Study on Shield Operation Method in Soft Ground by Shield Simulation

Abstract

Shield tunneling technologies have been developed for constructing tunnels in soft ground especially under groundwater. Recently, challenging projects from the viewpoint of tunneling technology have been planned. To realize these constructions, it is necessary to examine the shield operation method preliminarily. The authors have developed a method to carry out the above examination and have confirmed its validity for a tunnel in stiff ground. In this research, to examine the performance of the proposed method for soft ground tunnel, the simulation on shield behavior was carried out using the estimated shield operational data for a tunnel in soft ground. As a result, the following were found: the shield steering conditions by the proposed method are not enough to rotate the shield along a sharp curve in case of soft soil; and the simulation results have a good agreement with the planned alignment using proper shield operational data.