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A tunnel excavator is crucial for urban development. These machines have been used for a long time and giving us everything, starting from small pipelines, and mineral excavation to the world's longest underground rail tunnel.
As you know, excavators are a common sight in a construction project, depending on the job, but the attachments will vary as per the requirement in the job site. Today, I will discuss one of the attachments which are common in tunnel making, i.e, the tunnel excavator and other machinery which are used for tunnel excavation.
What Is Tunnel Excavator?
A tunnel excavator offers a customized solution for tunnel excavation. The excavators have a short boom which has a reduced tail swing radius so the machine works effectively in compact environments.
The hydraulic tunnel excavator consists of an optimum hydraulic system that has high fuel efficiency and works for speedy combined environments. You can check out the excavator for sale to get the maximum benefit of the investment.
Apart from the tunnel excavator, here is other most used tunnel excavation equipment.
Crawler Excavator
There are three shapes of the tunnel which are constructed on highways- Circular, rectangular, and horseshoe. The shape of the tunnel depends on the way it is constructed and the use of machinery. The excavation is done by tunnel boring machine(TBM), drill, and blast in rock.
These are modern excavators which are specifically designed to dig or grade, it helps in moving large rocks and other objects during excavation. These crawlers move upon a rotatory wheel system that includes the ability to dig, pick and transport large and heavy materials.
With its components such as crawler chassis, rotor support, central swivel joints, and motor support it moves in a different direction for cross-section digging of the tunnel. For ease of operation, these excavator consists of an air-conditioned operating cabin, turntables, and measurement of device weight.
Tunnel Boring Machine
A tunnel boring machine is useful in excavating tunnels with a cross-section through various strata and a soil bed. These are used for both micro tunneling and making large tunnels. The diameter of a tunnel can be anywhere between 3.3ft to 58ft. The 3.3ft tunnel is known as a micro tunnel which is excavated with micro TBM.
The TBMs can construct horizontal directional drilling, and excavate non-circular tunnels; like horseshoe and rectangular tunnels. It consists of self-rotating cutting heads and two-speed motors that give drilling speed and efficiency to the TBM.
Horizontal Directional Drilling Machine
The machine is useful in trenchless drilling for the installation of pipes and pipes underground or in shallow arcs. The drilling machines come in a variety of sizes, the largest horizontal directional drilling machine is capable of drilling up to 200ft and up to 6000ft in length. It makes tunnels along the roadways or waterways for installing PVC, ductile iron, steel, polypropylene, etc pipes.
Conclusion
Tunnel excavation is a task of multi equipment. It is always a good idea to have a better understanding of the range of equipment available for tunnel excavation. Planning for road tunnels requires multi-disciplinary involvement and assessment which starts with getting a high-quality tunnel excavator. Buy a tunnel excavator for sale and ease the operational difficulties in tunnel construction.