Mining Machinery - II

Mining Machinery II
• Coal cutting machines, shearers, coal ploughs, lump breakers, road
headers, TBMs, raise and shaft borers, continuous miners, stage
loaders; their main features and applicability
• Loading machines - rocker shovel, SDL, LHD, gathering arm loader,
shuttle car, LPDTs, scraper ; their main features, applicability, selection
and production capacities
• Opencast Machinery - Shovels, draglines, dumpers, wheel loaders;
their main features, applicability, selection and production capacities;
• Underground coal and rock drills, jumbo drills, rock bolting machines.
Small and large diameter surface blasthole drills, rippers and scrapers,
road graders, dozers; their construction, application, selection, and
operation
• Continuous surface mining equipment- bucket wheel excavators,
surface miners, spreaders, dredging equipment; their main features,
applicability, selection and production capacities
• Pumps : Types of mine pumps, application and related computations.
Miscellaneous Mining Equipment: Power pack and Hydraulic System,
Truck Despatch System, Stacker Reclaimer, Rock Breakers, Impact
Hammers, Slurry Pumps, Equipment used in Shaft Sinking, In-pit
Crushers
 Books
1. SME Underground Mining Methods Handbook
Ed. Hustrulid, E. Lopez Jimeno, C. Lopez Jimeno,
Ayala Carcedo
2. Drilling and Blasting of Rocks, 1995, CRC Press
Ratan Raj Tatiya
3. Surface and Underground Excavations –
Methods, Techniques and Equipment, Taylor &
Francis (2005)
4. Surface Mining Equipment by JW Martin, TJ
Martin, TP Bennett, KM Martin; Publ – Martin
Consultants, Inc, Golden Colorado 80402
5. Longwall Mining, Peng and Chiang
Shearer

Shearer 1
Shearer 2
 Shearer
• The coal is cut from the Long wall face of a mine by a machine
called the shearer . It cuts the coal from one end of the face to
another and the coal gets loaded into the AFC through a
curved guide plate known as cowl plat.
• This machine comprises a main body, housing the electrical
functions, the tractive motive units and pumping units.
• The either end of the main body are fitted the ranging arms
which can be ranged vertically up down by means of hydraulic
rams, and onto which are mounted the shearer cutting drums
which are fitted with 40–60 cutting picks.
• The cutting drums are rotated to cut the coal from the coal
seam. The shearer body is mounted on the AFC.
 Types of Shearer
• Fixed Drum Shearer
1 Unidirectional
2. Bidirectional

• Ranging Drum Shearer

1. Single Ended Ranging drum shearer (SERD)
2. Double Ended Ranging drum shearer (DERD)
 Double Ended Ranging Drum Shearer
Cutting Drum

Cutting Drum
Gear Electric Power Gear
Box Motor Pack Box
Ranging Arm

Ranging Arm

Powered Cowl
• Advantage:
1. High production
2. Uniform size of coal is produced
3. No use of explosive
4. More safety
5. Smooth floor is maintained
6. Seam of greater thickness can be extracted
7. Straight line of face is maintained
8. It does not need any assistance of roof pressure.
9. Supports are less frequently moved.
• Disadvantage:
1. High Capital Investment
2. Size of coal produced is less
3. High amount of air borne dust
When a double ended ranging drum shearer
cuts coal in a longwall face: GATE 2012

A. Both the drums rotate in same direction keeping the

front drum up and the rear drum down.
B. Both the drums rotate in opposite direction keeping
the front drum up and the rear drum down.
C. Both the drums rotate in opposite direction keeping
the front drum down and the rear drum up.
D. Both the drums rotate in same direction keeping the
front and the rear drum up.
Specifications of a shearer
Caterpillar Shearer Model EL 4000
Height Range 4.0 M to 7.0 M
Machine Length 16.7 M
Total Installed Power 2295 KW
Available cutting Power 2*750 KW
Cutting Drum Diameter 3.5 M
Haulage Motors 2*150 KW
Haulage speed (Without cutting) 32 M/min
Haulage Pull Upto 1075 KN
Machine Weight 140 Tones
Body Height 1050 mm
Operating Voltage 3300 V
Production Capacity of a Shearer

Q = 60HSVH  Tones/Hr

H = Mining Height in meter 3 - 6 M

S = Cutting width or web thickness 0.6 – 1.1M
VH = Haulage speed (During cutting) 3 – 5 m/min
 = Density of coal in T/m3 1.2 – 1.4 T/m3
A double ended ranging drum shearer is employed in a
longwall mine of face length 150 meter. The mining
height is 3.5 meter and depth of the web cut is 0.76
meter. The cycle time for unidirectional cutting is 40
min. Considering density of coal to be 1.4 T/m3, coal
production per cycle from the face in Tonne is? GATE 2017
Q = 60HSVH  Tones/Hr
Q = 60*3.5*0.76*(150/40)*1.4 Tones/Hr
Q = 837.9 Tones/Hr
Q = 837.9 *40/60 Tones/cycle
Q = 558.6 Tones/cycle
A coal seam of 2 m thickness is extracted by a longwall panel
with face length of 120 m. Web depth of shearer is 0.6m.
Average manpower in the longwall face in a shift is 20. The
specific gravity of insitu coal is 1.4. If the shearer makes 4 full
cuts in 3 shifts, the face OMS in tonne is?
GATE 2015

Prod per day =2*120*0.6*1.4*4 T/day

Prod per day =806.4 T/day
Prod per Shift =806.4/3 T/shift
Prod per Shift =268.8 T/shift
OMS =268.8/20 T
OMS = 13.44 T
 Terms associated with shearer
Cutting Efficiency:
It is the effective volume of coal cut per unit time
by the shearer.
Specific Energy:
It is the energy required to produce and load a unit
weight of coal.
Moment:
It is the product of the force received by the drum,
multiplied by the radial distance from the drum
axis.
Factors affecting Shearer Performance
1. Drum Rotational Speed
• Under constant haulage speed, the
power consumption of a shearer

Power Consumption
increases with increase in rotational
speed as shown in fig.
• With increased rotational speed , the
specific energy requirement is more. Drum RPM
• With increased rotational speed , the
cutting efficiency is less.
• With increased rotational speed , the
moment acting on the drum is less.
 Factors affecting Shearer Performance
2. Haulage speed
• Under constant rotational speed, the
power consumption of a shearer increases

Power Consumption
with increase in haulage speed however
this rate is very high, as shown in fig.
• With increased haulage speed , the specific
energy requirement is less.
Haulage speed
• With increased haulage speed , the cutting
efficiency is more.
• With increased haulage speed , the
moment acting on the drum is more.
Factors affecting Shearer Performance
3. Cutting Depth
70 RPM
• AS shown in fig, that under constant

Power Consumption
drum speed, the power consumption 50 RPM

increases with increase in cutting depth.

3 m/s
• Also under constant haulage speed, the
1 m/s
power consumption decreases with
increase in cutting depth. Cutting Depth

• With increased cutting depth, the moment

acting on the drum is more
Factors affecting Shearer Performance

4. Coal Hardness Hard Coal

Power Consumption
Soft coal
• AS shown in fig, that power
consumption increases linealy with
increase in hardness of coal.

• Also as coal hardness increases the Drum speed

specific energy consumption also
increases.
Factors affecting Shearer Performance

5. Bit condition
• The cutting efficiency of a new bit or sharp bit is higher
than the worn bit.

• Power consumption is less because it breaks the coal in

tension or shear. Because coal or rocks are stronger in
compression.

• With increased in sharpness of the cutting bit, its specific

energy requirement is reduced.

• Moment acting on the drum will be less.

A shearer is deployed in a mine where the specific
energy consumption for cutting coal is 800 KJ/m3. The
specific gravity of insitu coal is 1.2. If the machine
produces 700 T/h, the electrical power consumption in
KW of the shearer at 65% motor efficiency is? GATE 2012
Q = 700 T/Hr Q = 583.33/60*60 m3/sec
Q = 700/1.2 m3/Hr Q = 0.162 m3/sec
Q = 583.33 m3/Hr
m3 KJ
Power = 0.162
KJ
800 3  129.6
sec
 129.6KW
sec m

Motor Power =
129.6
0.65
KW  199.4KW
Mechanics of coal cutting by Shearer

VH1 VH
VH

α1 α2
α3
VR VR

VR 1
 Mechanics of coal cutting by Shearer
• As illustrated in the fig. that as the haulage speed of
the shearer increases, the cutting depth of the drum
also increases which in turn increases the size of
coal produced.
• However, if the rotational speed of the drum is
more, it will result in production of more fine coal as
well as more dust.
• Therefore a proper ratio between haulage speed and
rotational speed must be maintained for desired size
and production of coal.
• For cutting hard coal rotational speed should be
more while for cutting in the soft coal the haulage
speed should be more.
Sumping of a Shearer
• Each time shearer completes a cut
along the whole face before starting
the next cut, the drum must first cut
into the coal face. The process of
making the drum cut into the coal
face is called sumping.
Methods of Sumping
• Push Sumping (Pre niching)
• Drill Sumping (Self niching)
• Inclined Sumping (No niching)
a. Full face triangular inclined sumping
b. Full face inclined sumping
c. Half face inclined sumping
Push Sumping or Pre niching
In this method a pre cut
called nich is prepared
at the face end. The
shearer is pushed into
the nich by the advance
of either tail or the
head drive.

This type of sumping is

simple but it requires
niching that increases
the unsupported roof
area.
Drill Sumping or Self niching:
In this method, the drum is
directly sumped into the coal
face by pushing the bits
mounted on the face end of
the drum and the hydraulic
pushing force of the rams.

This method of
sumping is rarely used.
Inclined Sumping a. Full face Triangular Inclined sumping
In this method when one cut is
completed, the shearer is at
one end, AFC is snaked, and the
Shearer moves over it towards
the face, making a nich in the
face. Then shearer moves in
backward direction to remove
the triangular part as shown in
fig.
After that it moves in the
forward direction and cut the
remaining coal on the face.
Inclined Sumping b. Full face Inclined sumping
In this method when one cut is
completed, the shearer is at
one end, AFC is snaked, and the
Shearer moves over it towards
the face, making a nich in the
face and continues to mve in
forward direction to cut the
coal as shown in fig.

After that it moves in the

backward direction and cut the
leftover coal on the face.
Inclined Sumping c. Half face Inclined sumping
In this method when one cut is
completed, the shearer is
positioned at the center. AFC is
snaked, and the Shearer moves
over it towards the face,
making a nich in the face and
continues to move in forward
direction to cut the coal as
shown in fig.
After that it moves in the
backward direction and cut the
remaining half coal on the face.
 Haulage of Shearer
• Chain Haulage
• Chainless Haulage
a. Drive chain Rack – a – track Haulage
b. Wheel Rack – a – track Haulage
c. Hydraulic ram propulsion.
 Chain Haulage
Sprocket
Wheel

Sprocket Wheel Haulage chain

• The haulage chain is a round link chain which

extends along the whole face and is fixed on
both ends at the head and tail drives of the
AFC. The shearer body consists of a driving
sprocket wheel. When sprocket wheel rotates,
its teeth are trapped to the matching chain link
and shearer moves along the non moving
haulage chain.
 Problems with chain haulage
1. When the shearer moves, the haulage chain is
subjected to very high tension. If it breaks suddenly,
large amount of strain energy will be released causing
severe accidents.
2. If the face line is not straight or the floor is uneven, the
chain may sudden jump, injuring the crew.
3. The shearer movement is not smooth.
4. The existence of the haulage chain is inconvenient for
crew travel.
5. As the shearer power increases, the haulage force
increases correspondingly. Therefore, chain must be
strong enough, but the heavy chain is inconvenient for
transportation and maintenance.
 Chainless Haulage
a. Drive chain Rack – a – track Haulage
Linear feeding shoe
Driving Sprocket wheel
Wedge to clear the track
Rack rail

This system consists mainly of a continuous chain

running between the driving sprocket and a matching
fixed track on the goaf side of shearer body. For shearer
haulage the chain is first driven by sprocket wheel, then
it is traps into the stationary rack rail through the linear
feeding shoe. At any one time, three links of chain are
continuously held in engagement by the feeding shoe. A
wedge plate on each side clears up the traps of the rack
rail.
 Chainless Haulage
b. Wheel Rack – a – track Haulage
Driving Sprocket wheel

Rack a track

This system eliminates any type of drive chain. The

shearer body is moved by directly matching the
driving sprocket with rack a track. This driving
system is highly efficient for shearer haulage.
 Chainless Haulage
c. Hydraulic ram propulsion.

Clamp Open Open Clamp Clamp Open

In this system there are two propulsion units mounted

on the under frame of shearer. Each consists of a
hydraulic advancing ram and a clamping device. With
hydraulic cylinder, the clamping device is clamped or
unclamped to the track on the goaf side of the AFC.
Contd……..

• To advance the shearer, One hydraulic ram is

clamped to push the shearer forward, while the
other clamp is open enabling the piston to retract
such that it pulls the clamping device forward.
• Now the second ram is clamped and the first one
is open. The second ram push the shearer in
forward direction and piston of first ram retract
and it also advance with the shearer.
• In this manner two advancing rams push the
shearer forward alternatively.
 Advantage
1. High haulage capacity
2. Less noise
3. No chain anchorage
4. Simple in structure
5. Less and easy maintenance
6. Operating and maintenance cost is less.
7. Power transmission is easy.
Plow or Plough
 Plow
• Essentially a plough is a large mass of steel, usually of a
more or less triangular shape when viewed from the coal
face or goaf sides, fitted with large "picks angled from the
steel body towards the coal face. These "picks" act in a
fashion similar to chisels and break a narrow web of coal
off the face (of the order of 300-400 mm thick).
• The plough height is the working height in the seam being
mined. In most cases there are no moving parts on a coal
plough.
• The plough itself is mounted on the front of the AFC and
is pushed into the face by push cylinders mounted in the
supports. The plough has an endless chain haulage
attached to the rear, and is driven through sprockets on
electric drive(s) at the face end(s).
 The main parts of a plow
• The plow head
• Haulage chain
• Guide
• Chain protection unit
• Gear head gear box
• Electric motor and control
• Base plate
 Types of Plow
• Hook Plow:
it consists of a plow head and a base plate. The
base plates are the stabilizing unit and laid on the
floor below the chain conveyor.
• Sliding Plow:
In comparison with the hook plow, the unique
feature for the sliding plow is that it has no base
plate, which eliminates the friction between the
floor, base plate and conveyor pans. The haulage
chain is located on the face side inside guide tube.
 Factors affecting application of Coal
Plow
• Inclination of the seam: Up to 400
• Thickness of the seam:0.4 – 2 M
• Nature of adjacent roof: A god roof is essential for
trouble free plow operation as there is always some
delay in setting the supports.
• Nature of adjacent Floor: A strong floor with
good parting of the coal from the floor gives the
best results. A soft or undulating floor can result
in rapid wear of the plough bits due to digging of
the plough.
• Strength of Coal: soft to moderately hard coal
are generally suitable for plowing. With the
increase in strength of coal, the depth of web
decreases, which results in less production.
Generally plow is used upto coal compressive
strength of 300 kg/cm2. The strength of the coal
can be decreased by water infusion of the face.
• Direction of Cleavage planes: the direction of
cleavage planes a very important roe for the
application of the coal plow. The coal plow must
cut the coal along the cleavage plane.
• Dirt bands: Thin and soft dirt bands do not present
in general any problem. However hard and thick
bands at the plowing horizon can create the
problem. A hard thick band near the roof may not
allow roof coal to come down under rock pressure.
• Geological disturbances: Seams containing
geological disturbance such as faults, syncline,
Anticline etc are not suitable for plowing.
• Size of coal desired: Coal plowing yields larger size
of coal than by shearer. Therefore, if a seam is
plowable and larger size of coal is desired, plowing
can be adopted.
 Advantage of shearer as compared with Plow
1. Winning is independent of workability of coal.
2. Supports are less frequently moved.
3. Better roof control.
4. A smooth floor can be easily maintained.
5. Faults can negotiated with less difficulty.
6. Does not need any assistance from roof pressure.
7. No difficulties in maintaining a straight line of face.
8. The travelling speed can be automatically
controlled depending upon resistance of cutting.
9. The coal produced is more uniform in size.
10.Greater utilization of installed power.
11.Seams of greater thickness can be extracted.
Disadvantage of shearer as compared
with Plow
• Greater investment
• Production of more fine coal.
• Greater dust concentration at the face.
• Can not be used for thin seams (<1M)
• Shearer can not negotiate more than 200 face
inclination, while the plow can be used upto
400 inclination.
Road Header
Road Header
 Road Header
• Road header is a boom-type road heading
equipment or excavating equipment. It
consists of a boom-mounted cutting head, a
loading device with a conveyor and a crawler
travelling track to move the entire machine
forward into the working place.
• Road header is mainly designed to excavate
or build roadway in tunnelling, coal mining
and civil engineering.
 Types of Road header
• Longitudinal Cutting Heads-
The cutter head rotates parallel to the cutter
boom axis (Boring type RH)

• Transverse Cutting Heads-

The cutter head rotates perpendicular to boom
axis (Ripping type RH)
Longitudinal Cutting Heads-
The cutter head rotates parallel to the cutter
boom axis (Boring type RH)
Transverse Cutting Heads-
The cutter head rotates perpendicular to boom
axis (Ripping type RH)
 Main parts of a Road Header
1. Cutter head
2. Cutter boom
3. Loading assembly
4. Chain conveyor
5. Crawler track assembly
6. Frame
7. Electrical Motors
8. Hydraulic system
9. Cooling system
Specifications of a Roadheader
Road Header AM-50 (Singareni Collieries )
Overall Height 1645 mm

Overall Length 7500 mm

Overall width without loader head 1910 mm

Total weight 24 T

Total Installed Power 166 KW

Available cutting Power 100 KW

Advancing Speed (Without cutting ) 5m/min

Compressive strength of Coal 80 MPa

Maximum Passable gradient +/- 160

Max Cutting Height above floor level 4000 mm

Max Cutting width of excavation 4800 mm

Factors affecting use of Road headers
1. Method of work:

2. Strata type: or Strength of rock: Soft to moderately hard.

3. Roadway shape: Preferably arch shaped

4. Support system: Self supporting or roof bolting

5. Layout: Single entry system gives more rate of development

6. Gradient: upto 140

7. Training and Maintenance facility available

8. Investment
Continuous miner
Continuous miner
 Continuous miner
• Continuous miners are used in board and Pillar
Mining Methods as a production machines.
• It consist of a large rotating drum comprising of
cutting picks mounted over it to scrape coal from the
face of the mine.
• The continuous miner rotates the cutting drum to cut
the coal from the face, and the coal extracted is
collected by the gathering arms to convey it to the
rear end by a chain conveyor.
• These machines are able to cut the full face in one
pass .
Specifications of a Continuous Miner
Eickhoff GERMANY , Model CM2H-45
Total Installed Power 620 KW

Available cutting Power 2*180 KW

Cutting Drum Diameter 1.2 M

Haulage speed (Without cutting) 25 m/min

Machine Weight 78 T

Operating Voltage 1140 V

Min Cutting Height 2.2 M

Max Cutting Height 4.5 M

Drum speed 43 and 48 rpm

Cutting Width 3.65 M

Advantage of continuous miner
1. Less manpower required
2. Labour cost per tone is reduced substantially.
3. Less no of working faces are required
4. Increased supervision due to less no of working faces.
5. Better roof control
6. Blasting is eliminated
7. Resistance to ventilating air is less because of smooth
profile of roadway.
8. Increased advance rate
9. Production efficiency is more.
10. Increased safely
Disadvantage of continuous miner
1. High investment is required
2. The downtime to the machine, results in
heavy production loss.
3. Difficult to work with soft floors.
4. More amount of dust is produced
5. Inclination affect the production rate.
Stage Loader
 Stage Loader
• When the coal is transported by the AFC
along the longwall face it reaches the
stage loader at the end of the face. The
stage loader is simply a chain conveyor
that transport coal from the AFC to the
main belt conveyor.
• In longwall mining When the coal has been
hauled to the main gate, it then has to be
transferred through a 90o turn, and loaded onto
the main gate conveyor. This function is carried
out by the " Stage Loader ", which is another
scraper conveyor, and runs from the main gate
drive to the main gate belt conveyor .
• It has a change of elevation (a vertical curve)
along its length in order to discharge coal onto
the maingate conveyor and in almost all cases, a
crusher or breaker is mounted on it to improve
loading onto and to prevent damage to the out
bye belt conveyors.
 The Main components of stage loader:
• Adaptor Pan
• Convex Pan
• Concave pan
• Slope module
• Crusher
• Mini-pans
• Return end (part of the Maingate drive frame)
• Conveying chain and flights (similar to AFC chain)
• Tensionable Drive Unit
 Lump Breaker

Lump
Breaker
 Lump Breaker
• The Lump Breaker is used in the line of Chain
Conveyor used in mining to crush / reduce the large
lumps of R O M Coal.
• It is able to reduce lumps created in the production
without generating excessive dust and fines.
• When the material is conveyed through the Chain
Conveyor, the large lumps entered between deck
plate of line pan and crusher rolls get crushed by the
breaker wheel to required size by impact of picks
mounted to the wheel.
• A typical crusher has a housing with a
crushing chamber and one or two rotating
shafts (rotors) with teeth or blades that are
mounted to them.
• There is usually a sizing screen of perforated
metal in crushers to hold back larger pieces
for further crushing after the material passes
the rotors.
• By reducing the size of lumps, it becomes
easier to handle and transport the material
by belt conveyor.
 Raise Borer

• A raise borer is a machine used

in underground mining, to excavate a
circular hole between two levels of
a mine without the use of explosives.
Upper Level Raise borer

Lower Level Pilot hole Drill string

Reamer head
raise borer
Raise Borer
 Raise Borer
• The raise borer is set up on the upper level of the
two levels to be connected, on an evenly laid
platform (typically a concrete pad). A small-
diameter hole (pilot hole) is drilled to the level
required; the diameter of this hole is typically
230mm - 445mm (9" - 17.5"), large enough to
accommodate the drill string.
• Once the drill has broken into the opening on the
target level, the bit is removed and a reamer head,
of the required diameter of the excavation, is
attached to the drill string and raised back towards
the machine.
• The drill cuttings from the reamer head fall to
the floor of the lower level. The finished raise
has smooth walls and may not require rock
bolting or other forms of ground support.
• The one of impressive use of raise boring is a
7.1 m diameter shafts in South Africa. Master
drilling is currently the world's biggest raise
boring firm with operations throughout all 7
continents.
Tunnel Boring Machine
 Full Face Tunnel Boring Machine

1. Cutter head 6. Tail sealant

2. Bentonite Slurry
7. Bentonite Slurry Feed
3. Air bubble.
4. Thrust arms 8. Bentonite Slurry+Soil return
5. Segments 9. Grout
 Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM)
• A tunnel boring machine (TBM) is a machine used
to excavate tunnels with a circular cross section
through a variety of soil and rock strata. They can
bore through anything from hard rock to sand.
Tunnel diameters can range from a metre to 19.25
metres to date.
• Tunnel boring machines are used as an alternative
to drilling and blasting (D&B) methods. TBMs have
the advantages of limiting the disturbance to the
surrounding ground and producing a smooth tunnel
wall. This significantly reduces the cost of lining the
tunnel, and makes them suitable for different uses.
• All types of hard rock TBMs excavate rock using
disc cutters mounted in the cutter head. The disc
cutters create compressive stress fractures in the
rock, causing it to chip away from the rock in
front of the machine, called the tunnel face.
• The excavated rock, known as muck, is
transferred through openings in the cutter head
to a belt conveyor, where it runs through the
machine to a system of conveyors or muck cars
for removal from the tunnel.
• The major disadvantage of TBM’s are its cost.
TBMs are expensive to manufacture, and are
difficult to transport. The longer the tunnel, the
less the relative cost of tunnelling.
 Types of TBM

• Open-type TBMs

• Shield type TBM

• Soft ground TBMs

 Open-type TBMs

• Open-type TBMs, leave the area behind the

cutter head open for rock support. The rock
behind the cutter head is held up using
ground support methods such as ring beams,
rock bolts, shotcrete, steel straps, ring steel
and wire mesh etc.
• To advance, the machine uses a gripper
system that pushes against the side walls of
the tunnel.
 Shield type TBM
• In fractured rock, shielded hard rock TBMs
can be used, which erect concrete segments
to support unstable tunnel walls behind the
machine.
• Double Shield TBMs have two modes; in
stable ground they can grip against the
tunnel walls to advance. In unstable,
fractured ground, the thrust is shifted to
thrust cylinders that push off against the
tunnel concrete segments behind the
machine.
 Soft ground TBMs
• In soft ground, some additives such as
bentonite , polymers and foam can be
injected ahead of the face to increase the
stability of the ground.
• Additives can also be injected in the cutter
head/extraction screw to ensure that the
spoil remains sufficiently cohesive to form a
plug to maintain pressure in the cutter head
and restrict water flowing through.
 Back-up systems
Behind all types of tunnel boring machines, inside
the finished part of the tunnel, are trailing
support decks known as the back-up system.
These include:
• Conveyors or other systems for muck removal,
• Slurry pipe lines if applicable,
• Control rooms,
• Electrical systems,
• Dust removal,
• Ventilation system and
• Mechanisms for transport of pre-cast segments.
The End