Gigantic Tunnel Drilling Machines | Men and Machines | Free Documentary

[Music] we create things and out here you can already see that [Music] seeing how such a large machine works is just incredibly fascinating it's a critical moment that's why the excavators operator has to be really careful the tunnel's finished and i helped to build it if anyone makes a mistake it can cost lives and vast amounts of money [Music] major construction site near kirchheim undertech near stuttgart deutsche ban is building a new rail link between bendlingen and uln through the foothills of the alp with two tunnel boring machines more than a hundred meters long around 200 miners are driving their way through the swabian soil it'll take one and a half years before the tunnel builders reach daylight again eight kilometers further west on the other side the tunneling is supervised by six shift engineers four of them are women which would have been unthinkable a few years ago because women in tunnels were said to bring bad luck civil engineer sara gitzen inspects the progress in the south tube 205 metres have already been completed we start driving with the machine so the cutting wheel with a diameter of 10.87 meters is at the front it eats its way through the rock when the driving length is reached the machine stops and we can then install the tubing segments in the machine there are seven altogether six and a large keystone that means we can do the driving and make the tunnel lining in one go the lining consists of precast reinforced concrete segments which are assembled into rings to form the tunnel shell on good days the miners managed to install 15 rings in 24 hours but they've not quite reached that level yet we are still in the startup situation and it is always a bit slower at the beginning the teams first have to get used to each other get to know the machine every machine reacts differently acts differently but we are already quite satisfied and now we will definitely be moving on quickly the tunnel boring machine or tbm for short is controlled from an inconspicuous container in the machine's trailer kamil popovic controls the machine in the north tube which started a month later than the south machine and is still half outside the tunnel we are now almost ready for start again to make a complete excavation of 19 ring 19 for now what i can show you i can show you the procedure of start of start of tbm we need to turn on the hydraulic oil pumps for all of the system the entire starting procedure takes a few minutes we start the cutter head simple one button now it's now it's starting our tunnel belt is ready it's running cutter head it starts running we have a 2 rpm per minute it's 2 rotation per minute this is our steering system we call this articulation we use automatic now when our belt is ready then we can start excavating in the driving phase hydraulic cylinders press the cutting wheel against the working face with a pressure of up to 400 bar 140 cutting rollers excavate the ground aided in their task by a special foam this button is for a foam system it's making our material more wet more easy to excavate from from the front sometimes we have a condition there it's more wet more dry so this is mix of the water air and and hemi what we use for making the foam and now i need to left you for two minutes to restart the form because the one sensor it's uh it's cut out yeah it's difficult here tbm operators have to know their machines very well a sensor sounds the alarm sensor popovich benefits from his experience it was just a blockage small sensor but making big problem every time a tunnel is built new challenges await the miners the driving method chosen depends among other things on the geology of the terrain in the case of the alp four land tunnel conventional tunneling methods such as blasting are out of the question for another reason we're driving the tunnel under the motorway so we are right next to the autobahn and blasting would cause considerable vibrations so it's much more pleasant with the machine because we don't generate any vibrations the residents above us don't even notice the machine months of preparation were necessary for the project because the machines had to be built from scratch first of all before the machine even arrives at our construction site it is manufactured and designed in the factory and we consider what requirements we have to meet and what requirements the project has to meet the factory is located in schwanno in baden-wurttemberg and belongs to the heaven connect company this medium-sized business specializes in tunnel boring machines and is the world market leader in this sector then the machine is manufactured in the factory we were there and did a factory acceptance test which means the machine is completely assembled and runs in empty space so to speak no lining segments are built either but a test run is carried out tunnel boring machines consist of more than ninety thousand parts herenknest builds machines with diameters of 10 centimeters to 19 meters the size of the cutting wheel depends on how wide the tunnel is going to be in the end the backup is trailed on wheel housings that rest on the edge of the tunnel the manufacturers adjust more than 200 parameters to suit each project the gigantic drills are by no means bargains each of the two machines cost 15 million euros when everything is in order and the machine has been accepted it is dismantled again into a number of individual sections and we bring it here so the individual parts travel almost 200 kilometers to reach the construction site it will be another six months before the first machine can be put into operation it's better not to mix up any parts here because the two tunnel boring machines are constructed as mirror images of each other it was then lifted into the pre-enclosure where it was assembled into the final machine in the end the trains will travel through two single-track tunnels that are connected by cross passages the special thing here is that each tunnel gets its own machine and that is very special as normally there is only one machine which is then withdrawn and used for the second tunnel the machine is ready for the construction of ring 19. to do so popovich first has to drive his machine two meters further into the mountain so now we are ready for pushing this is the gate for a screw conveyor screw conveyor help us to move out the material from the front from the from the front of the machine now i opening gate i starting that screw conveyor pump and then i push advance now we are moving here you can see the [Music] uh the speed of the machine we going 20 millimeters per minute this is not maximum we go in with this speed because on the beginning we cannot use full full power of machine it's because of the push ram on the back if we will go with full speed with full power our our rings will push out from the from the tunnel so this is dangerous during excavation the ground is conditioned and then transported away with the help of a screw conveyor as the tbm driver popovich must always keep an eye on his conveyor belt this is the visual camera here i can see a condition of my material when it's how it's look like it's also very important because it cannot be too much dry too much liquid it must be perfect to stay on the belt and go all the way out our cutter head it's 2 rpm but our screw conveyor is much faster now it's uh going 4 4.5 maximum to 5. for now our belt is maybe 500 meter but we all know tunnel it's eight kilometers so soon our belt will be longer longer longer every every day it's longer and then the material condition must be very good so we have no problem to transport him all the way up there to the to the drop the material is distributed to several tips via two conveyor belts where the slag goes to is specified precisely however the large site is only an interim storage area for the slurry before it can be transported away it has to be processed further [Music] we are now at the location of the west spreader which is the spreader for the north tunnel each machine has its own area for dumping the slack the material is being limed here at the moment the lining is done to make it thicker so that the material takes on a new condition which is then better for being transported by lorry 180 heavy trucks take the waste to landfills in southern germany every day in total 3.2 million cubic meters of mining slag are collected in one and a half years some of it is reused directly to build noise barriers it always depends on how fast we drive how many rings we built the amounts arriving each day always vary we always try to drop 500 cubic meters on each heap that the spreader produces the spreader is then swiveled and the next 500 cubic meter heaps are produced ultimately the finished tunnel will consist of 54 000 lining segments the reinforced concrete elements are placed together in a ring and form the support for the tunnel the place where the lining segments are manufactured can actually be seen on the other side of the motorway the factory was built especially for the tunnel construction site supplies for the tunnel will be produced here during the entire construction period up to 150 elements leave the factory every day [Music] cresser is in charge of the plant and personally inspects the quality of her product [Music] lining segments are produced here we operate stationary production which means that we have the formwork here we have a total of 77 formwork units which means that's 11 rings we can produce in one operation the formwork itself fills about four cubic meters that means we fill it with concrete twice the concrete is poured vibrated and compacted then the formwork and the back are removed the formwork is closed and covered steel inserts give the lining a higher tensile strength the concrete is vibrated to prevent the formation of bubbles producing them in form work means the lining elements can be manufactured with millimeter precision after about eight and a half hours we can take the concrete out of the form work so then it goes to our intermediate storage back there for another 24 hours and then goes out into the outside depot the outside depot is located on the east construction site this is where the lining segments wait to be installed in the tunnel the components spend almost a month in the fresh air at first glance all the components look exactly the same but only at first sight the heaviest weighs 10.5 tons as much as two fully grown african elephants sarah kitson makes sure that the tunnel segments find their designated places when the lining elements come from the factory we have three different storage places where we can sort them of course the storage of all these elements is planned beforehand so it's not a random system ultimately every element has its place which storage location which row and we know exactly where every element is lining segments have beveled edges which makes it easier to form curves on straight stretches the tunnel rings are installed alternately offset by 180 degrees in the tunnel we install left and right rings a ring consists of a total of seven segments all of which are stored here of course when transporting them into the tunnel you have to make sure that the right segments are brought down to the right ring keeping track of everything is not always easy so carefully plan storage is important for preventing mix-ups during construction each lining segment has its own identification number and this means we can find out at any time when this segment was made when it was delivered here and finally when it was installed in the tunnel and where the use of lining segments was already established in alpine tunnel construction 100 years ago the pre-fabricated components enable construction with tunnel boring machines to be carried out efficiently in the neighboring lining segment plant work goes on around the clock in the 72 meter long and 35 meter wide hall 35 people per shift exclusively produce lining segments the components measure exactly two meters and not a centimeter more plant manager katarina kresser makes sure that her team works with absolute precision for the curve length we have tolerant specifications of 0.3 millimeters and we keep to them it looks pretty big and you always think on the construction side it somehow fits but with our segments we have very high tolerance requirements and that's with an outer diameter of 10.5 meters and a thickness of 45 centimeters [Music] a ring consists of seven segments four are standard stones then we have a keystone which is always the one with the slanted edges which is pushed in last and then we have the counter locking stones that complete the ring there are seven stones in a ring as standard rings we have a right hand ring and a left hand ring and then there are various special stone rings for cross passages or anchor rails and so on after a final quality inspection the lining segments are loaded ready for transport to the construction site [Music] we operate here in two shifts in other words 24 hours a day five and a half days a week and we then continuously deliver the segments to the machine up towards the outside depot at the top of the b east the machines are supplied from there the segments are in intermediate storage for about 28 days until they reach a 28-day stability level and can then be installed finally the segments are given sealing strips so that the tunnel shell won't be penetrated by water then they're sent in pairs to the outside depot [Music] [Music] [Music] sarah gibson ended up in tunnel construction straight after her graduation she's never experienced any reservations about women in tunnels that's another reason why she's never regretted her decision to choose a career underground i just really enjoy it it's impressive to work in such a machine it's such a pleasure to go to work and build tunnels [Music] and to drive through the earth and to be in places where no one has been before so we are the first ones to be in this place now once a tunnel engineer always a tunnel engineer so if you love tunneling you stay with it i haven't done anything else yet and neither have my colleagues for the construction of the outfall and tunnel earth pressure balance machines are used the thrust cylinders transfer the so-called support pressure onto the excavated material to prevent the tunnel collapsing uncontrollably the tbm in the north tunnel has now also started operation we have a parameters to to control when we are excavating and we cannot pass let's uh let me explain you when i excavating material i'm balancing with the pressure on the front when my pressure it's too low all the ground up of me can collapse down when my pressure is too high all pressure can go up and push out the grout so you are balancing between too high and too low that's why that's why it's called epb machine add pressure balance eight kilometers further west the two steel drills are to emerge from the ground again 18 months later the north tunnel exit is already open on this side so-called conventional tunneling is being carried out the ground here consists partly of rather less solid clay rock shift supervisor carolina pozoska is therefore paying particular attention to safety the geological conditions we have here mean conventional tunnel driving here needs a very tbm performance and that means we have a high level of safety here [Music] you can see that very well here we have a sawtooth profile the profile widens due to the fact that we have to install a pipe arch every seven sections here sections are one and a half meters unfortunately you can't see them here now this pipe arch is a 140 millimeter diameter steel pipe 12 meters long and is then grouted with cement this is the safety shield above our heads so to speak so that we can carry out the excavation the sections designate the area that can be opened up without safety measures to support the tunnel the outer shell is made with sprayed concrete the beginning of tunnel construction is when the safety and securing measures take particular priority the miners work their way into the mountain in steps of one meter twenty conventional tunneling is laborious as possible herself knows too at the moment we are filling in our calot lower invert with gravel material as you can see here its invert is round and in order to be able to simply drive the equipment in here to give it area to stand on we have to fill it up again with gravel this gravel as it's lying here now will be removed again when we then open the complete ring closure for example the complete standard cross section with the side wall and base the work starts with the collot the upper section of the tunnel opening this is then followed by the lower two thirds the so-called sidewall despite the great effort involved conventional tunneling is worthwhile at this point in terms of driving performance we are of course somewhat slower than a machine drive a tbm drive but we can also open up different cross sections we can realize various sizes and of course a tunnel boring machine can't do that it has its standard diameter which it then of course uses and we are very flexible if everything goes smoothly the miners will meet the tbm in the north tunnel the meeting point has been clearly defined [Music] [Music] after 134 meters of tunnel there will be a connecting structure this will be a widening structure followed by the connection to the goods train link and that's why the tbm has a fixed diameter so that's why we're using conventional tunneling the tube entrance is now prepared for the 44 tonne tunnel excavator carolina posca is also curious about what awaits her in the ground ahead for the engineer tunnel construction is a dream job while at university she did an internship at a tunnel construction site in the middle of stockholm it was an experience that got her hooked once i'd experienced how blastings and all the tunnelling work are actually done underground and the whole mentality and working approach i was then totally hooked and i enjoyed it so much that i took it further in my master's degree and actually only looked for that kind of job it's just not a run-of-the-mill profession and it's not a standard construction method either in tunnel construction you open up a meter and you're faced with something completely different than you'd originally expected and planned for you have to react immediately with different safety measures or perhaps even a slightly different construction method the work's full of surprises and your daily routine is anything but boring and you never know what's actually going on underground and i think in construction work that's something very special in bao the finished tunnel will carry an overburden of up to 63 meters in the end the out four land tunnel will be one of the longest railway tunnels in germany but there's still a long way to go while the excavator in the west laboriously shovels its way through the mountain the tbm on the east side is digging into the earth with seven league boots excavation for the next ring is underway at a speed of one meter per hour kamil popovic has to make sure that at the end his machine really comes out of the ground in the right place during the excavation the tbm operator must control all the time the target of the tbm this is like our eye where we going it's compass everything inside without this it's not possible to drive otherwise we can go too much left too much left too much right and then we have a big problem our target it's of course in the middle the arrow it's tbm yes this is our front this is our back from the front we can see our face it's six millimeters higher and three millimeters in the left so this is a very very low heat here we have our tendency our tendency it's uh minus 23 it's telling us we go in two centimeters we're decreasing our level two centimeters all the time because uh tbm should go deeper and deeper before we get under the under the highway while tbm operator kamil popovich guides the machine safely to its destination machine engineer overstinner takes meticulous care of the technology in the two tbms for the rest of their service lives there are differences the south machine will probably come out be dismantled and sold back to the manufacturer in its entirety the north machine well there are also various scenarios where it will remain in the mountain the whole backup system will be taken out and will also go back to the manufacturer and the machine will be stripped down parts will go to the manufacturer and one part will remain in the tunnel and be lost because most tunnels always have basically different diameters often because of the ground conditions that need a different tunneling method so that i need a hydro shield or an epb shield or a hard rock shield but in addition to that we also have different diameters here we have a diameter of 10.88 so if the next tunnel has a diameter of 9.5 meters i can use some parts of the machine but not most of them because the machine's too big it doesn't fit so i have to replace the parts i might be able to do something if the difference is in centimeters but if it's more it just won't fit anymore at the front end of the tunnel boring machine is the cutting wheel which is equipped with 52 cutting rollers and 140 peeling blades the power needed to operate the wheel is an enormous 4400 kilowatts the equivalent of almost 6 000 horsepower at 190 tons the cutting wheel weighs about as much as two and a half diesel locomotives for ulversteiner the two tunnel boring machines are not simply working tools this is my machine i use it to drive tunnels and afterwards everyone is proud that the tunnel is finished and i help to build it so basically that's what drives a tunnel builder so that he can say i built something here tunnel driving is a hard and dangerous activity particularly in the early phase of tunneling in the 19th century excavating the earth claimed many lives through accidents but also miners diseases such as anemia but one superstition has survived from that time no tunnel construction site should be without one woman this is the statue of saint barbara the patron saint of miners and tunnel builders saint barbara's day is on the 4th of december which is also taken very seriously by the tunnel builders so the 4th of december is actually a holiday at every construction site especially in central europe normally work stops there is a gathering usually with a blessing or a procession sometimes on the construction site sometimes with a pastor or priest in the church it's done differently but in any case it's more or less a holiday for the miners and the tunnel builders which is also still celebrated here in this region we buy them sometimes a tunnel construction manager or a project manager has one and makes it available here the barbara statue is put up here and then it's consecrated and also blessed the blessing takes place during the christening as well as the tunnel the tbms used are also given names despite all the celebrities the tunnel christening is above all an event for the miners it's also about giving the tunnel boring machines a local reference and thus soliciting support for the project in the region [Music] the machine in the south tube will be christened by pupils of a secondary school in vendlingen we name this machine vanda the name is an acronym and means in english bendlingen on the necker through the outfoot hills i name this machine good luck the north tunnel machine is named after sibila fonda tech a legendary figure from the region a wise woman with a great fortune who helped the poor she left the region out of grief for her sons her namesake will be staying here for the next one and a half years three two one and go the so-called switch on is only symbolic it will be another month before wonder begins her journey into the darkness nicole hofmeister cult on the other hand is already starting her work now she's the tunnel godmother and thus one of the most important people at the construction site i wish all of you miners much joy and success in your work great stamina and a safe tunnel construction at all times may you all finish your work safe and sound god's blessing and good luck click out as the tunnel godmother hofmeister cult represents saint barbara on earth she provides support to the miners and lends them her ear this makes her an important person for the tunnel workers to speak to because the job is hard so for me it is a great honor to be the godmother of one of the largest projects here on the um wendling extension line the ipv4 land tunnel and to be the earthly representative of santa barbara in this function with my protection my hands my companionship for the miners that's an honour and that's not granted to many people i am proud of it and i am looking forward to the coming years when i can accompany the miners i wish them good health no accidents and a trouble-free construction project and i wish them good luck three months later the machines are already halfway underground one of the greatest dangers in tunnel construction is fire there are no escape routes in the tunnel ulversteiner and his colleagues do not want to rely on heavenly assistance alone wander and sibila therefore have rescue containers that provide protection for 26 people for 24 hours the main purpose of the container is this there's a large water tank back here the water is constantly cooled then it generates cold so to speak so that when the outside temperature rises the container still produces a temperature inside in which you can wait for these 24 hours because otherwise if the fire is too close that means the first measure i have to take is to switch on the system because it also runs on an emergency power system so if the power supply goes i have enough emergency power capacity to maintain all functions for 24 hours i switch i still have a power connection an air connection from outside where the compressor supplies air because i produce carbon dioxide that is breathing gases that i produce when i exhale there are two so called scrubbers here containing soda line it's stored in the boxes down here i just dump it in here switch on the scrubber and it takes the co2 out of the air so that i don't get co2 poisoning what we also have in the rescue container are the water bottles here the drinking water bottles for the 24 hours up here are the measuring devices for air measurement which also operate the alarm displays on the one hand the curtain serves as a partition for the chemical toilet that goes here on the other hand it's also a smoke curtain so when the door opens and closes because people are coming the smoke should be kept out additional equipment here are these close circuit breathing apparatuses for the rescue teams that we have to have on hand so we can fight fires with our own people these people especially trained and with this equipment they're independent of any outside air for four hours this is similar to the fire brigade which also uses these devices as close circuit breathing apparatus apart from that we still have the rest of our equipment here such as medical kits and rescue stretchers you always have to be careful because well i don't want to say high-risk workplace because if you're careful it's normal but you have to pay attention you work in a confined space in a closed let's say tube and that simply requires a certain amount of vigilance has completed two meters of driving and is thus ready for ring construction [Music] lining segments are delivered for installation in two trips the reinforced concrete components are brought by so-called multi-service vehicles which can drive in and out of the machine without turning round yes thomas okay okay stop now we need to stop camille popovich stops the machine so that his colleagues can install the ring [Music] here we have our extension of cylinder it's telling us when it's possible to build the next ring when our excavation is finished and then the ring building and then ring building time the elements are moved individually into the segment feeder from where they're installed on the tunnel wall like lego bricks the crane lifts the 10.5 ton blocks effortlessly with a vacuum plate every move has to be perfect and the team well attuned to each other of course all the team in the tbm is important every section every man have something to do without him we cannot excavate so it's not about only tbm operator but all of the people like ring builders grout injection and support team everybody are important here not only tbm operator but all people so we are team and we are work like a team it's like this the lining segments are brought to the segment feeder in the order in which they'll be installed if the crane driver delivers the wrong segment it takes a lot of time and trouble to move it back again foreman gunter milner make sure that this doesn't happen the order of the segments that are delivered is predetermined in the design plan we install the first three stones at the top right or the top left then the flank stone is installed at the top left and right and then the k stone is pushed in last and then the ring is finished again we put them in according to how they're delivered the tunnelers are protected by the shield skin which is located between their work area and the tunnel wall the elements are moved with a special powerful crane arm the erector the erector operator controls his device by sight and is assisted by his colleagues to ensure that the segment goes into exactly the right position [Music] the erector is a very compact device in itself it has the function of being able to turn all the way around it has two arms on the left and right which are marked as blue lifting arms this vacuum suction plate is attached to these arms it sucks the segment up with a vacuum pressure of 0.8 to 0.9 bar then it moves up onto these segments clamps onto the stone brings it into position at the front turns it the right way then pulls it back to the ring installed last then it is set up that means you can also tilt the stone on the erector and turn it on the table itself this multifunctional erector device sets it up exactly to the millimeter and then the thrust cylinders move in and press the segment against the last installed ring the erector releases the vacuum moves down moves back gets the next segment the thrust cylinders move back from the place where a new segment is to be set the smallest lining segment is the so called keystone which closes the ring at the end its position can be calculated precisely once the keystone has been set and the ring is complete the thrust cylinders move forward again and push the machine further up to the next ring the cylinders also press the newly set stone against the previously built ring during the process mortar is continuously being filled in between the segments and the ground to stabilize the tube all in all it takes the miners about half an hour to finish the ring provided nothing goes wrong that especially depends on the erector operator operating an erector is actually a matter of experience sometimes people are newly trained to do it and after a while when the foreman thinks the man is ready he's allowed to use the machine it's not just a matter of controlling and steering the machine it's a job that requires a high level of concentration the operator mustn't be distracted by anything because if he makes a mistake with his remote control it can cost lives and vast amounts of money the erector operator has to control his machine with millimeter precision the segments have to fit exactly on top of each other so that the ring is completely sealed at the end this is a task that requires a high level of concentration [Music] if you don't install the ring precisely for example your two by two millimeters too far outwards then the keystone dimension that you need for the so-called k-stone will simply be too large and then the joints will be too wide apart and the seal won't be squeezed and then water will get into the ring that's why accuracy to the millimeter is the most important thing of all just how precisely the men have worked can be seen now the keystone or k-stone still has to be put in the right place will it fit his stone is the the last stone what we install so keystone making ring complete he closing it's like a lock segment so he the vmt system helping us to choose position for that otherwise we need spend a lot of time to measure and calculate this is a much quicker idea popovich's colleagues have done everything right the keystone fits perfectly the ring is complete 10 hours a day underground without sunlight and usually far from home you have to be born for tunnel construction the fascination of my job well first of all it's the camaraderie you experience on the shift and with the people i work with and the job itself is also very interesting because there are always new situations that you can actually master with your expertise and then you see whether you're qualified for your job or not it's a very interesting job i love my job and i've no plans to retire at 60. this ring is finished popovich can start the machine again and continue the advance there are still more than seven thousand rings to be installed a never-ending task but popovich is looking forward to it my work it's quite difficult important and i think very dangerous so it's make me quite happy with this i like to feel like i have a i have important job and it's a great thing to be a part of this project to to to make this uh tunnel of course i i believe this will help a lot to deutsche ban to make a traffic solution of course we are on the beginning of this tunnel we make only 19 rings now it's many many rings on the front to do so we'll see what what will be after one kilometer one kilometer always in the tunnel tunnel world it's a magic score first kilometer so i'm happy to be here and work with this project it will be many weeks before the first kilometer is completed kamil popovic and his colleagues are proud of their work in the mole of steel the fascination of reaching new places underground is what drives them on [Music] you

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Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), HD documentary, BBC documentary, science, production, tech documentary, engineering documentary, documentaries, full documentary, hd documentary, engineering documentaries channel, documentary movies - topic, free documentary, tv shows - topic, tunnel drilling, tunnel drilling machine, tunnel boring machine, tunnel boring

Id: E1UNZNQzmFs

Length: 46min 24sec (2784 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 01 2022