Sydney Metro Northwest project4 double shield TBMs excavate 15 km of twin tunnels

Thomas CamusFabrice ThervilleHector Sanchez

NFM Technologies, France

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Rapid transit train project 8 new stations 30 km of tunnels in urban

context 4 km elevated lineFully automated train systemTo be opened end 2019 with

trains every 4 minutes

Sydney Metro Northwest project

Project Overview

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Sydney Metro Northwest project

15 km of Twin Tunnels Contract awarded to

Thiess - John Holland - Dragados 725 M€ contract Bored tunnels + mined tunnels 6.7 m diameter Overburden 30 to 60 m 4 TBMs 3 TBM sites & launching shafts Cross-passages every 240 m Crossover at Castle Hill

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Sydney Metro Northwest projectLaunching TBMs 1 & 2Bella Vista

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Sydney Metro Northwest project

The TBMs – Double ShieldsCharacteristic Unit ValueExcavation diameter [m] 6.985Shield length [m] 12.4Total length [m] 115Disc cutters diameter [mm] 19"Disc cutters (single discs) [nr.] 40Disc cutters (twin discs) [nr.] 5Drive unit torque continuous [kN.m] 2.890Drive unit torque unlocking [kN.m] 6.500Total thrust [kN] 36.000

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Sydney Metro Northwest project

Geological context

40%60%

40250 38000 35800 33650 31200 25250

TBMs 1 & 2

TBMs 3 & 4

Fault zone

2 main rock masses • Hawkesbury

Sandstone• Ashfield Shaleseparated by thin transitional unit (siltstone):• Mittagong formation

Low permeability

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Sydney Metro Northwest project

Rock characteristics – rock strength

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Tensile strength -Brazilian test

Point load - axial Point load -diametral

UCS

MPa

Min Max Mean

Ashfield Shale

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Tensile strength -Brazilian test

Point load - axial Point load -diametral

UCS

MPa

Min Max Mean

Hawkesbury Sandstone

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Sydney Metro Northwest project

Rock abrasivity

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

< 0.05Low abrasiveness

0.05 to 0.1Abrasive

0.1 to 0.5Highly abrasive

> 0.5Extremely abrasive

Perc

enta

ge o

f sam

ples

F-Schimazek Abrasivity

Ashfield Shale

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

0.3 to 0.5 not very abrasive

0.5 to 1 slightly

abrasive

1 to 2 medium

abrasiveness

2 to 4 very abrasive

4 to 6 extremely abrasive

6 to 7 quartzitic

Perc

enta

ge o

f sam

ples

CERCHAR Abrasivity

Hawkesbury Sandstone

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

< 0.05Low abrasiveness

0.05 to 0.1Abrasive

0.1 to 0.5Highly abrasive

> 0.5Extremely abrasive

Perc

enta

ge o

f sam

ples

F-Schimazek Abrasivity

Hawkesbury Sandstone

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Sydney Metro Northwest project

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

01/09/2014 31/10/2014 30/12/2014 28/02/2015 29/04/2015 28/06/2015 27/08/2015 26/10/2015

Exca

vate

d di

stan

ce (

m)

Cumulated TBM1 Cumulated TBM2 Cumulated TBM3 Cumulated TBM4

Excavation performance

HolBTCB

BTCB

CB

BTCBTR

BTCBTR

CB

BT TR

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Sydney Metro Northwest project

Excavation performanceObserved average daily advance Unit TBM 1 TBM 2 TBM 3 TBM 4

Overall [m] 16.2 17.0 16.1 14.2Excluding days off [m] 32.2 32.8 32.3 29.2

Average since beginning of project

Parameter Unit Shift 1 Shift 2 Shift 3 TotalAverage

Rings 18 17 19 54Advance [m] 30.6 28.9 32.3 91.8Excavation time [hh:mm] 5:22 5:44 5:47 16:53Thrust [ton] 876 857 859 864Torque [kN.m] 1971 1862 1859 1897Penetration [mm/rev] 18.6 17.6 17.7 18.0Advance rate [mm/min] 95 84 93 91

Record day 5 Aug. 2015TBM1Rock: Sandstone

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Standard type 19” diameter. 1” tip

Sydney Metro Northwest project

Disc cutter wear

19” diameter with carbide inserts

Chipping Flat

Tear of inserts Tear and Wear

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Sydney Metro Northwest project

Rock type Changes TBM3

m3/disc TBM3

Changes TBM4

m3/disc TBM4

Total changes

m3/disc Total

Shale 2 NS 3 NS 5 NSSiltstone 27 1130 35 780 62 931Sandstone 199 380 146 290 345 344Total 228 643 184 613 412 629

Cherrybrook to EppingDisc cutter wear

Predictions for complete drive:• 640 m3/disc • 560 m3/disc

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Sydney Metro Northwest project

Influence of geology on TBM performance

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

TBM1 TBM2 TBM3 TBM4

Thru

st (t

ons)

Shale Sandstone

Thrust

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

TBM1 TBM2 TBM3 TBM4

Torq

ue (k

N.m

)

Shale Sandstone

Torque

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Sydney Metro Northwest project

Influence of geology on TBM performance

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

TBM3 TBM4

Pene

trat

ion

(mm

/rev

)

Shale Sandstone

Penetration

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

TBM3 TBM4

Adva

nce

rate

(mm

/min

)

Shale Sandstone

Advance rate

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Sydney Metro Northwest project

TBM production data

TBM4Sandstone section

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Sydney Metro Northwest is indeed a challenging tunnel project

Double shield TBMs achieve very high performance when properly managed and maintained

Adapted disc cutters allows to maintain performance almost unchanged from shale to harder and more abrasive sandstone

Project ahead of schedule

Sydney Metro Northwest project

Conclusions

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Thank you for your attention