Yellow River Diversion Project Use of Tunnel Boring Machines to Divert the Yellow River, China John Train & Philippa Reed

Huang He Yellow River 5’464 km Average Discharge: 2,500 m³/s 37 kg/m 3 sediment 120million People 12 Hydroelectric Dams Shanxi Province Loess Plateau Sediment in the Water of the Yellow River

 Grand Main  44km 48m3/s  South Main  100km, 20.5m3/s  North Main  167km 22.2m3/s Routes US $1.93 billion Total of 5 TBM Tunnels

Tunnel Details # Tunnel Length (km) Boring Diameter (m) Typical Rock TypeAdditional Information UCS (MPa) Dipping Cambrian and Ordovician Limestone & Dolomite rock; Small flexures Occasional Faults Abundant Karsts in Ordovician Strata (often in-filled with Red Plastic Clay) North: Dipping & folded Palaeozoic Dolomite limestone; South: Triassic sandstone & mudstone. Abundant and high-angled Faults Occasional Karsts Coal Seams Widespread water inflow (50l/s) Limestone; Sandstone and Siltstone Faults: Occasional TBM

Geology of Tunnel 4  Frequent variation rock strength  Cavities in filled with wet clay  Groundwater inflow Location of Jammed TBMBoreholes

TBM Jam Inter-layer shear Zone Local Scratches: implying secondary compressive shearing  Ground Stress  Inter-layer shear zone  Folding  TBM Excavation

Other Problems  Huge energy requirements  3000KW for thrust  Support trailer  Difficult to transport  Designed/made in the USA  New infrastructure needed

Tunnelling Methods  New Austrian Tunnelling Method  Good for short tunnels  Varying cross-sections  Drilling and Blasting  Good for short tunnels  Unsafe  TBM and one pass lining  Good for long tunnels  Saves time

Conclusions Project success  Economically  use of TBM TBMs are good in:  Massive geology  Long distances TBMs can be very economical Good quality geological information required Monitor conditions at the cutting face