A Data-Driven Method for Predicting the Cutterhead Torque of EPB Shield Machine

The prediction of cutterhead torque of earth pressure balance (EPB) shield machine is mainly studied. First, the idea of shield tunneling stage division is proposed. The process of shield tunneling from start to stop (or pause) is divided into start-up and stationary driving stages. Using the change point detection method based on linear regression, the separation points between start-up stage and stationary driving stage are identified from the original construction data, and the datasets of the two stages are extracted, respectively. Then, for the start-up stage, the linear regression method is suggested for the cutterhead torque prediction, since there is a strong linear correlation between the key parameters such as the cutterhead torque and the thrust force. Meanwhile, for the stationary driving stage, considering the fact that the key parameters vary smoothly and show obvious inertia, the long short-term memory (LSTM) network method can be used to establish the relationship model between cutterhead torque and other key parameters, such as the thrust force. Through the test experiments of construction data in Zhengzhou, Luoyang, and Dalian shield projects, the results show that the proposed segmented modeling method possesses good adaptability and the cutterhead torque prediction model has high prediction accuracy.