Abstract: In my process for digging a tunnel with the help of a tunnel excavator which has a working chamber under atmospheric pressure, the local front wall is supported with the help of a pressurized medium which is connected by a controlling gap of a shield cover with another gap between a shield cover tail and/or the earth or ground and a tunnel-lining member. The gap is closed-off from the working chamber by a gap-sealing ring between a shield cover tail and a tunnel-lining member. Concrete is forced into the gap by a feeder pipe in the gap-sealing ring. A self-sealing permeable joint between the gap-sealing ring and the shield cover tail and/or the tunnel-lining member of the excavator is made with concrete which has a fine-grained additive material and a large-grained additive material so that the large-grained additive material forms a grain filter whose pores are closable by the fine-grained additive material.

Abstract: The movable tight-sealing ring is positioned between an excavator cover end and a form or casing structure. For a satisfactory movability of the excavator cover end interstice, the tight-sealing sealing ring is supported resiliently by adjustable supporting units freely movable relative to the excavator cover end and the casing or form structure. On one side the tight-sealing sealing ring is provided with a plurality of impressed material feed openings and on the other side with an elastic outer sealing member contactable on the inside of the excavator cover end as well as an elastic inner sealing member pressable against the outside of the form or casing structure.

Abstract: A form for a concrete tunnel lining usable behind a tunnel excavator with a traveling shield is made of an inner tunnel-lining sheathing and a form front. The inner tunnel-lining sheathing is divided into a plurality of sheathing segments or rings movable independently of each other with intervening segment-bridging yieldable joints. The form front located between the traveling shield and the inner tunnel-lining sheathing is movable forwardly by the conrete which presses in the annular space formed by the traveling shield and/or the surrounding earth and by the inner tunnel-lining sheathing as well as the form front. An operationally beneficial design results when the inner tunnel-lining sheathing is set up for forward motion of the sheathing segments in the tunnel longitudinal direction singly or in groups one after the other relative to the remaining sheathing segments held or remaining at rest.

Abstract: A process for lining a tunnel with concrete behind a tunnel excavator having a for front advanced along with an excavator head in which the concrete is forced between the surrounding subterranean geological structure and an inner tunnel-lining form through a form front which rides sealingly on the outer surface of the inner tunnel-lining form and on the inner surface of the shield. Simultaneously, the form front, which is longitudinally movable relative to the shield, moves forward relative to the inner tunnel-lining form. The form front is movable forward simultaneously balancing the friction forces occurring between the form front and the shield and the inner tunnel-lining form. Satisfactory results are obtained when the friction forces between concrete sections of a predetermined length are measured by moving the form front relative to the stationary shield and the inner tunnel-lining form during an interruption in concrete feed.

Abstract: The earth pressure shield for a tunnel and/or gallery excavator has a front working compartment formed by a separating wall having a digging tool and an annular reinforcing space substantially triangular in cross section positioned directly in front of the separating wall. So that an extensive restructuring of the machine is not necessary when moving from soft earth to hard ground, the annular reinforcing space is provided with a lower fluid feeder, a controlled upper pressurized air feeder, a plurality of fluid conductor pipes which are guided from below to an upper fluid outlet opening into the working compartment, and a fluid level controller. The invention is based on the consideration that a reliable and satisfactory support of the local front wall is only possible when the local front wall in the vicinity of the roof can be supplied with a fluid.

Abstract: The earth pressure shield contains a front working compartment having a digging tool and formed by a separating wall. An annular space is formed in the front working compartment with a top region connected with a regulated pressurized air feed and with a bottom region open to the digging tool so that dug or mined earth material is removable with the help of a conveyor unit. At least one fluid pipe is guided from a fluid chamber with a level controller and a fluid feeder to a fluid outlet open to the digging or mining tool in the working compartment. An especially reliable operation is attained when a bulkhead space is provided by partitioning behind the working compartment and/or the circular space formed with an immersed wall. This bulkhead space is connected in its upper region with the top region of the annular space by an opening in the separating wall and includes the fluid chamber in its lower region.

Abstract: A tunnel having an inner surface and extending along an axis is lined with pumpable concrete having a predetermined hardening time and by a form having an annular inner wall and an axially movable front wall. Substantially equal sized batches of pumpable concrete are successively injected into the space through the movable front wall through a plurality of angularly equispaced ports therein. The batches are injected axially backwardly through the ports at such a rate that succeeding batches are injected through each port at a time interval that is substantially smaller than the concrete hardening time. The front wall is displaced forward at such a rate and the batches are sized such that each batch spreads over a predetermined axial and a predetermined angular distance, such that the latter is greater than the former.

Abstract: An apparatus for making a tunnel lining from concrete in a single operation with a tunnel excavator comprises a tunnel lining form consisting of a plurality of tunnel lining form segments and a form front adjacent the tunnel excavator and a tunnel lining circular space between the form and the ground. The concrete is selected so that it remains workable for more than two hours at a temperature of about 20.degree. C. but sets to a nonworkable state after 10 to 30 minutes upon heating to a temperature in the range of substantially 40.degree. C. to substantially 70.degree. C. The concrete is heated in a pipe section proximal to the compartment into which it is introduced by direct introduction of electrical energy into the pipe section.

Abstract: For continuously lining a tunnel with extruded concrete a pumping device for feeding the concrete and a form having an interior form member and a forwardly movable form front are employed. The extruded concrete is put into place without clump formation, when it is provided in equal-sized segments in a plurality of equal constant amounts which are fed in succession one after the other circumferentially in a time interval which is small compared to the hardening time of the concrete. For this purpose the form front is provided with a plurality of concrete input ports uniformly distributed circumferentially and connected with the pumping device, while the pumping device is designed to service the concrete input ports in succession one after the other circumferentially.

Abstract: An apparatus for making a tunnel lining from concrete in a single operation with a tunnel excavator comprises a tunnel lining form consisting of a plurality of tunnel lining form segments and a form front adjacent the tunnel excavator and a tunnel lining circular space between the form and the ground. In order to heat the concrete as it is pumped into the tunnel lining circular space to accelerate hardening, transmitting antennae for electromagnetic radiation are mounted in the tunnel lining form segments and/or the feed pipes for the concrete. Similarly a process for making a tunnel lining from concrete comprises pumping concrete into the tunnel lining circular space and accelerating the hardening of the concrete by heating it with electromagnetic radiation. The tunnel form is rapidly repositioned after the concrete being hardened reaches a sufficient strength.

Abstract: A tunneling apparatus has a lateral shield having a front end normally engaged longitudinally against a tunnel end face, a digging tool at the front end of the shield and engageable with the tunnel face, and a drive for displacing the tool and digging the tunnel face. A transverse pressure wall across the shield forms a pressurizable chamber inside the front end of the shield around the tool at the tunnel face. A conveyor tube longitudinally traverses and has a front end open ahead of the wall in the chamber and adapted to receive material freed from the tunnel face by the digging tool. An auger can be rotated in the tube to displace freed material back in it from its front end to its rear end. A chute opens upward into the rear end of the conveyor tube to receive material therefrom and a pump tube extends longitudinally back from the chute. A piston pump between the chute and the pump tube can displace material from the chute back in the tube.

Abstract: A movable wall delimiting a space into which concrete is pumped between a shield lining a tunnel wall and an inner form is advanced by the concrete pressure relative to the shield. This movable wall can be braced by adjustable spring force relative to the shield.

Abstract: Tunnel-driving apparatus utilizes a plurality of elongate drive or knife members arranged side-by-side and supported and guided for longitudinal movement on a frame. The members and the frame are advanced in succession during the driving process. Some or all of the drive members are hollow and accommodate telescopically extendible and retractible devices, conveniently of tubular form, used for treating the working face, for example, by conveying fluid to or from the face. The devices each have a series of cam-like projections engageable with spring-biased stops supported on the frame and the drive members. These stops serve to lock the devices in various positions and to automatically extend the devices from the members when the frame is shifted.The stops can be displaced however to generally engage the projections in such manner as to allow or prevent movement of the devices inwardly or outwardly of the drive members.

Abstract: Tunnel driving apparatus has a shield with a plurality of cutter planks arranged side-by-side around the tunnel axis. The planks are supported and guided by two frames connected via a rigid bracing structure. One of the frames is provided with adjustable means capable of expanding or contacting the frame radially of the tunnel axis. The planks are advanced in known manner individually or in groups and the adjustable frame can be used to make the axes of the planks converge rearwardly of the tunnel driving direction when desired. Such control permits steering of the apparatus by making the reactive forces on the advancing planks cant the shield within a tapered gap between the planks and the tunnel wall. In addition the tendency of the frames to become jammed in the planks when being shifted up can be precluded.

Abstract: A tunnel driving apparatus and method which utilizes a drive shield preferably composed of a series of cutter planks arranged side-by-side around the tunnel axis and supported by a frame. The shield is advanced in relation to the frame by displacing the individual planks, and the frame is subsequently drawn up by means of hydraulic rams. To support the rear section of the tunnel wall a rear shield is provided which is connected to the frame preferably through further rams. This shield is a shaped sheet metal structure open towards the floor and contacting the tunnel wall over the roof and sides. In performing the method, lining elements of circular or arcuate form are installed inside the rear shield prior to its shifting up. These elements can be disposed on a floor lining constructed in situ. As the rear shield is moved up fluid concrete is sprayed or otherwise introduced over the exposed tunnel wall in one or more layers to consolidate the lining elements into the support lining thus formed.