Automatic detection and characterization of anomalous objects in shield tunneling method

In excavating tunnels for subways and power cables, shield tunneling machines are used. The paper presents an automatic detection system which detects anomalous objects to prevent the cutters of the machines from being damaged and also to avoid the construction delay caused by the accident. The detection system utilizes one transmitter and several receiving transducers (both sonic) located on the cutter plane and makes use of the modeling of the electric-sonic-electric transmission system in order to realize a high-accurate detection and characterization of the anomalous objects.<<ETX>>