Publications / 1989 Proceedings of the 6th ISARC, San Francisco, USA
Because the operation of drilling for tunnel excavation by blasting is performed in a severe work environment and the degree of worker skill shows a declining tendency in recent years, it is becoming difficult to obtain a high degree of precision in drilling and this could become a major problem for the quality of tunnel construction in the future. Kajima Corporation has taken up the development of fully automatic drilling equipment and has achieved good results with this type of equipment in various tunnel construction works. The system adopted, a combination of a memory device and an automatic control mechanism with hydraulic drilling equipment using the newest electronics technology, is a system in which all parts of the drilling operation from determining the drilling position to striking and rotation of the rock drill are fully automated.