According to the report of CCTV News Network on June 9, in recent years, relying on scientific and technological innovation, China's tunnel technology and equipment have achieved a leap from following to leading, forming a complete industrial chain radiating around the world.
Tunnels and underground engineering are important areas of infrastructure construction. From manual excavation to intelligent construction, technological innovation has driven the upgrading of tunnel technology and equipment in China, helping to overcome many technical difficulties in tunnel construction and achieving remarkable results that have attracted worldwide attention. The latest data shows that in the past 10 years, China has added over 38800 kilometers of newly operated tunnels, making it the country with the fastest tunnel development speed in the world. At present, China has built over 50000 kilometers of railway and highway tunnels, including 2050 extra long tunnels over 10 kilometers, making it the country with the largest number and construction scale of tunnels in the world.
Academician Chen Xiangsheng, the Dean of our institute, served as the project leader. Shenzhen Metro Group, in collaboration with Shenzhen University, China Railway Equipment, and China Electric Power Construction Corporation, formed a research team to carry out the research on the key special project of Guangdong Province's key field research and development plan "Modern Engineering Technology" - "Key Technology of Subway Underground Excavation Stations in bustling urban areas". Relying on this project, we jointly developed the world's largest cross-sectional combination rectangular pipe jacking machine, created a complete set of construction technology for double hole close fitting pipe jacking machines in subway underground stations, and successfully applied it in the Sha San Station project of Shenzhen Metro Line 12 Phase II, achieving a significant innovation in the construction method of subway station underground excavation. It is a model of technological innovation helping China's tunnel technology equipment and tunnel and underground engineering construction lead the world.
On January 6, 2023, led by Academician Chen Xiangsheng, the world's largest cross section (width 11.295 meters, height 13.550 meters) combined rectangular pipe jacking machine "China Railway 1179" jointly developed by Shenzhen Metro Group, Shenzhen Municipal Institute, Water and Electricity 11th Bureau, Shenzhen University, and China Railway Equipment was launched at the China Railway Equipment National TBM Industrialization Center. On January 19, 2024, the Shenzhen Metro Line 12 Phase II Shasan Station project, which was constructed using the world's largest combination of rectangular pipe jacking machines, fully connected to the double hole closely attached tunnel. This is the first successful application of the ultra large section combined rectangular pipe jacking machine in the construction of subway stations, and also the first successful practice of the ultra large rectangular pipe jacking close fitting construction technology worldwide. It fills an important gap in China's mechanized hidden excavation construction of subway stations and has important milestone significance.
The exploration and innovation of mechanized underground excavation construction technology for subway stations adopt a collaborative scientific research and development model of "industry academia research application", which can effectively drive the integration and development of upstream and downstream industries. Technological innovation promotes equipment upgrading, which further promotes technological innovation and continuously leads China's tunnel and underground engineering construction to accelerate towards digitalization and intelligence, helping to promote high-quality development of infrastructure construction in China.
