ABSTRACT
Within the framework of the EUREKA Research Project No. 1079 “CONTUN” entitled “Mechanized Tunnelling Under High Overburden”, a development project is carried out to investigate sealing problems, especially in the region of the deformable elements which can be inserted in longitudinal joints as and when required, under the management of D2-CONSULT and with the firms Herrenknecht (manufacturer of tunnel boring machines), Phoenix AG and Datwyler Gummiwerke AG (manufacturers of seals), and STUVA as the scientific consultant and test institute. The solution presented in the paper constitutes a sealing system that combines the deformable element and the lining seal, both made from synthetic rubber (EPR: ethylene-propylene rubber), wherein the main difficulty is to absorb the cross-sectional compressive strain generated by a designed deformation path of 30 mm per element in such a way that the sealing function is not impaired.
