Lovat’s 11m diameter mixed face EPBM is set for shipment to Moscow following the factory acceptance of the machine by the customer Mosmetrostroy.
The EPBM is the company’s largest machine and is to be used to drive at a 30 degree incline to excavate access tunnels for escalators on Moscow’s metro. Lovat said that the machine was the first large diameter TBM built to drive such a steep Slope.
Excavation is scheduled to start in the next few months. Geology along the route comprises dolomite, limestone, clay, marl, loam and loamy sand. Mixed ground conditions are anticipated for much of the drive, which will be below groundwater with heads up to 4 bar from three aquifers.
Lovat has fitted the TBM, named ‘Victoria’, with a high density muck pump to be supplied by a two-stage screw conveyor equipped with dual, independent drives. The EPBM has been designed to be capable of a 100m radius vertical turn to bore 150m long escalator tunnels, the manoeuvrability coming from two articulation joints and a cyclical copy cutter.
Lining for the project will be segmental concrete (6+1) with the 9.4m i.d. tunnel having an outside diameter of 10.6m. Lovat is supplying a design for the lining, segment forms, technical support for commissioning and operation, together with guidance systems, ground conditioning and grouting equipment. The cutterhead will have six injection ports for ground conditioning.
The large TBM has also been built for dismantling upon completion of the bore and transported back along the tunnel.
Lovat is supplying a 11m diameter EPBM to Moscow
