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  Reduction of Clogging in Mechanized Tunneling using Additives based on Laboratory Research

  Clogging on parts of the tunnel boring machine can generally occur according to the properties of the soil in case of tunnel drives with shield machines mainly in clay or silt. Clogging could be e.g. possible at the cutting wheel and in the excavation chamber and could lead to a great influence on the advance speed and thus on the economy of a project. In order to reduce clogging during tunnel drive anti-clogging additives are often used and their function is tested direct on the job site. Systematical investigations on the reduction of the clogging potential using additives have so far not been carried out and published.In general, qualitative assessments are made in advance of a project to determine the clogging potential. These assessments are mainly based on the properties of the soil such as the consistency and plasticity index. Beside this, it is possible to carry out tests on the adhesion tension of the soil to quantitatively describe the clogging potential as well as possible. In this investigations, it is also possible to use different anti-clogging-additives and to estimate how they could reduce the clogging potential.Due to this, systematical investigations on the adhesion tension by using different additives were carried out in the laboratory of ELE Beratende Ingenieure. The results of these investigations are presented and show that a reduction of the effective tensions by more than 50% due to the use of adequate additives is possible and the correct use of additives can have a significant influence on the clogging potential, the tunneling speed and thus also on the economy of a project. In addition, the results are compared with former results, so that a quantitative estimation of the clogging potential of different soils is possible, too.

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