{"data":{"news":{"items":[{"title":"Herrenknecht builds giant TBM for mega project in China","date":"2024-07-09 09:03:38","id":5430,"author":"","blurb":"","blurb_image_uid":"https://dxfpracgmlczp.cloudfront.net/2024/07/1720422556484_Herrenknecht_Mega_project_Shanhe_Photo_2-V2.jpg","blurb_expanded_image_uid":null,"article":"\n\t\n\n\n

Herrenknecht has built a mixshield tunnel boring machine (TBM), featuring a large diameter of 17.5 m, for the construction of a two-storey road tunnel with three lanes in both directions in the eastern Chinese city of Jinan. This mixshield technology is designed for the extreme conditions of the upcoming undercrossing of the Yellow River.

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A machine of this diameter has only been used twice before in the history of tunnelling, revealed Herrenknecht. The largest one was in Hong Kong in 2015, also a Herrenknecht mixshield with a diameter of 17.63 m.

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In this latest project, which was awarded to the Herrenknecht subsidiary, Herrenknecht Tunnelling Machinery (HTM) in China, the order was for a machine to cross under the Yellow River, in a geological environment with high groundwater pressure and to create just one tunnel tube for both directions of travel. Thus a large diameter was required: 17.5 m over a section of 3.3 km.

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The mixshield TBM, named ‘Shanhe’, is scheduled to begin tunnelling in late 2024. The project aims to improve the connection between the two sides to the north and south of the river.

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Adapting to the geology

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To adapt to the clay, sand and silt geology and the 7.5 bar groundwater pressure under the Yellow River, a mixshield TBM was selected. The mixshield technology, developed by Herrenknecht, is an advance on conventional slurry technology. The support pressure in the excavation chamber is precisely managed using an automatically controlled air cushion. This means that heterogeneous geologies and high water pressures of more than 15 bar can be controlled safely, even with very large excavation diameters. An individual, new slurry circuit was designed especially for the TBM Shanhe.

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“We have also equipped the machine with our special telescopic camera in order to better monitor the tool change and the face,” said Herrenknecht project manager Zhao Bin, who has already supervised several projects for clients in China. Most recently, he supervised the two TBMs that are also crossing under the Yellow River just a few kilometres away from the new construction site and building a road tunnel with two tubes (the shield diameter of these two mixshields for the Jinan Jiluo Road North Extension Tunnel project is 15.71 m).

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“Thanks to its efficiency, the new single-tube tunnel supports the national strategy of ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin,” said Wang Hai, deputy general manager of the Herrenknecht office in Beijing. “It removes a bottleneck of traffic across the river and is calculated to absorb 7.4% of the traffic volume in one go.”

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Tunnelling works for the second phase of the Deep Tunnel Sewerage System (DTSS) in Singapore were recently completed. The final breakthrough took place in July 2023. Here, a total of 19 Herrenknecht tunnel boring machines (TBMs) had been deployed since 2019. In addition, a Herrenknecht vertical shaft sinking machine (VSM) was used.

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Singapore’s National Water Agency, PUB, is implementing the DTSS project in two phases. Phase 1 (DTSS1) was completed in 2008, where five Herrenknecht TBMs excavated 28 km of the 108-km-long network of main tunnel and link sewers. Phase 2 (DTSS2) is currently underway, extending the system by nearly 100 km, of which around 49 km were excavated by Herrenknecht TBMs. The project is expected to be completed in 2026.

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The 19 Herrenknecht TBMs in Phase 2 comprised 18 Mixshields and one EPB shield (earth pressure balance shield), featuring diameters of 4.50-7.56 m. Herrenknecht also supplied 12 separation plants for the Mixshield drives and provided comprehensive support services throughout the entire project. This included, for example, remote access to individual machines, enabling them to be monitored and controlled remotely.

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According to Herrenknecht, among the challenges on the project was the complex geology. For instance, the Jurong formation consists of sandstone, siltstone, mudstone, limestone, dolomite and some conglomerate, which are extremely folded due to tectonic plate movements. As a result, diverse rock types with different weathering grades often alternate along a tunnel alignment and even in the cross section of a tunnel. “In close cooperation with the customers, we therefore adapted the design of the TBM to the complex geological conditions,” said Dirk Schrader, Herrenknecht’s general manager for Asia Pacific.

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What’s more, special solutions were required for construction of five of the 24 shafts in the tunnel contract T-11 with diameters of between 10 and 12 m. In this particular section, with depths of up to 60 m there was high water pressure that the shafts constantly had to withstand. “For this reason, for the first time in the Asia Pacific region, a vertical shaft sinking machine (VSM) from Herrenknecht was used for sinking the shafts,” said Mr Schrader.

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With E-Power Pipe, Herrenknecht has developed a new method to quickly and securely install small-diameter cable protection pipes underground over long distances of more than 1 km. The company said this system has purposefully modified and further developed proven drilling technologies so that in the future, underground cables can be installed trenchlessly and close to the surface at a depth of between 2 m and 4 m with minimal intervention in the landscape.

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At the heart of the system is the AVNS350XB, a fully remote-controlled tunnel boring machine (TBM) with an excavation diameter of 505 mm and is designed for drive lengths of more than 1,000 m. The machine can keep to the planned alignment with high precision and thus cross safely under existing infrastructure such as pipelines, roads, railways or smaller bodies of water. Individual boreholes can be placed a small distance apart of only 1 – 2 m, so several lines can be installed in parallel.

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The tunnelling machine is equipped with a jet pump and an integrated hydraulic power unit. With conventional methods, space restrictions limited muck removal over longer sections and as a result also limited the drive lengths possible, said Herrenknecht. Through the use of the jet pump for transporting the muck, up to 10 times longer tunnelling distances can be achieved at high speeds in the small diameter range.

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At the starting point, a newly developed push and pull unit is installed and its thrust is used to push the jacking pipes and the TBM along the specified route in the direction of the target point. The borehole remains securely supported by the machine and the jacking pipes the whole time. After breakthrough at the target point, the TBM is separated from the jacking pipes. Subsequently, the prefabricated cable protection pipe is connected to the jacking pipes still located in the borehole and pulled back and thus into the borehole by the push and pull unit in the launch shaft at the other end. After installation of the protection pipe, the E-Power Pipe mission is complete. Final insertion of the underground cables is carried out by appropriately specialised companies.

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The method innovation involved the development of new, extended jacking pipes that allow a much more continuous advance. Herrenknecht also developed a push and pull unit with a 10 m stroke and a push and pull force of 350 t specifically for these jacking pipes. The technology is based on a rack and pinion guide, powered by electric motors. As a result, the innovative concept ensures higher installation performance and greater acceptance thanks to lower noise emissions.

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According to Herrenknecht, E-Power Pipe has already been successfully demonstrated in pilot projects. Daily best performances were achieved of 184 m during tunnelling and 266 m when the protective pipe was pulled in. The development of the method received funding from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy (BMWi research project IBoTec) and was carried out by Herrenknecht in cooperation with Amprion GmbH and RWTH Aachen.

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The installation of underground cables using E-Power Pipe is a ground-conserving alternative to the conventional open-cut method. Due to the trenchless installation method, earth movements are reduced at the places where HVDC cables have to be connected later. This can mean a reduction of about 90% in relation to the entire alignment, revealed Herrenknecht. Installation takes place without any environmental impact over long distances, since the surfaces and the soil structure are left largely untouched. The use of construction machinery and trucks is also significantly reduced in this way, as are noise and emissions.

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E-Power Pipe is a winner of the bauma Innovation Award 2019 in the ‘Machine’ category.

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www.herrenknecht.com

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A Herrenknecht S-975 EPB Shield has been used by Tiong Seng Contractors (Pte) Ltd to bore two 1,000-m-long drainage tunnels in Singapore. The tunnel boring machine (TBM) has a shield diameter of 5,250 mm and torque of 2,739 kNm. The final TBM breakthrough occurred in December 2017.

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The new tunnels expand the existing drainage system and will relieve the Singapore River in the long-term, especially during heavy rain, and thus reducing the risk of flooding in the country. The new twin tunnels complement the existing 5-km-long Stamford Canal.

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Due to the inner-city location, the smallest possible diameter of 24 m was chosen for the round launch shaft. With such a limited space, the TBM was made to be as compact as possible. Its individual parts arrived just-in-time at the jobsite. Afterwards the machine was lowered carefully into the launch shaft, component by component, until it was ready for operation.

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Upon completion of the first tunnel, the TBM was returned to its starting point in the launch shaft, where it then began excavation of the second tunnel tube. Featuring a 630-kW drive power, the Herrenknecht S-975 worked its way through complex ground conditions (highly weathered granite) and with small overburdens crossed under the busy inner city, surrounded by skyscrapers with shopping malls and apartments.

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In 2010 and 2011, Singapore’s Orchard Road - which runs near the Stamford Canal - was repeatedly affected by major flooding because the existing drain could not accommodate the water masses during heavy rain and flash floods. In recent years, rains in Singapore have become heavier and floods more frequent, according to the National Water Agency. The expansion of the drainage system is designed to prevent this problem in future and relieve the Stamford Canal by up to 30%.

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Additional challenges on the project were posed by the short distance between the two tunnels and a tight curve radius of 180 m in the course of the alignment. As such, precision and intricate work was required. With shield articulation cylinders, the curve drive was continuously adjusted so that deviations were always within the tolerance. In this way, a continuous advance with top performances of up to 18 m per day and 91 m per week could be achieved.

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Website: www.herrenknecht.com

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