Wear Analysis for the Selection of Cutters for a Tunnel Boring Machine

During the excavation of the Guadarrama railway tunnels, part of the Spanish high-speed rail network (AVE), distinct wear patterns were observed among four types of disc cutters employed in tunnel boring machines (TBMs). The central question addressed in this study is whether the differences in wear—specifically in the Abrasivity Value Steel (AVS) recorded for the four cutter types—are attributable to variations in their inherent wear resistance or to the variability of the tested lithologies and the testing procedures. If the latter hypothesis is confirmed, it would imply that substituting one cutter type for another would not result in significant changes in consumption rates, and that the observed variations would be primarily associated with lithological differences rather than cutter design. This paper presents a real case study concerning the selection of disc cutters for two TBMs used in the excavation of the Guadarrama tunnels. The rock mass encountered consisted predominantly of granite and gneiss.