Abstract:In February 2012, a serious accident which resulted in five fatalities happened during a
TBM-tunnel construction under the seabed in Japan. The cause of the accident appeared to
be due to the Key-segment slipping out of the segment ring by the thrusting tailskin (wire
brushes) of the TBM into the segment ring. This resulted in the collapse of the rings,
causing the seabed ground and seawater to flow into the tunnel. We investigated how thin
and thick segments without any circumferential joints behave under iso… Show more