How Would You Solve Traffic Congestion? Billionaire in LA Might Have A Solution

1. How Boring Machines Work

A tunnel boring machine (TBM), or a 'mole,' is a large cylindrical machine used to excavate tunnels. They have the ability to bore through anything from ordinary soil to a variety of strata and solid rock. A mole consists of three main parts: the cutterhead, bracing system, and an excavating conveyor. It works by forcing the cutterhead (or the front) onto the face of the tunnel while exerting adamant pressure. It uses its interspersed disks to loosen the surface materials into ’chips’ which fall on the conveyor and travel outside the mining area. These machines are used mostly to dig long tunnels for roads or railway lines, such as the Channel Tunnel or the Sydney Metro Northwest. The most state of the art technology is called plasma deep drilling, which could substitute the rotational contact TBMs and make boring even more affordable in the future.