Development and application of an in-situ indentation testing system for the prediction of tunnel boring machine performance

Prediction of the tunnel boring machine (TBM) performance is critically important for project scheduling and cost estimation. Various models have been proposed to estimate the TBM performance. However, most of these models used the parameters of rock specimens acquired from the laboratory tests, which differed from the in-situ conditions. It is difficult to apply these models to the engineering practice. In the present study, to overcome these...