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AGATSUMA, JAPAN

Advanced Boom Control

Reduces Overbreak
Hot Debate
Joint venture partners Nishimatsu
and Morimoto recently collaborated
to settle one of the most debated is-
sues surrounding the use of comput-
erized drillrigs. The question is
whether the manual or automatic
mode for positioning and collaring
gets the best results. A test was set
up at the Agatsuma road tunnel in
Japan, where an Atlas Copco Rocket
Boomer L3 C-2B was operated in
both ABC Regular and ABC Total
mode over measured sections.
Predictably, the fully automatic mode
won the day, showing 11 cm less
overbreak. In a situation where the
cost of overbreak can be measured in
extra scaling, transportation and con-
crete, the value of ABC Total was
easily calculated. The conclusion is
that, in places where large overbreak
has been acceptable in the past, ABC
Total will produce a better profile
than ABC Regular by reducing depen- the bench, so drillrigs have to have good Atlas Copco Rocket Boomer L3 C-2B
dency on rig operator skills. with ABC Total.
boom extension in order to reach over the
bench to the top heading face. Also, the
Micro Benching rigs are generally specified with two
baskets, in order to handle the extra
The 1.7 km-long Agatsuma road tunnel, movements involved. The method offers
located in central Japan, around 120 km all of the advantages of top heading and
north-west of Tokyo, was driven by bench techniques, without the need for
drill/blast in good quality rock. Built to smaller rigs on the bench, and without any
replace part of a road that will be flooded
by a dam, the tunnel connects Agatsuma Map of Japan showing location of Agatsuma.
with Naganohara. Almost the whole length
is in fresh andesite, with a compressive
strength of 80-100 Mpa, and with minimal
water influx.
Tunnelling started in October, 2001 and
was completed in November, 2002. All
excavation was carried out using the
micro-benching method and conventional
drill and blast with an Atlas Copco Rocket AGATSUMA
Boomer L3 C-2B, specially designed for
Japan.
Micro-benching, a popular method in TOKYO
Japan, carries a top heading just a few
metres ahead of the bench, allowing the
roof to be fully supported before the bench
is advanced. Sometimes, two rounds are
taken in the top heading for every round in

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Good quality rock (part of the study), mostly andesite,

Where the test took place:
with a compressive strength of 80–100 MPa Other rock not included in the study the 1.7 km tunnel at
Agatsuma, about 120 km
north west of Tokyo

Section of the 1.7 km-long Agatsuma
road tunnel.
necessity for ramp access between invert
and bench.
At Agatsuma, the Rocket Boomer
L3 C-2B rig was equipped with three
booms mounted with powerful COP 1838
rock drills, and two baskets to enable access
to the upper section of the tunnel face which
may be up to 90 sq m section.
The rig was equipped with the
Advanced Boom Control system in
the ABC Total version, which enables the
operator to switch between positioning and
drilling in the fully automatic or semi-
automatic mode.
Using 14-ft feeds, the maximum hole
depth was 4 m without extension drilling.
The number of holes ranged between 144
and 152, depending on whether V-cut or
parallel hole cut was used, and the diameter
of the holes was 45 mm, with a spacing
along the periphery of about 50 cm.
The high penetration rates of more than
3m/min resulted in a drilling time of just
over one hour for each 2.2 m round drilled.
Overbreak Reduced
An important consideration for the tun-
nellers was to keep the amount of
overbreak to a limit of 5 sq m, equal to
23 cm on the radius, in order to minimize
the amount of concrete that would be
needed to cast the secondary concrete shell
that gives the tunnel its lining and final
support.
To find the best way to achieve the
target, the Nishimatsu site manager
instructed his operators to alternate
between the manual and automatic modes
when positioning and collaring the holes.
In the manual mode, or ABC Regular, the
operators were able to guide the booms
and feeds with the aid of the computer
screen, which displayed an image of the
tunnel face, showing the location of each
blast hole, the position of the drillbit, and
the orientation of the feed.
In the fully-automatic mode, or ABC
Total, the operator simply monitored the

Quality Tunnelling
Contour control is a major ingredient in quality tunnelling, but, to get the best returns, it
is necessary to place every hole in the round with a high degree of accuracy. The
Advanced Boom Control (ABC) system on Atlas Copco drillrigs offers three levels:
Basic, Regular and Total, all designed to make life easier for the operator while produc-
ing quality tunnels for the owner.
ABC Basic has instrumentation for angle measurement with feed direction shown on
the display.
ABC Regular includes a guidance display for positioning the booms to a preselected
drilling pattern. The collaring point, hole direction and depth are all shown on the
screen. Completed holes are also shown, and each round is individually logged on a PC
card, including the number of holes, hole type and drilling time.
ABC Total gives completely automatic drilling, allowing the operator to simply
supervise the operations of the booms. The preselected drill plan and sequences are
shown on the screen, as well as individual holes, even if the operator chooses the semi-
automatic mode or to position the feed manually.
Atlas Copco drillrigs are equipped with ergonomically designed, sound deadened
cabs, with excellent all-round visibility. They have both standing and seated positions
for the operator, and the display screens have sharp, well defined images, and are
colour adjustable.

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Portal of Agatsuma road tunnel in

central Japan.

process as the rig computer guided the Substantial savings

booms and feeds into position.
A comparison of the effect on overbreak
was conclusive. In the fully automatic mode,
the overbreak was found to average 11 cm
less than when manual mode was used. The
automatic mode also offered the opportunity
to drill longer rounds, when required.
Typical work cycle for a 2.2 m round
Minutes
Drilling of blast holes 150 x 2.2 m 75
Charging and blasting/slurry 60
Ventilation 10
Mucking of 148 cu m 80
Scaling and cleaning 30
Shotcrete 5 cm over 45 sq m 40
Bolting 13 units 3 m-long 40
Total time for a 2 m round 335
Rate of advance 176 m/month
Agatsuma project has special significance
as the first on-site test of manual and
fully automatic drilling in relation to
overbreak.
The 11 cm reduction in overbreak
resulted in 2.5 cu m less concrete being
needed for each metre of tunnel. With con-
crete costing USD150/cu m to place, a
saving of USD400 per metre was achieved.
This resulted in an overall saving of
USD650,000 for the entire tunnel length.
In addition to reducing overbreak, the
ABC Total, or fully automatic mode,
helped to reduce drilling time and con-
sumption of drill bits and rods.
The client is naturally very pleased with
this performance, noting that the rig not
only gave a good return in terms of the
lower overbreak, but was also very econom-
ical in the consumption of spare parts. ■

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