# A Geometric Model for a Shield TBM Steering Simulator
## 5 Application in TBM Simulator  
The aim of this study was the training of TBM operators in the use of the steering system in curved excavation, using the simulator. Therefore, the proposed mathematical models were applied and tested in the TBM simulator as the final stage of the study. The TBM simulator was created using the Adobe Air platform, written in Adobe ActionScript 3.0. Version 32.0 of Adobe Air SDK (software development kit) was used, with the Intellij IDEA employed as the IDE (integrated development environment). Adobe Air uses vector graphics, which allows for the creation of applications with low capacity and high performance. As there is no pre-configuration work for the installation, it is easy to access the platform. To compare the simulation results with Python, the simulations involved the test conditions presented in Tables 1, 3 and 6. The simulator touch panel control for the setting of the articulation jack is shown in Figure 20, where the setting of the jack for curved excavation in the top-right direction, with articulation angles of \(0.5^{\circ}\) in the horizontal and vertical directions, is illustrated in Figure 20a. Through the adjustment of the four directions in the center, the lower and left articulation jacks are extended to 70 mm, and the articulation angles in both directions changed to \(0.5^{\circ}\), as shown in Table 3. When the articulation setting is complete, shield jacks are extended, with the TBM moving forward along the planned route. Figure 20b presents the setting of the articulation jack for the curved excavation in the top-left direction with the articulation angle of \(-1.0^{\circ}\) in the horizontal direction and \(0.5^{\circ}\) in the vertical direction. Through the adjustment of four directions in the center, lower and right articulation jacks are extended to 105 mm, and upper articulation jacks are extended to 35 mm, while the right articulation jacks are retracted to \(-35\) mm. Once the articulation setting is complete, the shield jacks are extended, and the TBM moves forward along the planned route. Figure 19: Variation of horizontal and vertical tendency with horizontal and vertical articulation angles. The progress in the curved excavation is shown in Figure 21, with the cycles (rings) involved without consideration of the rotation angles. Figure 21a presents the simulation in the top-right direction at 25 cycles. The longitudinal section in the \(y\) and \(z\) coordinates is shown to the left of the panel. The travel range is shown as a bold red line, and the rest of the planned route as a pale green line. It is possible to check the current position in the \(y\) and \(z\) coordinates. Figure 20: Example of setting of articulation jack for curved excavation: (**a**) in the top-right direction; (**b**) in the top-left direction. Figure 21b presents the simulation in the top-left direction at 25 cycles. The cross section in the \(x\) and \(z\) coordinates is shown to the right of the panel. The pale green dot indicates that the planned route is always located at the center of both coordinates. Depending on the deviations caused by the rotation angles, the small circle with a white crossline can shake. As there are no rotation angles, the crossline is the same as the rear-middle reference point and overlaps the pale green dot. The purple arrow indicates the advance direction viewed in the \(x\)-\(z\) plane. Depending on the length of articulation jacks, the direction angle in the \(x\)-\(z\) plane is calculated as follows (Table 7). Figure 21: Simulation progress of the curved excavation at 25 rings without considering rotation angles: (**a**) in top-right direction; (**b**) in top-left direction. Referring to Table 7, it can be seen that the arrow points to Quadrant II, and the direction angle is about 297\({}^{\circ}\) in the curved excavation with the top-left direction. In comparison, the arrow points to Quadrant I, and the direction angle is about 45\({}^{\circ}\) in the curved excavation with the top-right direction.