Abstract

Rapid economic development and urban population growth have been increasing the necessity for underground space exploration and utilization due to the need of upgrading and expanding the existing infrastructures. TBM has been widely used to construct underground structures with high advance rate and minimal grounddisturbance. Two important design parameters, which are available thrust capacity and cutterhead torque, should be estimated for any project in addition to proper selection of TBM type. However, the conventional thrust force and torque estimation model only depends on the empirical equation, which hinders the design process of theoptimal thrust hydraulic system and the appropriate hydraulic components. In this study, four thrust and torque calculation models are derived and explained. For TBM design practice, the four estimation models are compared and discussed.