Laboratory model tests and field investigations of EPB shield machine tunnelling in soft ground in Shanghai

In the last decades, many studies have been presented by different scholars on the environmental problems induced by the shield tunnelling in soft ground. But it mainly concentrated on ground surface settlement, tunnel surface stability and the influence to existing structures. Among them, little attention was paid to soil disturbance caused by the mismatch of machine’s operation parameters. In order to reveal this inherent relation, a series of laboratory model tests were carried out in the 1/16 scale for a field tunnel in practice where the tunnel had 6.4 m diameter. The tests to simulate earth pressure balance (EPB) shield tunnelling in soft ground were conducted with a microshield machine (0.4 m diameter). Measurements were carried out simultaneously in each test for total jack thrust force, cutting torque, chamber pressure, mucking ratio, ground surface displacement, and earth pressure. Based on the analysis of test results under different overburden ratio, cutterhead aperture ratio and screw rotation speed, the relationships between machine’s operation parameters themselves and its influence on disturbance to surrounding soil mass were discovered. Such discoveries were also verified by the field investigations. These results are useful for engineers and technicians to select suitable and serviceable machine operation parameters and reduce environmental influence at all stages of tunnel construction.

Research highlights
► In this paper, the soil disturbance was linked with the mismatch of shield machine’s operation parameters.
► The concept of ‘soil-shield machine’ system and its similarity relations were introduced for the first time in this paper.
► Based on the analysis of test results and field investigation data, the relationships between machine’s operation parameters themselves and its influence on disturbance to surrounding soil mass were discovered.