On January 22, the area behind a construction fence at the intersection of Xianggeli Road and Meipu Connecting Line in Yuelu District, Changsha, was bustling with activity. About 30 meters underground, the cutterhead of the long-distance hard-rock pipe-jacking shield machine "Yuanzu" slowly broke through, and the pipe-jacking shield tunnel of Section 2 of the Leifeng Water Plant Raw Water Pipeline Project was successfully completed. This not only set a domestic record for the longest hard-rock pipe-jacking shield tunnel, but also marked the full completion of the entire project.

Set a domestic record for the longest hard-rock pipe-jacking shield tunnel

The Leifeng Water Plant Raw Water Pipeline Project is laid along Jingyuan Road - Hanpu Avenue - Xiangzui Road - Taohualing - Haitong Road - Mujin Road and other sections, with a total length of about 16.3 kilometers. The project is divided into 3 sections in total. Section 2 of the project starts at the intersection of Hanpu Avenue and Xiangzui Road, passes beneath Taohualing, and ends at Longwanggang, with a total length of about 6.7 kilometers, of which the pipe-jacking shield tunnel section crossing Taohualing is 2.5 kilometers long.

Because the shield tunnel alignment passes through multiple fracture zones, the geological conditions are complex, the rock hardness is comparable to diamond, and fissure water is abundant, the world's first long-distance hard-rock pipe-jacking shield machine, custom-built for this project, was used for construction, with a shield diameter of 3.68 meters. This project is the first water diversion tunnel project in Hunan constructed using the pipe-jacking shield process, and it also set a domestic record for the longest hard-rock pipe-jacking shield tunnel.

The project is scheduled to be completed in June 2024

Next, ancillary works such as inner pipe installation will be carried out. The project is scheduled to be completed in June 2024, at which time the Leifeng Water Plant Raw Water Pipeline Project will be fully completed.

As the first large-scale municipal tap water plant planned in the core area of the Hexi Sub-center of Changsha, the Leifeng Water Plant will play the role of a "stabilizing anchor" in the formation of the overall "riverside-inland" interconnected and complementary water supply pattern. It is of important strategic significance for ensuring the safety of water supply in the Hexi urban area, and at the same time can effectively extend its coverage to areas such as the High-tech Zone and Ningxiang, leaving room for the city's future development.