Mega slurry TBM for Shenzhen highway link 21 Sep 2017

A slurry TBM of nearly 16m diameter is in design and fabrication by the Chinese TBM manufacturer CREG for a four lane double deck highway tunnel in the city of Shenzhen in Guangdong Province, China.

The 15.8m diameter machine is being fabricated by CREG for excavation of the 3,583m bored tunnel section of the Chunfeng highway tunnel project under the Jibu River, the city’s Metro Line 9 and adjacent to other urban buildings and public infrastructure.

The TBM manufacture and supply contract, awarded to CREG on 29 August, is for delivery of a slurry TBM system capable of operating under a working pressure of 8 bar and on a project on which settlement control will be a great challenge.

Cutterhead of another TBM of more than 15m in diameter in fabrication

The Chunfeng highway tunnel project is one of the most important municipal projects for the purpose of easing the traffic congestion in Shenzhen megalopolis and the 3,583m bored tunnel section of the more than 5,000m long underground highway project will test the highest parameters of slurry TBM operations. As well as working under a maximum pressure of 8 bar, the technical specifications of the 15.8m diameter TBM include:

• A drive power of 6,300kW (350kW x 18)
• A nominal torque of 5,1130kNm
• A maximum torque of 6,9027kNm
• A cutterhead rotation speed of 0 to 2.25 rev/min
• A thrust force of 2,4630 tonne and
• A maximum advance speed of 50mm/min

As the 15.8m diameter machine is ready for fabrication another slurry machine of 15.3m diameter was in final assembly in the CREG main factory in Zhengzhou for a highway project in the city of Shantou also in the Province of Guangdong.

On Thursday evening 21 September 2017, senior managers of CREG and the China Railway Tunnelling Group presented a lecture to the British Tunnelling Society meeting about highspeed railway tunnelling projects in China and the status of tunnelling in the country in general.