Tunnelling & Underground Space Research Center (TUSC)

The laboratory performs sperimental activities regarding the study of underground excavation. The main focus is about EPB-TBM (Earth Pressure Balance-Tunneling Boring Machine).

The main research topics are soil conditioning and two-component backfilling.

The study of soil conditioning concerns the evaluation of mechanical properties and the stability of conditioned soils, the study of clogging, of wear phenomena, and of the behaviour of conditioned soil under pressure.

The study of two-component backfilling focuses on the definition of a procedure to study mix designs and to evaluate the performance of those mixes in terms of mechanical performances, durability and optimization of production costs.

The laboratory cooperates with several contractors to validate models and empirical relationships found during the research activities.

Two-component backfilling test equipment Screw conveyor extraction device Foam generator Rotational mixer device Dynamic adhesion test device Tunnelling & Underground Space Center (TUSC) Permeameter Abrams' cone Hydraulic press

Equipment

• Screw conveyor extraction device: tank with compression plate and screw conveyor for the extraction of conditioned soil - Peila, 2014
• Foam generator: device for the generation of foam with high sensitivity control of fluid flows - Peila, 2014
• Dynamic adhesion test device: tank with compression plate and rotating adhesion plate with torsiometer - Peila et al., 2016
• Rotational mixer device: tank with central mixing shaft and torsiometer, and transversal motorized shaft for the installation of tools (Oñate Salazar et al., 2016
• Two-component backfilling test equipment: high precision scale, high speed mixer, viscometer, Marsh’s cone - Todaro et al., 2019
• Permeameter: device for the determination of constant-head permeability of soil - Borio et al., 2010
• Abrams’ cone: device for the determination of the consistency of conditioned soil - Peila, 2014
• Hydraulic press: press in load control