Abstract

Shortly after tunnel boring machine (TBM) was introduced in the tunneling industry, the use of TBM has surprisingly increased worldwide due to its performance together with the benefit of being safely and environmentally friendly. One of the main cost items in the TBM tunneling in rock and soil is changing damaged or worn cutters. It is because that the cutter change is a time-consuming and costly activity that can significantly reduce the TBM utilization and advance rate and has a major effect on the total time and cost of TBM tunneling projects. Therefore, the importance of accurately evaluating the cutter life can never be overemphasized. However, the prediction of cutter wear in soil, rock including mixed face is very complex and not yet fully clarified, subsequently keeping engineers busy around the world. Various prediction models for cutter wear have been developed and introduced, but these models almost usually produce highly variable results due to inherent uncertainties in the models. In this study, a case study of design and construction of disc cutter change is introduced and analyzed, rather than proposing a prediction model of cutter wear. As the disc cutter is strongly affected by the geological condition, TBM machine characteristic and operation, authors believe it is very hard to suggest a generalized prediction model given the uncertainties and limitations therefore it would be more practical to analyze a real case and provide a detailed discussion of the difference between prediction and result for the cutter change. By doing so, up-to-date idea about planning and execution of cutter change in practice can be promoted.