the appropriateness of the numerical analysis model, the rolling force acting on the disc cutter was compared and reviewed with the CSM model. As a result of numerical analysis for the linear cutting test, the rolling force acting on the disc cutter was analyzed to be similar to the rolling force derived from the theoretical formula of the CSM model. From the numerical analysis on 5 UCS cases (50 MPa, 70 MPa, 100 MPa, 150 MPa, 200 MPa), it is found that the range of the optimum spacing of the disc cutter decreases as the rock strength increases. And it can be concluded that 80~100 mm of disc cutter spacing is the optimum range having minimum specific energy regardless of rock strength. This tends to coincide with the optimal spacing of previously reported disk cutters, which underpins the disk cutter spacing calculated through this study.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.151-163
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• 2011

The LCM test is one of the most powerful and reliable methods for designing the disc cutter and for predicting the TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine) performance. It has an advantage to predict the actual load on disc cutter from the laboratory test on the real-size large rock samples, however, it also has a disadvantage to transport and/or prepare the large rock samples and to need an extra cost for experiment. Moreover it is not easy to execute the test for jointed rock mass, and sometimes the design model estimated from the test can not be applied to the real design of disc cutter. In order to break this critical point, lots of numerical studies have been performed. PFC2D can simulate crack propagation and rock fragmentation effectively, because it is useful in particle flow analysis. Consequently, in this study, the PFC2D has been adopted for numerical analysis on cutting power of disc cutter according to the different angle of joint, the different direction of joint, and the different space of joint with jointed rock mass models. From the numerical analyses, it was concluded that the bigger cutting power of disc cutter was needed for reverse cutting direction to joint rather than for forward direction, and the cutting power of disc cutter was increased with decreasing the dip angle of joint and decreasing the space of joints in reverse cutting direction. The more precise numerical model for disc cutter can be developed from comparison between the numerical results and LCM test results, and the resonable guideline is expected for prediction of TBM performance and disc cutter.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.281-301
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• 2024

The power cable tunnels which are part of the underground transmission line project, are constructed using the shield TBM method. The disc cutter among the shield TBM components plays an important role in breaking rock mass. Efficient tunnel construction is possible only when appropriate replacement occurs as the wear limit is reached or damage such as uneven wear occurs. A study was conducted to determine the wear conditions of disc cutter using a deep learning algorithm based on real-time measurement data of wear and rotation speed. Based on the results of full-scaled tunnelling tests, it was confirmed that measurement data was obtained differently depending on the wear conditions of disc cutter. Using real-time measurement data, an algorithm was developed to determine disc cutter wear characteristics based on a convolutional neural network model. Distributional patterns of data can be learned through CNN filters, and the performance of the model that can classify uniform wear and uneven wear through these pattern features.