Influence of Cutting Tools on Filter Cake Formation during Slurry Shield Tunnelling

The filter cake on excavation face would be destructed periodically by cutting tools during slurry shield tunneling. The broken filter cake has a risk for face stability. The influence of cutting tools on filter cake was studied in this paper. A slurry-soil interaction model based on a multiphase flow theory which considers the solid particles and fluid in slurry was developed. The whole process of slurry penetration and filter cake formation on the excavation face of slurry shield can be described by this model. The motion state of cutting tools can be combined with this model and the effect of cutting tools on the slurry-soil interaction and pressure transfer mechanism was analyzed. Subsequently, the comparative calculations were presented to discuss the influence of tunneling parameters and the design of cutting wheel on filter cake formation during slurry shield tunnelling. The results indicate that the total area of filter cake on excavation face increases with the decreasing of revolutions per minute of cutting wheel and shield machine advance rate. The area ratio of filter cake on the center of excavation face always larger than other zone due to the lesser amount of cutting tools within one track in the center of cutting wheel. The results can provide a better understanding of how to set the shield tunneling parameters and design the layout of cutting tools for the stability of tunnel face.