Volume 15, Number 1, December 2019, pp.

21-23
[Summary]
The effectiveness of automated angle control system
to reduce the overbreak for excavation by blasting

Tsuyoshi FUKUDA*, Takumi ARAI*, Ryota TAKASHINO*, Hiroyuki OTSUBO*,

Kousuke KAKIMI*, Masahiro OKUBO**, Yohei YAMAGUCHI**,
Ryo OKAWA*** & Keita YAMABE***
* Member of ISRM: Shimizu Corporation, 2-16-1 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 104-8370, Japan
** Sandvik Corporation SMRT Company, 2-15-16 Shin-Yokohama, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa 222-0033, Japan
*** Central Nippon Expressway Company Limited, 2-18-19 Nishiki, Naka-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi 460-0003, Japan

Received 03 12 2019; accepted 23 12 2019

ABSTRACT

Currently, the high demands and needs to improve productivity and labor-saving in construction industries leads to many au-
tomation and mechanization. This report aims to address the shortage of skilled worker in the future as well as improvement of
safety, productivity and quality. Comprehensive collection and utilization of information were carried out and with target to elimi-
nate the over reliance of experience worker in mountain tunneling, “Auto-mated Angle Control System” technology was developed
to reduce the overbreak of tunnel during excavation. The concept of this method is to ensure that the productivity of drilling for
blasting operation will not be influenced by the worker skills. This system was tested in Shin-Tomei Expressway Takatoriyama west
tunnel construction project and results confirmed that the system successfully minimized the over-break of tunnel during excavation.
We hope that this report will contribute to the improvement of safety and productivity.

Keywords: automated angle control system, overbreak, drilling energy, safety, productivity

Contextually, this study aims to collect and utilize the ob-

1. INTRODUCTION
Over 40 years have elapsed since the introduction of the
New Austrian Tunneling Method in Japan; notable advance-
ments have been achieved with respect to the construction
methods. However, reliance of experience and instinct of
skilled laborers still remain because of the heterogeneity and
uncertainty of the ground condition. Recently, the demand to
increase productivity is observed to be high.
jective information as much as possible and strives for con-
struction methods independent of experience and/or instinct
to develop an “automated angle control system.” This system
is an overbreak reduction technique for mountain tunnels that
is designed to solve the future shortage of skilled labor force
and demand for improved safety, productivity, and quality
standards.
Demonstration tests have been conducted in the Taka-
toriyama west tunnel construction project, and the results will
be discussed.

Figure 1. The geological profile and demonstration test area (outbound lane).
© JSRM All rights reserved.
2 T. FUKUDA et al. / International Journal of the JSRM vol.15 (2019) pp.21-23
2. CONSTRUCTION SITE DETAILS AND GEOLOGY
OF THE DEMONSTRATION TEST AREA
Takatoriyama Tunnel is a twin-bore tunnel comprising
two highway lanes, which connect the cities of Hadano and
Isehara, and has a total length of 3.9 km. Its
internal cross-sectional area is 80 m2, and the tunnel
extensions on the western side measure 1,573 and 1,609 m
for the inbound and outbound lanes, respectively, with
downslopes of 2% being observed in both the lanes. The
geological profile and demonstration test area are presented
in Figure 1. The system trials were initiated in tuff and
tuff breccia (Oyama For-mation) that are suitable for
blasting and proceeded while trying to adjust the system
functions. Further, we designated the 14-m zones of
STA.46+79.1–STA.46+65.4 as our demon-stration test areas
and validated the effectiveness of our sys-tem. The
demonstration test area is primarily characterized by
distributed weathered tuff, with a tunnel face evaluation
grade point of 41–44 belonging to CII of the natural ground
classi-fication.
3. AUTOMATED INSERTION ANGLE CONTROL
SYSTEM
We believe that there are limits for the reduction of over-
break even if a computerized drill jumbo is used to improve
the drilling accuracy based on the predefined blast patterns
because of the influence of the natural ground heterogeneity
and bedrock fissures. The results supporting this assumption
have been obtained from a previous report.
Conventionally, the skills of experienced workers are re-
lied to reduce the overbreak in heterogeneous ground. Our
system (Figure 2) solves this issue. The overbreak reduction
mechanisms (steps) can be given as follows:
Step I: Create a blast pattern and display it on the com-
puterized drill jumbo operating screen (the initial blast pattern
is set based on the prior experience and natural ground
strength).
Figure 2. Overview of the automated angle control system.
Step II: The jumbo operator accurately performs face
drilling based on the generated blast patterns (at this time, the
drilling energy is automatically calculated and recorded).
Step III: After charging, blasting, and mucking, scaling
will be carried out to ensure the safety of the tunnel face area.
Subsequently, a three-dimensional (3D) onboard scanner is
set in front of the tunnel face, and the face morphology is
scanned immediately after the excavation (with a duration of
approximately 3 min).
Step IV: The scan result is digitized and examined on the
spot to confirm the overbreak/underbreak amounts (under-
breaks are eliminated on the spot).
Step V: The corrected drilling angle value is automatical-
ly calculated from the predefined correction value derived
from the relationship between overbreak amount and drilling
angle (the corrected value does not rely on the natural ground
morphology).
Step VI: The corrected value is utilized in the blast pat-
terns of the next cycle, automatically generating the subse-
quent blast pattern (go to Step II).
4. AUTOMATIC INSERTION ANGLE CONTROL
SYSTEM DEMONSTRATION TEST RESULTS
The results from the 3D scanning employed in the
demonstration test area are presented in Figure 3. The red and
blue colors represent the underbreaks and overbreak, respec-
tively, enabling us to understand the overbreak and under-
break locations. The maximum and mean overbreak based on
the obtained scanned data organized in a time series are pre-
sented in Figure 4. The following can be stated based on the
results obtained from Figures 3 and 4.
No. 721 can be attributed to explosive drilling from the
initial blast pattern (set by considering the past experience
and natural ground strength), with all the drilling angles in the
outermost circumference drilled at the same angle. The
maximum and mean overbreaks were 67.0 and 30.2 cm, re-
spectively, with an increase in the top-most overbreak.
 T. FUKUDA et al. / International Journal of the JSRM vol.15 (2019) pp.21-23 3

Excavation direction
Excavation direction

No.725

No.721
No.730
No.730

No.725

No.721
200 [mm] 100 [mm]
overbreak ←│→ underbreak

[ Left wall side ] [ Right wall side ]

Figure 3. Measurement results of the 3D scanner used in the demonstration test area.

maximum and mean overbreaks were 21.0 and 6.6 cm, re-
spectively, with decreases of approximately 69% and 78%,
70
67.0
respectively, when compared with the results obtained from
maximum overbreak
mean overbreak the initial blast pattern.
60
trendline Based on the drilling performance of the entire demon-
trendline
50
stration test section, it can be assumed that by operating the
overbreak amount[cm]

45.5 system several times, it is possible to reduce the effect of

40
42.3 42.3
excessive overbreak and smooth the excavation surface.
37.1
Figure 5 shows the statistical treatment of the relation
36.9

30 30.2 31.0
between the corrected drilling angle of the outermost circum-
22.5
24.5 ference among all the drilling results in the demonstration test
20 21.0
18.6
16.6 16.9 area and the overbreak volume generated from that drilling
10
13.3
11.8 11.1 angle. Despite the lack of sufficient drilling results for ob-
9.4
taining a definitive evaluation, an overbreak value of zero is
8.8 8.5
6.5 6.6 6.0
4.6
0 predicted at a drilling angle of 2°–4°. Therefore, planning
with a blast pattern involving drilling angles of 2°–4° is a
logical choice for future drilling in a geological terrain similar
Figure 4. Overbreak reduction effects (tuff/tuff breccia). to that of the Takatoriyama west tunnel construction project
(i.e., tuff breccia).
0.12 30
5. SUMMARY
drilling number mean overbreak volume
0.10 25
trendline

0.08
25
The implementation of the automated drilling angle con-
21
trol system in multiple drilling cycles results in a decrease in
mean overbreak volume[m3]

19
0.06 20 the maximum and mean overbreak by approximately 69%
drilling number

17
0.04 and 78%, respectively. These values are observed to vary
13
12
15 based on the natural ground morphology (e.g., natural ground
0.02
10
11 11 heterogeneity and bedrock fissure influences).
9
0.00 8 10 Although the overbreak reduction effects differ based on
-0.02
6
5
6 the natural ground morphology, our demonstration tests de-
5 note that the system can effectively decrease the overbreak
-0.04
amount without relying on skilled labor forces.
-0.06 0
REFERENCES
insertion angle[deg.]
Figure 5. Relation between the drilling angle and overbreak Okawa, R., Yamabe, K., Arai, T., Otsubo, H., Kakimi, K., Fukuda, T.,
amount (tuff/tuff breccia). 2019. Overbreak reduction during explosive drilling based on an
Automated Insertion Angle Control System, Proc. of 74th Annu-
Subsequently, the drilling angle of the outermost circum- al Conference of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers, VI-459.
ference was individually corrected using the results obtained Okawa, R., Yamabe, T., Otsubo, K., Arai, H., Kakimi, K., Fukuda, T.,
from the overbreak/underbreaks in No. 721–724. Thus, we 2019. Proposal of new tunnel face assessment scores method by
can confirm that No. 725 showed the lowest number of un- analyzing drilling data of the drill jumbo, Proc. of 74th Annual
derbreaks and the overbreak considerably decreased. The Conference of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers, VI-460.