October 2015
Kombilösung in Karlsruhe: tunnelling machine at its goal
The advance for the 2 km long railway tunnel under the centre of Karlsruhe was completed with absolute precision on September 7 2015. Several product solutions from the VMT portfolio were in use and they contributed significantly to the successful project on our doorstep.
The large project “Kombilösung” of the Karlsruher Schieneninfrastruktur-Gesellschaft (KASIG) promises citizens and businesses in the centre of Karlsruhe a noticeable relief. The trams travelling sometimes every minute along the Kaiserstraße will be redirected through a tunnel under the pedestrian zone that is due to start operation in December 2018.
The tunnel advance was undertaken by a Herrenknecht mix shield machine with a diameter of 9.29 m. Throughout the whole project, from the advance start in November 2014 at the Durlacher Tor until breakthrough on September 7 2015 at the Mühlburger Tor, a VMT team ensured the reliable operation of the navigation system and various monitoring systems.
The TUnIS Navigation TBMLaser was used for precise navigation requirements. Equipped with a total station and a target unit installed in the shield of the TBM, it calculates the machine position and allows the advance team to align the TBM exactly to the planned tunnel alignment.
All data collected at the Karlsruhe site for the advance and monitoring were consolidated in the IRIS (Integriertes Risiko- und Informations-System), which with the preparation and clear presentation of the relevant data provided a reliable basis for efficient process control at all times.
The lining of the city railway tunnel was realised using segments with an internal diameter of 8.20 metres. For optimum positioning of the segment rings, the TUnIS Ring Sequencing softwarewas used on the tunnelling machine. The semi-automatic tail shield clearance measuring system GAPtrix from VMT served in addition to provide direct transfer of the TSC values to the software.
To ensure the maximum safety for an inner-city advance with sometimes a small overcut of 4.50 m along the dense building development along the tunnel axis, the responsible project managers relied on comprehensive, automatic Deformation Monitoring. For this, VMT supplied the hardware and a specially tailored software package with which all data arising for seamless and detailed monitoring were collected and processed.
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