The Successful Breakthrough of the Right Shield Section of the Shandong’s Heat Source Long-Distance Heating Pipeline Project

On August 17th, with the emergence of the "Yimeng" hard rock shield TBM, the successful breakthrough of the right shield section of the Shandong’s Heat Source Long-Distance Heating Pipeline Project was marked in  Fei County, Shandong Province.

This project presents multiple complex environments and challenges in terms of deep burial, high water pressure, strong hard rock, severe abrasion, and river crossing. During this tunneling operation, the shield TBM traversed a long distance under the bed of the Beng River, excavating through a geological layer of fully weathered limestone with an average rock strength of 80 MPa. The section of the pipeline crossing the Beng River was constructed using shield tunneling with casing, employing a double-tunnel design (one for supply and one for return pipelines), with a shield tunnel inner diameter of 3.08 meters.

To meet the construction requirements of the unique geological conditions of the Beng River, Tangxing Technology developed a small-diameter hard rock shield TBM. This machine, measuring 53 meters in length with a 3.82-meter excavation diameter, utilizes a composite hard rock cutter head design. With a total weight of 185 tons, the machine adopts a modular assembly process and innovative technologies such as high-pressure sealing, reliable main drive systems, and small-diameter assembly techniques.

In order to ensure the smooth progress of the shield TBM, Tangxing Technology's tunneling technical service team worked tirelessly on the project, providing steadfast support to ensure its successful breakthrough. It is worth noting that this project is the largest investment and longest path cross-county heating project in the history of Linyi City. Once completed, it will address heating source limitations in the northern urban area and effectively alleviate heating source shortages in the Yimeng revolutionary old district.