Abstract:

The cutter consumption prediction is one of the important research items for cost management of TBM construction. The main influencing factors of cutter consumption are summarized into three aspects, i.e. geological conditions, mechanical factors and tunneling parameters; based on which the relationship between cutter consumption and surrounding rock grades and that between cutter consumption and TBM working condition grades are discussed. And then the fitting function is improved; the influencing factor disc cutter diameter is considered; and the prediction method for TBM cutter consumption considering both geological suitability and disc cutter diameter is put forward based on summarizing and analyzing the prediction of cutter consumption by using TBM working conditions. Finally, the rationality of the prediction method for TBM cutter consumption proposed is verified by analyzing the cutter consumption of TBM1 tunneling section of water diversion tunnel at Lanzhou water source area. The results show that: (1) The characteristics of TBM tunneling performance and geological suitability can be reflected by TBM working condition grades. (2) The fitting functions of ln(x-1) and ln x are more suitable for describing and predicting the law of cutter consumption. (3) The cutter diameter also impacts the cutter consumption; and the larger the cutter diameter, the less the cutter consumption. (4) The predicted results of the model considering both geological suitability and disc cutter diameter are closer to the actual cutter consumption rate. (5) The cutter consumption is closely related to the integrity of rock mass; and the cutter consumption prediction results of surrounding rock Grade Ⅱ are slightly higher than actual results; while that of surrounding rock Grade Ⅲ are a little lower than actual results.

Key words: TBM construction, cutter consumption, geological suitability, disc cutter diameter, surrounding rock grade, TBM working condition grade, prediction model