ABSTRACT
The possibility of a long distance and high-speed construction by shield tunneling method was discussed through a case study on a planning of an undersea tunnel project in Osaka Bay. In this study, concrete and detail methods were discussed to construct a tunnel of 23.3km length by a couple of shield machines with the high-speed of more than 300m/month in average. We concluded that it is possible to construct the tunnel by 40 months when we apply some new technologies, such as the mechanical shield docking method, high performance joint in segment linings and exchangeable cutter bits systems, etc.
