• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.769-774
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• 2018

The growth of cities requires the construction of new tunnels close to the existing ones. Prediction and control of ground movement around the tunnel are important especially in urban area. The ground respond due to EPB (Earth Pressure Balance) pressure are investigated using the finite element method by ABAQUS in intersection of the triplet tunnels (Line 2, 3 and 4) of Mashhad Urban Railway in Iran. Special attention is paid to the effect of EPB pressure on the tunnel face displacement. The results of the analysis show that in EPB tunneling, surface settlement and face displacement is related to EPB pressure. Moreover, it is found that tunnel construction sequence is a great effect in face displacement value. For this study, this value in Line 4 where is excavated after line 3, is smaller than that line. In addition, the trend of the displacement curves are changed with the depth for all lines where is located in above and below, close to and above the centerline tunnel face for Line 2, 3 and 4, respectively. It is concluded that: (i) the surface settlement decreases with increasing EPB pressure on the tunnel face; (ii) at a constant EPB pressure, the tunnel face displacement values increase with depth. In addition, this is depended on the tunneling sequence; (iii) the trend of the displacement curves change with the depth.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 1997.03a
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• pp.113-124
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• 1997

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.153-163
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• 2005

This paper presents two case studies for tunnelling in Bangkok: a subway tunnel site and a flood diversion tunnel site. The first case study is related to ground displacement response for dual tunnel Bangkok MRT subway. The MRT subway project of Bangkok city consists of dual tunnels about 20 km long with 18 subway stations. The tunnels are seated in the firm first stiff silty clay layer between 15-22 m in depth below ground surface. The behavior of ground deformation response based on instrumentation is presented. The back analysis based on plain strain FEM analysis is also presented and agrees with field performance. The shear strain of FEM analysis is in the range of 0.1-1% and in accordance with the results of self boring pressuremeter tests. Meanwhile, the second case study is related to the EPB tunnelling bored underneath through underground obstruction. The Premprachakorn flood diversion tunnel is the shortcut tunnel to divert the flood water in rainy season into the Choapraya river. The tunnel was bored by means of EPB shield tunnelling in very stiff silty clay layer at about 20-24 m in depth. During flood diversion tunnel bored underneath the existing Bangkok main water supply tunnel and pile foundation of the bridge, instrumentation was monitored and compared with predicted FEM analysis. The prevention risk potential by means of predicting damage assessment is also presented and discussed.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.65-85
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• 2023

The use of TBM (Tunnel boring machine) has increased worldwide due to its performance together with the benefit of being safely and environmentally friendly compared to conventional tunneling. In particular, EPB (Earth Pressure Balanced) TBM is widely used because it can be applied to various grounds compared to Open TBM. Also EPB TBM has a simple mechanical structure and advantages in cost, requires less ground area than Slurry TBM. EPB TBM has advantages in soft ground, and more importantly, can extend its applicability by use of appropriate soil conditioning, which improves mechanical and hydrological properties of excavated soil and increases the excavation performance of EPB TBM. Various studies suggested the proper mixing ratio and injection ratio, but almost they are limited to laboratory test under atmospheric pressure such as slump test. Actual field conditions may differ depending on the ground and mechanical condition. In this study, first the amount of used soil conditioning used in the field with various grounds from hard rock to soft ground was estimated through laboratory tests and compared with the estimate in design stage. And also it was compared with the amount used during actual excavation. In addition, experience of soil conditioning for the problems of cutter head clogging and groundwater inrush that occurred during excavation is discussed. Finally, lesson learned for the use of soil conditioning in difficult ground condition such as mixed ground are reviewed.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.519-530
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• 2011

The screw conveyor system installed in EPB Shield TBM chamber was manufactured in small scale for pilot test to investigate the tunnel muck hauling system that could control the earth pressure and support face thrust force. In this experimental study, there were three different test conditions that include screw angles, screw pitch, and screw RPM. Through analysis on test results based on the muck hauling amount per unit time from screw conveyor, the optimum conditions of screw conveyor were proposed to be efficiently performed by the muck processing system. Finally, this study provided the meaningful results such as optimum screw angle, screw RPM, and screw pitch for anti-reverse flow of muck hauling.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.193-201
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• 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
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.209-222
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• 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
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.387-401
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• 2023

The Earth Pressure Balanced (EPB) Shield Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) is widely employed for constructing urban underground spaces due to its minimal vibration and low noise levels. The injection of additives offers several advantages, including maintaining shield chamber pressure, reducing shear strength, minimizing cutter wear, and decreasing the permeability of the excavated soil. This technique is known as soil conditioning and involves the application of additives such as foam, polymer, and bentonite slurry. In this study, weathered granite soil commonly encountered at domestic tunnel sites was used as a soil specimen. Foam and polymer were applied as additives to assess the rheological properties of conditioned soils. The workability was evaluated through slump tests, while the rheological properties were assessed through laboratory pressurized vane shear tests conducted under the same conditions. Specially, the polymer was applied under specific conditions with low workability with high slump values, with the aim of evaluating the impact of polymer application. The test results revealed that with an increase in the Foam Injection Ratio (FIR), the slump value also increased, while the torque, peak strength, yield stress, apparent viscosity, and thixotropic area decreased. Conversely, an increase in the Polymer Injection Ratio (PIR) led to results opposite to those of FIR. Additionally, a correlation between the slump value and yield stress was proposed. When comparing conditions with only foam applied to those with both foam and polymer applied, even with similar slump values, the yield stress was found to be lower in the latter conditions.

• Journal of Korean Tunnelling and Underground Space Association
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.355-374
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• 2022

Soil conditioning improves the performance of EPB (earth pressure balance) shield TBMs (tunnel boring machines) by reducing shear strength, enhancing workability of the excavated soil, and supporting the tunnel face during EPB tunnelling. The mechanical and rheological behavior of the excavated muck mixed with additives should be properly evaluated to determine the optimal additive injection condition corresponding to each ground type. In this study, the laboratory pressurized vane test apparatus equipped with a vane-shaped rheometer was developed to reproduce the pressurized condition in the TBM chamber and quantitively evaluate rheological properties of the soil specimens. A series of the pressurized vane tests were performed for an artificial sand soil by changing foam injection ratio (FIR) and polymer injection ratio (PIR), which are the injection parameters of the foam and the polymer, respectively. In addition, the workability of the conditioned soil was evaluated through the slump test. The peak and yield stresses of the conditioned soil with respect to the injection parameters were evaluated through the rheogram, which was derived from the measured torque data in the pressurized vane test. As FIR increased or PIR decreased, the workability of the conditioned soil increased, and the maximum torque, peak stress, and yield stress decreased. The peak stress and yield stress of the specimen from the laboratory pressurized vane test correspond to the workability evaluated by the slump tests, which implies the applicability of the proposed test for evaluating the rheological properties of excavated soil.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.57-69
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• 2010

A major consideration in the design of tunnels in urban areas is the prediction of the ground movements and surface settlements associated with the tunneling operations. Excessive ground movements can damage adjacent building and utilities. In this paper, a neural network model is used to predict the maximum surface settlement, based on instrumented results from three separate EPB tunneling projects in Singapore. This paper demonstrates that by coupling the trained neural network model to a spreadsheet optimization technique, the reliability assessment of the settlement serviceability limit state can be carried out using the first-order reliability method. With this method, it is possible to carry out sensitivity studies to examine the effect of the level of uncertainty of each parameter uncertainty on the probability that the serviceability limit state has been exceeded.