The Robot Award

Land, Infrastructure andTransport Minister Award↓Control panel

Concrete tunnel lining
Automatic construction robot system↓Driving nozzle insertion port

↓Driving nozzle←Driving nozzle moving cart

West Nippon Expressway Company/
Shimizu Corporation/
Gifu Industry Co., Ltd.

画像未入稿
Movable pipes→←Moving cart moving rail

Automatic concrete tunnel lining
construction robot system achieves
high quality concrete linings■Outline of automatic concrete tunnel lining construction
robot system

The automatic concrete tunnel lining construction robot system
automatically controls the progress of a series of operations, fromplacing, compaction, stopping, and demolding of concrete lining
used in mountain tunnels. It consists of a manipulator-type placing
device and a computer system that controls the formwork vibrator
automatically.
A characteristic of this technology is that it is an automaticconstruction method that makes use of the flow characteristics ofmedium-flow concrete lining. Fresh concrete with excellent fluidity
and no material separation is automatically poured using theblow-up method into the movable formwork using acomputer-controlled concrete pump and a manipulator-typeplacing device, and the pattern is automatically compacted using aformwork vibrator. The construction status and compaction status
are constantly quantified and visualized by various sensors, whichmakes it possible to determine when to move on to the next sectionand enables automatic operation.
Medium-flow
Concrete Lining
JIS Ready-mixed
Concrete Plant
Concrete Pump CarSystem
Operation

Computer/Tablet System
Automatic Control
by Construction Pattern

PO System

Planning Database /Implementation Database

Mobile Framework
Manipulator-type
Automatic Placing Device
with Movable Pipes(Placing Openings in 11 Locations,Blow-up Method)

System Function Configuration

Formwork Vibrator System(Six sections on each side×
five columns configuration)

Simultaneous compaction on
five columns by section

Visualization with avariety of sensors
Concrete height

Full view of the systemcompacting concrete in narrow spaces. This is the reason fordeveloping a machine that mechanizes the work of placing andcompacting the concrete lining, in order to free workers fromtedious work and dramatically improve the quality and speed oftunnel construction.

■Results gained by introducing the system

The introduction of this system enables the construction of dense,
solid, and high-quality concrete lining that reaches the target
quality, has no variation in strength distribution and surface
properties, and has a good surface finish.
With the mechanical construction via computer system, manual
work is replaced by mechanical work, and the role of the workers
changes greatly, to that of checking the construction status andmonitoring the system■Future developments

The accumulated measured data will be analyzed and developed
into a learning-type automatic concrete lining construction systemthat can respond to changes in the properties of fresh concrete,
which will be developed into a common technology for mountaintunnel lining, and contribute to the establishment of liningtechnology.

■On-site implementation

As of December 2020, the system has been installed at three sites(total 911m, 9,257m3), and there are plans to introduce the system
to many more sites in the future.

•Placing pressure, temperature,amount placed•Compaction energy, etc.
Measured in Real-Time■Development background

Concrete lining in mountain tunnel construction has until now
depended on the experience and intuition of skilled workers, andensuring the quality of construction has become a serious
challenge. As many of these skilled workers begin to retire, there isalso a need for measures to reduce the workload of concrete lining
construction as skilled workers are most needed for placing andSystem operation screen

Contact:

Shimizu Corporation

Address: 2-16-1 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Yasuo Ide, Underground Space Management Department, Civil Engineering Headquarters
Tel: 03-3561-1111 (main number) E-mail: y-ide@shimz.co.jp
THE 9TH ROBOT AWARD

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