Tunnel

Fascination Tunneling
The fascination of tunneling with compact components

Tunneling is one of the most fascinating, but also most difficult tasks in the construction sector. There are direct dependencies between the permanent tunnel structure, the excavation of the required tunnel cavity and the mountainy to be crossed. The surrounding rock is used for the load-bearing effect, i.e. it becomes a building material. The excavation of the tunnel cavity usually takes place in rock formations which, due to their formation, are layered differently, and as well folded, are exposed to weathering and water ingress in various ways. With its material properties and their characteristic values, the construction subsoil exhibits large scattering ranges, which the construction methods and, above all, their safety measures must consider.

"Tunnel construction unites theory and practice to form an engineering art of its own. Today, engineering tunnel construction is largely carried out by civil engineers, but everyone should be aware that knowledge of structural analysis and solid construction alone is not enough. Geology, geomechanics, mechanical engineering and especially construction process engineering are equally important."

Precise surveying methods using satellites allow designers to stay the course.

Tunnel builders can be dealing with vastly different substrates. Mostly, however, he drills and blasts rock. Digging deep has become a relatively safe, high-tech process. Today, gigantic tunnel boring machines, often operated by just one expert, do the painstaking work. Driving up to 40 meters a day, they work their way through rock or silt almost independently.

At the same time, they secure the tunnel walls with steel arches and line them with a layer of concrete. Drainage systems built in parallel drain water out of the mountain. However, blasting still takes place in the same way. Several successful projects have shown that these conveyor belt systems are very suitable and cost-effective alternatives to track-bound overburden trucks for the removal of rock, as they enable very good performance due to high system availability, as well as high operational reliability and high load-bearing capacity.

Product groups in tunneling

Pulleys Pulleys
Idlers Idlers
Idler stations Idler stations
Steel Construction Steel Construction