Coupling process controlling data and numerical simulation in mechanised tunnelling

Nowadays, both process data management and numerical analysis are necessary for decision-making in a tunnel project from its early design stage to the construction phase. Traditional generation of simulation models largely depends on tunnel design and reports, which are error prone due to the involvement of manual intervention. This article presents the application of a digital workflow to efficiently transfer automatically acquired data from tunnel projects to computational simulations. The application workflow is developed and executed through a web-based environment. Project data from the Victory Boogie Woogie tunnel is retrieved from the process controlling software PROCON via web services to generate numerical simulations for settlement predictions at different tunnel sections. The simulated results are validated using real measured settlements in the project to prove the quality of the simulation model. Different scenarios of applying operational steering parameters are then investigated, utilising the simulation model, which can be used to support the on-site engineers as an assistance system to drive the tunnel boring machines. The work has been carried out within the framework of the transfer project T2 of the Collaborative Research Center “Interaction Modeling in Mechanized Tunneling” (SFB 837), which aims to implement and test a digital twin for process control under practical conditions in the tunnelling industry. © 2024 Ernst & Sohn GmbH.