A Study of Cutter Life and its Influential Factors in Ghomrud Water Conveyance Tunnel

Cutter life is one of the major hard rock TBM performance parameters which has a direct effect on the total cost and completion time of a tunneling project. Major influential factors of the cutter life include geological parameters as well as operational and design characteristics. In this regard, the operational parameters are not deeply investigated in combination with other factors mentioned. In this paper, the results of statistical analyses of the cutter life information of Ghomrud water conveyance tunnel project (lots 3 and 4) along with its influential factors are presented. The results show the cutter rolling and normal force are among the most influential factors of the TBM operational parameters. A combination of these two along with uniaxial compressive strength gives a multi regression formula with a coefficient of determination of 75%.