Convener: Prof Dr Robert Galler, Montanuniversität Leoben, Austria
The amount of different minerals in tunnel excavation material varies in a large range. Therefore we have to investigate in industrial clients who would be interested in raw materials extracted from underground construction sites. Parallel to the development of advanced online technologies for analysing the excavated materials we are looking for important information regarding requirements for raw materials used in industrial processes, which are grain size distribution, mineralogical composition, geochemistry as well as different water content and water absorption properties.
Tunnel construction – not only with TBMs – is already a highly industrialized and technologically demanding process, with quite high penetration rates. So it is an important condition of both from the machine manufacturer as well as from the construction companies that the advance rate is not affected by new developments. Furthermore a goal is to assess the objectives of such a research activity with wider strategic objectives of European countries to highlight any areas where barriers may exist to guarantee the benefits of applying such a technology.
