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An experimental study on cutting tool hardness optimization for shield TBMs during dense fine silty sand ground tunneling

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Abstract

The estimation of soil abrasivity and cutting tool wear during soft ground tunneling is complicated and arduous work due to the lack of a generally accepted testing system. To date, geotechnical baseline reports (GBRs) and geotechnical data reports (GDRs) still cannot provide reliable soil abrasion indices for tool life prediction. This is considered a deficiency in the geotechnical investigation of shield-driven tunnel projects. In this study, the Multifunctional Shield Test System (MSTS) developed by the Key Laboratory of Safety for Geotechnical and Structural Engineering of Hubei Province at Wuhan University is presented. The MSTS was motivated by the need for a test platform with the ability to simulate undisturbed soil conditions and actual tool working environments to explore the mechanism of cutting tool wear, bentonite slurry penetration, and filter cake formation in various geomaterials with grain sizes including clay, silt, sand, and gravel (< 15 mm). Experimental studies on the effect of alloy hardness on cutting tool wear are conducted. The soil samples used in the tests are dense fine silty sand from the Sutong GIL Yangtze River Crossing Cable Tunnel. When the wear extent is plotted against the alloy hardness, an inverted S-shaped band bounded by the highest and lowest alloy hardnesses is formed. The sensitive hardness interval is HRC = [47, 52]. If the alloy hardness is higher than 52 HRC, the wear extent is relatively small. Since alloy hardness is negatively correlated with bending strength, using a cutting tool material with a hardness slightly higher than the upper limit of the sensitive hardness interval is optimal. Thus, an alloy with a hardness interval of HRC = [52, 63] is recommended for the dense fine silty sand ground at the Sutong GIL Yangtze River Crossing Cable Tunnel.

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Abbreviations

Hardness:

The ability of a material to resist hard objects pressed into its surface locally

Relative hardness:

The ratio of the hardness of one material to that of another

Sensitive hardness interval:

The hardness interval in which the wear extent decreases significantly as the hardness increases

Sensitive relative hardness interval:

The relative hardness interval in which the wear extent decreases significantly as the hardness increases

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Funding

The authors received financial support from the State Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51839009), State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power Co., Ltd. Economic Research Institute (Project No. JSJS1600328), State Grid Economic and Technological Research Institute Co., Ltd. and China Railway 14th Bureau Group Shield Engineering Co., Ltd.

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  1. Key Laboratory of Safety for Geotechnical and Structural Engineering of Hubei Province, School of Civil Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Xiao-Ping Zhang, Shao-Hui Tang, Quan-Sheng Liu & Fang-Yi Li

  2. State Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Hydropower Engineering Science, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Xiao-Ping Zhang, Shao-Hui Tang, Quan-Sheng Liu & Fang-Yi Li

  3. State Grid Economic and Technological Research Institute Co., Ltd, Beijing, 102209, China

    Xin-Bin Tu

  4. China Railway 14th Bureau Group Shield Engineering Co., Ltd, Nanjing, 211800, China

    Peng Chen

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  1. Xiao-Ping Zhang
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Zhang, XP., Tang, SH., Liu, QS. et al. An experimental study on cutting tool hardness optimization for shield TBMs during dense fine silty sand ground tunneling. Bull Eng Geol Environ 80, 6813–6826 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-021-02327-x

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