AS-BUILT MODELING AND VISUAL SIMULATION OF TUNNELS USING REAL-TIME TBM POSITIONING DATA

To fulfill the needs of construction quality, progress control and sustainable development of the under-ground space, it is desirable to collect and visualize as-built tunnel information in real time. In the current practice, the as-built model of a tunnel is produced either by using advanced technologies like 3D laser scanning after construction ends, or by employing specialist tunnel surveyors to directly measure the in-vert positions. However, limitations of commonly applied as-built tunnel survey methods are identified in terms of accuracy, cost, or modeling speed. In this paper, we propose a new approach to enabling as-built modeling and visualization of tunnels based on real-time TBM tracking and positioning data. With a tun-nel alignment automation control system being implemented, the TBM is turned into a “sensor ” to map out as-build information in real time, without incurring extra labor cost or survey equipment. The pro-posed approach was field-tested and preliminary findings are discussed.