The Middle East’s largest digging machines are being manufactured in Guangzhou, China, for the Deep Tunnel Storm Water System drainage project in Dubai.
Expected to arrive at the site in October 2018, the machines are expected to support excavation work for the 490km2 project, which will start in December.
Completion of the project, being developed by Dubai Municipality (DM) to serve Airport City – Expo 2020, is scheduled for September 2020, in time for Expo 2020 Dubai.
Dubai will purchase two tunnel boring machines (TBM) to drill deep tunnels for the project, which will transport storm water across the city. Dawood Al Hajiri, director-general of DM, said TBM 1 would begin drilling work from the seventh intersection of Sheikh Zayed Road for 2.4km towards the sea, up to the main pumping station.
TBM 1 will then be dismantled and reassembled, before being moved 1.7km along the eighth intersection.
Meanwhile, TBM 2 will begin work at the Expo 2020 intersection on Jebel Ali-Al Habab Street for 5km, continuing till Sheikh Zayed Road’s eighth intersection.
According to Al Hajiri, the manufacturing and installation of one TBM will take 364,000 man hours, with the daily energy conservation of TBM 1 expected to total 64MW. Over a 12-month period, the machine will consume approximately 20,156MW/h.
Meanwhile, TBM 2 will consume 58.7MW of energy per day, taking its 14-month consumption estimate to 21,380MW/h.
The internal diameter of the tunnels to be developed using the TBMs will be 10m, with the cutting diameter of one TBM at 11.05m. An average of 19m will be drilled by each TBM per day.
Outlining additional details of the operation, Al Hajiri said: “The drilling will be done on two types of soil; the weak rocky soil and clay soil with an average depth of 42m.
“The tunnel, with a diameter of 10m, will consist of eight concrete segments per ring, each 35cm thick. There will be two segment types – 1.6m and 2m wide – and each piece weigh 6.35t (7 tons). These pieces will be fixed by iron pegs and sealed with epoxy.”
This information was revealed following a visit by a DM delegation to Guangzhou to learn about the TBMs’ manufacturing process.
