Study on Soil Improvement Technology of EPBS Tunnel

Abstract

The tunnel construction often encounters the problem of adaptability of sand-gravel formation and earth pressure balance shield (EPBS) construction, which has brought new technical problems and challenges to those who are participating in the construction project. In order to ensure the normal operation of shield construction, the soil must have ideal plasticity and liquidity, and low permeability to intercept groundwater. Therefore, we must adopt the soil improvement techniques ,namely, to inject the modified materials (mud, foam, polymer, etc.) into excavation face and earth pressure tank(if necessary, to the screw conveyor) to ensure the stability of excavation face, achieve EPBS driving, and help to reduce mechanical load, reduce land subsidence, and increase driving speed at the same time. The ground improvement technique is an important part of the EPBS method. The quality of the application of soil improvement technology is very important to maintain the stability of excavation face and the screw dump device’s dumping smoothly. It also has a significant impact on the shield machine’s functioning safely,economically and efficiently.