The scouring system design of cutterhead of the underwater slurry shield with a large diameter

The Sutong Tunnel Project is a typical engineering of the underwater slurry shield with a large diameter in China in recent years. Stratum traversed by shield is mainly composed of silt clay, silty clay, silt, and silty sand, which is easy to form mud cake in the process of tunneling.This paper analyzed the distribution characteristics of the liquid flow-field in the cutterhead and proposed the optimal design of the number as well as the position of the nozzle of the cutterhead with the simulation experiment according to the Sutong Tunnel Project. The good scouring effect of the cutterhead in the field scouring experiment proved that the fluidness of the center scour area and opening of the cutterhead can be guaranteed. No mud cake in the process of tunneling and completion in the field tunneling experiment indicated that the scouring system design of cutterhead can satisfy the engineering demand and achieve the optimal souring effect. © 2020, Editorial Office of China Civil Engineering Journal. All right reserved.