On October 20, the surging news (www.thepaper.cn) reporter learned from China Railway Shanghai Bureau Group Co., Ltd. that at 10:18 on the same day, the world's largest diameter high-speed rail shield machine independently developed by the mainland - the "pilot" shield machine of the Chongtai Yangtze River Tunnel of the Shanghai-Nanjing-Hefei high-speed railway was successfully excavated to the 1000th ring, and the project construction made phased progress.
The "Pilot" shield machine, the construction crew is excavating the machine. Photo by Mao Yuanchuang
The Chongtai Yangtze River Tunnel connects Chongming District, Shanghai and Taicang City, Jiangsu Province, with a total length of 14.25 kilometers, of which the shield section is 13.2 kilometers long, and adopts a single-hole double-line design, which is currently the world's longest high-speed rail tunnel single-head excavation distance (11,325.5 meters), the largest shield diameter (15.4 meters), the highest design speed (350 kilometers per hour) across the river, and the deepest underwater project of the Yangtze River (89 meters). The tunnel is constructed and managed by the Shanghai-Hangzhou Passenger Dedicated Company, and constructed by the China Railway Tunnel Bureau.
Aerial photography of Well 3 of Chongtai Yangtze River Tunnel Project. Photo by Mao Yuanchuang
The shield section of Chongtai Yangtze River Tunnel from No. 3 well in Chongming District to No. 2 well in Taicang City adopts the "pilot" shield machine for tunneling construction, the shield machine is 128 meters long, the total weight is about 4000 tons, the cutterhead diameter is 15.4 meters, and it is planned to excavate 11325.5 meters from north to south, which is currently the world's largest diameter high-speed rail shield machine. "The shield construction will challenge engineering and technical problems such as ultra-long-distance tunneling, construction organization, slurry circulation, material transportation, precise control of tunnel axis, ventilation management, synchronous lining and post-operation safety assurance." Liu Jianping, deputy manager of the Chongtai Yangtze River Tunnel Project of China Railway Tunnel Bureau, introduced.
The "Pilot" shield is in the process of segment hoisting.
In order to ensure the efficient and smooth tunneling of the shield machine, the project team relied on the scientific research strength of China Railway Tunnel Bureau and the application results of intelligent construction, integrated advanced shield design and manufacturing concepts, and applied advanced technologies such as digital twin and simulation, intelligent construction of infection and control integration, visualization, cloud computing, virtual and real integration, visual integration, and AI inspection, and formed eight intelligent construction systems with "intelligent perception, intelligent tunneling, intelligent assembly, intelligent prefabrication, intelligent transportation, intelligent ventilation, intelligent detection, and intelligent control". Intelligent concepts and technologies are deeply embedded in the whole process of tunnel construction.
At present, the "Pilot" shield machine has crossed the embankment on the north bank of the Yangtze River into the Yangtze River 1108 meters, in the way of "manned, no one hands" forward autonomous excavation, the geology has the characteristics of hard cement, underwater strong and weak permeable strata alternately, erosion and silting alternation and accompanied by harmful gas gushing out, etc., every 2 meters to complete the assembly of a ring segment.
At the construction site of Well No. 3 of the Chongtai Yangtze River Tunnel Project, the segment storage area is full of segments Photo by Mao Yuanchuang
The Shanghai-Nanjing-Hefei high-speed railway is the eastern section of the Shanghai-Chongqing-Rong high-speed railway and an important part of the high-speed rail corridor along the Yangtze River of the national "eight vertical and eight horizontal" high-speed railway network. After the completion of the project, a new fast channel will be built between the Shanghai metropolitan area, the Nanjing metropolitan area and the Hefei metropolitan area, which is of great significance for building the "Yangtze River Delta on the track", optimizing the layout of the railway network along the Yangtze River, serving the coordinated development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, and promoting the integrated and high-quality development of the Yangtze River Delta.
Source: The Paper