Tag Archives: Tunnel Boring Machine

Heavy equipment used to a rapid transit system

For different kinds of construction projects, we require different types of heavy equipment. So if one has just started a construction company and is checking out for the machine he should possess to start working, quite frankly he will not find one. However, once he has been able to bag a project he can start looking for the heavy equipment using which he can start the work. One type of heavy equipment can’t be used for all kinds of work. For instance, you can’t use a loader to roll the roads. You need a roller for that purpose and if you try using other machines then you may not be able to do the work as precisely as you would have been able to by using the right sort of machine. A construction company owner should pick the machines on the basis of the kind of projects he generally wants to work.

There are some construction companies who specialize in constructing roads. So you will find all the necessary heavy equipment required for road construction at their disposal. In case if they do not have it with them they will manage to buy one or get it on rent. For companies who take the project of constructing a subway, they got to be really choosy with the kind of machines they are using. Ideally, most construction companies all around the world use Tunnel Boring Machine also known as (TBM) and other equipment that are primarily used to complement TBM’s during construction of Subways.

Tunnel Boring Machine is made of a rotating cutter-head that is located at the front of cylindrical steel shell this is pushed forward to excavate the ground. The steel shield is used to support the excavated earth until the lining of the final tunnel is constructed at the back of the shield. Hydraulic jacks are being used for propulsion that pushes against the vertical tunnel lining system. The material that the tunnel boring machine generates during this process is removed by a conveyor system and ferried away in trucks.

As the tunnel boring system gets ready to move to the next level, liners are placed behind the machine to form the tunnel. These liners are nothing but pre-case concrete tunnel segments and are carried in huge trucks to the construction site. Now while the tunnel boring machine is working all throughout the day, it causes little or no disruption to the surface above. So people walking on the surface of the road may not even know what is happening just right down under him. Once the job is done, the tunnel boring machine is broken down into parts so that it can be hauled to the next jobsite and can be restructured as per the design of the subway. So before the tunnel boring machine and the liners go to the next jobsite, the preliminary works are already done and the charge is given to the machine once it arrives at the site.

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