Hybrid Cutterhead Tunnel Boring Machine

Air Force Bases (AFB) are the critical weapons platform for the United States Air Force (USAF), and yet the present-day utility infrastructure leaves them vulnerable. Current above ground infrastructure is exposed to terrorist threats and an ever-increasing number of extreme weather events that can wipe out necessary utilities—such as power, water, and fiber—and render communication grids useless at times of critical need. The USAF must house vital infrastructure underground to harden utilities, protect lives and property, and keep bases operational at all times. Conventional tunelling techniques are laborious, cost prohibitive, and ineffective at boring deeply underground through hard rock—a key component in developing impenetrable networks. Traditional boring methods are simply not strong or agile enough to meet the AF’s dynamic resilience needs. Arcbyt is a tunneling company that bores through challenging geologies quickly and affordably. The machine uses a proprietary, non-contact plasma boring method that cuts through ground material by incinerating, vaporizing, or melting earth into spoils. For the STTR Phase I, in partnership with the Colorado School of Mines (CSM), Arcbyt is developing a state-of-the-art hybrid tunnel boring machine that merges their proprietary non-contact technology with conventional tunneling to complement the strengths of each methodology. This R&D will explore how Arcbyt’s plasma method and conventional methods work independently, and in concert, for maximum efficiency. With increased flexibility and transportability, Arcbyt and CSM will explore what new use-cases this hybrid cutterhead can achieve for the USAF to accomplish tunneling success anywhere—regardless of geology or location.   The feasibility study of a hybrid tunneling methodology will include scientific assessments of conventional and non-contact boring machines with respect to different geological settings, conditions and tunneling applications at partner USAF bases. Furthermore, these studies will investigate frameworks in cutterhead and machine design towards the goal of increased cutting availability.   Arcbyt’s team of tunnel boring machine (TBM) experts will partner with tunneling expert, Dr. Jamal Rostami, Director of the Excavation Engineering and Earth Mechanics Institute (EMI) at (CSM). The EMI is home to the largest independent rock excavation and drilling facility in the western hemisphere. Dr Rostami and his PhD students will research geological reactions and conduct tests using conventional boring methods. Arcbyt is in discussion with Tyndall AFB to harden infrastructure against extreme weather events through the AF Base of the Future initiatives, and has a signed joint MOU from DARPA and NavalX .