Product/Equipment Innovation of the Year
Ultra-small Turning Radius Hard Rock TBM
The horizontal turning radius of a conventional TBM is about 300-500m. However, the 4km route of the 3.53m diameter drainage corridors from the first layer to the fourth layer for the Jinyun Pumped Storage Power Station in Zhejiang Province, required a TBM with a turning radius of less than 30m, about 10 times the tunnel diameter. A TBM for the purpose was designed and developed by CREG, China Railway Engineering Equipment Group, and was launched in November 2021. After boring 22 sections with a turning radius of 30m, it achieved maximum monthly advance rates of 660.5m and a maximum daily advance rate of 38.38m. In December 2022, the TBM successfully broke through, realizing the completion of the whole route six months ahead of schedule.
SOGUN: Geometric Control System for Shotcreting and other tunnelling works
Developed by the R&D Department of Spanish contractor Dragados, SOGUN is a compact unit whose functionality signifies an advancement in tunnel construction technology, particularly in shotcrete applications. In an automated process, SOGUN scans the tunnel in 3D with an integrated LiDAR to generate a surface point cloud. This data is compared to the pre-loaded theoretical surface and an image is projected on the tunnel wall, indicating areas of excess or missing concrete thickness. This process is completed in under a minute, far quicker than the traditional spray-painting method. The shotcrete operator then needs only to look at the tunnel to understand the task to be performed as displayed in areas of different colours according to numerical information about the difference between the actual and the theoretical tunnel surfaces. Additional applications include determining over- or under-excavation and checking the tunnel’s dynamic gauge to detect clashing areas with the tunnel surface. SOGUN enhances productivity, reduces costs, and minimizes workers' risks, introducing superior quality finishes, as well as promoting sustainability by optimizing material usage, reducing waste, and leading to a lower environmental footprint.
Advanced Hybrid Wireless Sensor Network (H-WSN) System for Safety Risk Sensing in Tunnel and Underground Engineering
Real-time wireless sensor monitoring systems have been heavily applied in daily monitoring projects globally. Existing systems however, reach a limit when three critical monitoring challenges are encountered: unstable data transmissions in an underground construction environment; non-cooperated measurements when using mixed systems from various suppliers; and slow response to early warnings when wireless sensors are in deep battery saving hibernation mode. The advanced Hybrid Wireless Sensor Network (H-WSN) System, developed in China, for the first time, has systematically and structurally defined the next generation of WSN monitoring for safety risk sensing in underground construction while properly addressing the three limiting challenges. The H-WSN has complete, original, systematically embedded software designed on wireless communication protocol of Static Mesh for long term trend, Trigger Mesh for trigger event detection, and Dynamic Mesh for high volume data handling; complete, original, systematically embedded hardware design to interface all the major categories of sensors; and high quality, reliable, instant data for safety risk sensing, management and control. Since March 2021, the H-WSN has served 1,200 commercial projects in 20 countries and is credited with avoiding 300 major accidents by timely warnings in the real world. Extensive collaboration with international university researchers and industrial colleagues, has generated significant economic, social, and environmental benefits for tunnel and underground engineering community.