ABSTRACT
There are some differences between inland and subsea tunnel under construction using mechanical excavation method. High water pressure due to sea water besides underground water become a trouble factor and it is difficult to plan countermeasures in the subsea tunnel construction. So, it is important to prevent unexpected trouble in advance. To prevent construction trouble, analysis of geological and mechanical data of TBM under construction are necessary. This paper introduces the first time slurry TBM method for drilling micro subsea tunnel under expected 6 bar in the Yellow sea whose location is the west of Korea peninsula. Analysis of TBM excavation parameters including net penetration rate, penetration depth, thrust force, torque, RPM and face pressure were performed based on in-situ geotechnical condition and mechanical data. The surface layer of seabed ground in the Yellow sea of Korea peninsula was composed of clay. Since this layer formed an impermeable zone, face water pressure up to expected 6 bar did not occur. The acquired subsea tunnel database from in situ will be used as a lessons learned for the future subsea tunnel project.
