China's first "head of the roadheader" off the assembly line to break foreign monopoly

On December 27th, China's first large-diameter full-diameter hard rock tunnel boring machine (open TBM) with independent intellectual property rights was successfully rolled out of the assembly plant of the China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Group in Changsha, Hunan. Its successful development breaks the long-term monopoly of foreign countries and fills the gap in China's large-diameter full-section hard rock tunnel boring machine.
In China, the tunnel boring machine used for soft ground is customarily referred to as a shield and the rock formation will be referred to as TBM. Compared with shields, TBM is known as the "aircraft carrier" and the "king of the roadheader" for construction machinery due to its extremely high requirements for equipment reliability and long life. For more than a century, its core technology has been monopolized by foreign countries. At present, all domestic TBMs rely on imports.
This large-diameter open TBM has an excavation diameter of 7.93 meters, a total length of 180 meters, a total weight of 1,500 tons, and an installed power of more than 5,000 kilowatts. It integrates functions such as tunnel excavation, support, slag removal, ventilation, and drainage, and achieves millimeter accuracy. Grade, can complete tunnel construction in a safe, environmentally friendly and efficient manner. After the equipment is off the assembly line, it will be used for the national key project Jilin Central City Water Supply Project with a total length of 23 kilometers.
Mr. Cheng Yongliang, deputy general manager of China Railway Construction Heavy Industry and chief designer of TBM, said: “If the target project adopts the traditional tunnel construction method, it can only dig less than 150 meters per month. With this advanced TBM, it can be excavated every month. More than 600 meters, it has greatly improved the efficiency.The domestically produced TBM has a selling price of about 170 million yuan each, which is at least 50 million yuan cheaper than imported TBMs of the same class, and has a construction life of 30 kilometers.
According to reports, this open TBM was jointly developed by China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Group Co., Ltd., together with Zhejiang University, Central South University, Tianjin University, and China Railway No. 18 Bureau. With its independent intellectual property rights, it has successfully filled China's large-diameter full-section hard rock tunnel boring machine. The development gap is a major breakthrough in the field of large-scale high-end equipment manufacturing.