Close
Menu
White Papers
Breaking Through Tough Ground in the Himalayas: Nepal’s First TBM
Years of hard work and planning have paid off at the Bheri Babai Diversion Multipurpose Project. This 12 km tunnel is not only breaking through a historically difficult mountain range, but it has also managed to break down the notion, to the people of Nepal, that drill and blast is this only way to excavate the extreme conditions in the Himalayas. This paper highlights the first TBM in Nepal and how it is managing to bore at an exceptional advance rate of over 700 m per month, with a high of 1202 m in one month. It examines which design features of the Double Shield TBM are contributing to the great excavation rates, and how the crew’s operational methods have maximized these results.
Recent Posts
- Rock Tunnels at High Water Pressure: Non-Continuous Pressurized TBMs vs. Slurry
- Hybrid TBM Excavation in Challenging Mixed Ground Conditions at the Mumbai Metro
- TBM Excavation in Himalayan Geology: Over 1,200 Meters per Month at the Bheri Babai Diversion Multipurpose Project
- Tunneling through 48 Fault Zones and High Water Pressures on Turkey’s Gerede Water Transmission Tunnel
- Overcoming Multiple Caverns: Successful TBM Tunneling in Karst Geology at Galerie des Janots