China's home-grown super-large-diameter mixshield machine "Shanhe" rolled off the production line in Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong province, on May 19.

With a diameter of 17.5 meters, the machine is set to be utilized in the construction of a tunnel project on Huanggang Road in Jinan, which is the world's largest diameter tunnel currently under construction.

With a total length of 163 meters, a weight of approximately 5,200 tons, and a total installed power of 12,580 kilowatts, the machine features a pressurized composite cutter head, retractable main drive, and slurry chamber with a retractable camera.

It allows for the automatic monitoring of cutter head wear and real-time equipment status monitoring and features an intelligent equipment system. Furthermore, remote operation is facilitated through the big tunnel cloud intelligence platform to ensure safe and efficient tunneling.

This tunnel project involves traversing through a complex geological environment comprising full-section silty clay, calcareous nodules, and cemented sand layers. The tunnel's deepest overburden thickness is 49.2 meters, with a maximum water and soil pressure of 6.3 bars (equivalent to bearing a weight of 6.3 kilograms concentrated on the area of a fingernail). These challenging conditions necessitate exceptional performance from the machine.

The Huanggang Road tunnel project is a key component in establishing a major north-south passage across the Yellow River. Once completed, it will facilitate seamless connectivity between Jinan's main urban area and the Jinan Start-up Area for Growth Drivers Transformation.

The world's largest diameter mixshield machine, named "Shanhe Hao", is rolled off the production line in Jinan. [Photo/iJinan app]