A case study on open-TBM of Lot. 14-3 in Seoul-Busan super high-speed railway

The line of Lot 14-3, Seoul-Busan high-speed train is cross under Busan city, the 2nd largest city in Korea. Therefore, tunnel engineers have to pay attention to stabilize tunnel and near structures, as well as to avoid excess noise and vibrating by tunnelling, because subways and many massive buildings are closed to the line. Thus, open-TBM, pre-excavating method by TBM prior to enlarge tunnel by blast, is more suitable than only a drill and blast method. In the design of TBM, the diameter of TBM was determined to 5.0m according to consider stability, working condition and costs, and cutters of TBM were fixed to rock types. Also TBM penetration rates were analyzed through several laboratory tests and time schedules for construction were evaluated based on this penetration rates. (A) This paper was presented at Safety in the underground space - Proceedings of the ITA-AITES 2006 World Tunnel Congress and the 32nd ITA General Assembly, Seoul, Korea, 22-27 April 2006. For the covering abstract see ITRD E129148. "Reprinted with permission from Elsevier".