ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Earth Sci.
Sec. Geohazards and Georisks
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feart.2025.1691323
This article is part of the Research TopicEvolution Mechanism and Prevention Technology of Karst Geological Engineering DisastersView all 17 articles
Mechanistic Analysis of TBM Cutterhead-Ground Interaction under Mud Build-Up Effect
Provisionally accepted
- 1Henan Qianping Reservoir Irrigation District Project Company, Luoyang 471200, Henan, China, Luoyang, China
- 2Henan Provincial Water Conservancy Technology Application Center, Zhengzhou, China
- 3Henan Key Laboratory of Safety Technology for Water Conservancy Project, Zhengzhou 450003, Henan, China, Zhengzhou, China
- 4School of Water Conservancy and Transportation, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
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In tunnel construction using TBMs, the complex mineral composition of strata and hydrogeological conditions often induce cutterhead mud build-up, which results in sharp increases in torque and thrust, thereby reducing excavation efficiency. Therefore, understanding the interaction between the TBM cutterhead and the surrounding ground under cutterhead blockage conditions is a critical challenge for improving tunnelling efficiency. This study develops a cutterhead load model that explicitly incorporates both aperture ratio and mud coating effects, and establishes a load-prediction framework for TBM excavation in composite strata. The validity of the model is verified using field monitoring data. On this basis, the influence of aperture ratio on excavation loads is systematically analysed, and an optimization strategy-maintaining a relatively large aperture ratio-is proposed to enhance TBM tunnelling efficiency.
Keywords: composite strata1, cutterhead mud build-up2, cutterhead load3, aperture ratio4, TBM tunnelling efficiency5
Received: 23 Aug 2025; Accepted: 03 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Li, Li, Bian and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jingxi Zhang, School of Water Conservancy and Transportation, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
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