Hard-rock TBM performance prediction

Abstract

There are proven models for calculating penetration rate. Since the underlying data is relatively old and mostly from tunnels with diameters <6.0-7.0 m, this material is no longer up to date. Also, there has been considerable progress since 1990 in TBM technology, in particular as far as cutters are concerned (material, shape, and diameter of disks). The changed situation has motivated a research group consisting of five university institutes from the Alpine region to pick up the topic of the prediction of penetration rate and cutter wear, with the objective of developing a completely new or improved prediction model. However, penetration rate is only one-although the first and majorparameter to calculate advance rate. The prediction of advance rate is essentially a task of construction planning, in which aspects of machine technology, operation, organisation and logistics must be taken into account. A simple straightforward calculation is insufficient for doing this: calculation must happen in iterative steps. On the basis of a doctoral thesis accepted in 2004 at the University of Innsbruck, an engineering firm specialising in construction planning and economics 11 has developed the software Simtunnel Pro 2.0 making it possible to calculate advance rate in a comprehensible way, taking all conceivable influences and basic conditions into account.