Small-diameter tunneling in difficult ground – Analysis of TBM performance in hard rock

Small-diameter tunneling in hard rock is increasingly widespread due to the need for new and longer utility tunnels comprising sewer, stormwater, freshwater, or hydropower as well as cable tunnels and casings for pipelines transporting gas or hydrogen. Utility tunnels have to deal with a wide range of geological settings, like small overburden, weathered rock, rock–soil transitions, as well as fractured or intact hard rock with high strength and abrasivity. A database has been created including 35 hard rock projects with diameters between 1 and 5 m as well as more than 70,000 m of tunnel alignments, with a median drive length of less than 500 m. Challenges in creating it and some early interpretations based on the contents of the database are presented. Details about an exemplary pipe jacking project in basement rocks in Brittany, France, are given. The large variety in this small-diameter range in hard rock includes different TBM types, cutterhead designs, cutter types, and geotechnical conditions. Potential pitfalls in small-diameter TBM data analysis are shown and general drive parameter trends and penetration prediction approaches are presented and set in relation to the geotechnical conditions. Our analysis shows that difficult ground conditions do not only incorporate rocks with very high strength, but also generally weak rocks like schist or limestone could be responsible for low penetration rates and high thrust forces. © 2023, Ernst und Sohn. All rights reserved.