【Georgia News】Made in China! The World's Largest Diameter Caucasus TBM was Launched Successfully in Georgia

At 11 a.m, September 10, in the Gudauri Mountain with an altitude of 2,000 meters, CRTG staff completed the assembly of the world's largest diameter full-face hard rock Caucasus TBM in three months, and successfully launched from KK Highway Tunnel Project. It marks that the project under the Belt and Road Initiative entered the TBM rapid construction stage.

 

Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili Attended Activities

 

The length of TBM part of KK Highway Tunnel Project is 8,860m, the maximum buried depth is 1,121m which the average buried depth is more than 600m. The rocks are mainly tuff and marl. In order to overcome long distance driving and deep buried depth difficulties during construction, the design team achieved driving efficiently in different strata, accurately adjusting the driving attitude and ability to breakout by using active hinge system, bidirectional rotary cutter head, two-speed reducer system, etc.

 

 

The diameter of Caucasus TBM is 15.08m, the length is 182m, the total weight is 3,900 tons, the maximum thrust is 22,600 tons, and the total power is 9,900 KW. It is the largest single shield hard rock TBM in the world. Caucasus TBM is jointly developed by CRTG and CREG. It adopts Chinese design and Chinese standards and is independently manufactured in China for KK Highway Tunnel Project.

 

 

KK Highway is the key channel to link Russia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and other surrounding countries. The middle of KK Highway is in the Gudauri Mountain area, there is frequent snowfall in winter, and the annual average temperature is lower than 5 degrees. The mountain road is rugged and difficult to travel. Snowfall often causes continuous traffic interruption for more than 20 days which causing inconvenience to regional transportation. The tunnel will underpass the Gudauri Mountain. After project completion, it will solve traffic interruption in winter in Gudauri Mountain area, and can effectively ensure the local transportation.