US 5,324,139 AGranted

Method for the construction of long tunnel with a lining

AssigneesIngenieure Mayreder, Kraus & Co. Consult Gesellschaft m.b.H., Tunnel Aktiengesellschaft Tunnel Planungs-, Errichtungs- und Betriebs-Aktiengsellschaft

InventorsHarald Wagner, Alfred Schulter, Helmut Pfeil, Otto Schubert

Life of this patent

Estimating the term…

patentgrep

Loading patent…

Abstract

A new combination of means and method steps is used in a method of constructing long tunnels with a lining, wherein excavation is effected with a tunnel boring machine (1) with a yielding shield mantle (4), building is effected continuously under the protection of the shield tail in a modular construction with tubbing stones of a special form complementing each other to form tubbing rings (15) while, until a new equilibrium of the rock formation is reached, occurring deformation forces are absorbed by the shield tail (4) and the tubbing rings which are yieldingly constructed to a limited degree, an outer seal of the tubes is provided and the gap between the excavation (2) and the tunnel tubes is filled with a material (22) which may be yielding to a limited extent to absorb long-time deformation forces. A tunnel construction made by the method, special forms of tubbing stones and new embodiments of drive means for the tunnel are disclosed.

Claims15

Dependent claims

A method of constructing a long tunnel with a lining comprising a succession of tubbing rings each comprised of an even number of adjacent and complementary trapeze- or trapezoid-shaped tubbing stones, each tubbing stone having opposite end faces and longitudinally extending oblique side faces, the end faces of the tubbing stones of adjacent ones of the tubbing rings defining an annular gap between the adjacent tubbing rings and the oblique side faces of the adjacent tubbing stones defining longitudinal gaps therebetween, which method comprises the steps of

(a) thrusting a tunnel boring machine with a yielding shield mantle and adjacent shield tail against a face of a rock formation to produce an excavation in the rock formation in a manner gentle to the rock formation,
(b) constructing the lining continuously as the excavation progresses under the protection of a shield tail by successively assembling the tubbing rings by
(1) placing the complementary tubbing stones adjacent each other and
(2) inserting yielding elements into the longitudinal gaps between the adjacent tubbing stones,
(3) whereby deformations in the rock formation occurring during and after the excavation are first absorbed by the yielding shield mantle and are subsequently absorbed by the yielding elements which cause the tubbing stones of each tubbing ring to yield circumferentially until the rock formation has reached a new equilibrium, and
(c) enveloping the tubbing rings in water- and gas-conducting zones of the rock formation with a sealing membrane applied under the protection of the shield tail before the tubbing stones are assembled to form the tubbing rings.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.