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Evaluation of TBM Cutter Wear in Naghadeh Water Conveyance Tunnel and Developing a New Prediction Model

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Abstract

Replacing worn disc cutters in a tunnel boring machine (TBM) operation is a time-consuming and expensive process. This article presents the study of disc cutter wear rate during the excavation of 36 km Naqadeh water conveyance tunnel with a diameter of 6.325 m. The construction of this tunnel in northwest Iran has been recently completed. The geological setting of the tunnel consists of variable lithology, including limestone, shale, granite, and granodiorite units. Field data were collected and analyzed from TBM tunneling of 9.5 km of the tunnel. The analysis was performed by incorporating the types of wear and comparing the accuracy of traditional cutter wear prediction models. The new model was developed using statistical analysis of the observed cutter wear in this project. The validity of the proposed model was evaluated using the excavation data for the following 2 km of the tunnel. The model developed in this study allows estimating wear rate and cutter life using common rock characterization parameters such as the Cerchar abrasivity index (CAI) and the uniaxial compressive strength (UCS).

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Abbreviations

AVS:

Abrasion value

B1, B2, B3:

Brittleness indices

BTS:

Brazilian tensile strength

CAI:

Cerchar abrasivity index

CLI:

Cutter life index

CSM:

Colorado school of mines

DRI:

Drilling rate index

dtbm :

TBM diameter

Ef:

Average cutter life

Es:

Specific energy of entire cutterhead

F:

Test for the analysis of variance

Hf :

Average cutter life (m3/cutter)

Hh :

Average cutter life (h/cutter)

Hm :

Average cutter life (m/cutter)

Hn :

Number of replaced disc cutters

TBM:

Tunnel boring machine

Hri:

Relative cutter life

Is50:

Point load index

Ni:

Cutter position number

NTBM :

Actual number of disc cutters

R:

Coefficient of regression

R2 :

Coefficient of determination

rri:

Relative position of disc cutter

S20:

Brittleness test

SJ:

Sievers J-value test

TBM:

Tunnel boring machine

UCS:

Uniaxial compressive strength

Vc:

Average cutter life (m3)

OM:

Optical microscopy

HRC:

Rockwell hardness c scale

VHNR:

Vickers hardness number

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the site engineers for their kind cooperation and providing field data.

Funding

The authors declare that this work did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

    Ghodrat Barzegari & Jafar Khodayari

  2. Department of Mining Engineering, Earth Mechanics Institute, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO, USA

    Jamal Rostami

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  1. Ghodrat Barzegari
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  2. Jafar Khodayari
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  3. Jamal Rostami
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Correspondence to Ghodrat Barzegari.

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Barzegari, G., Khodayari, J. & Rostami, J. Evaluation of TBM Cutter Wear in Naghadeh Water Conveyance Tunnel and Developing a New Prediction Model. Rock Mech Rock Eng 54, 6281–6297 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-021-02640-7

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