The source in this article comes from official media, but in order to improve the readability of the article, the details may be polished, please read sensibly, for reference only!
In 1997, in order to shorten the construction period of the Qinling Tunnel and reduce construction casualties, Continental finally decided to buy a shield machine from a Germany company.
When the engineer on the other side came up, he opened his mouth: a 350 million US dollar, love to buy it or not! You China can't build a shield machine in 100 years!
Unexpectedly, it took only more than 10 years for Chinese engineers to successfully break the monopoly of Western countries, and not only that, but now we are also the world's largest exporter of shield machines!
How did we go from zero to number one in the world?
throw one’s weight around
On July 30, "People's Daily Online" released a blockbuster news: the "Yongzhou" submarine super large shield machine in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province successfully advanced 200 rings.
If nothing else, this submarine high-speed rail tunnel with the longest length, the most complex geology, the largest diameter, and the most difficult construction in the world will be completed after completion, and you will be able to take the high-speed rail through the sea island.
It's hard to believe that this kind of scene, which can only be seen in science fiction films, will actually happen to you and me in the near future.
The emergence of the "Yongzhou" not only marks China's absolute strength in the field of shield machines, but also proves to the world that there is nothing that the sons and daughters of China cannot do!
However, at the same time, few people know that more than 20 years ago, our country also encountered the dilemma of "stuck neck" in the field of shield machines.
The situation is more severe than China's bottleneck in the field of chips, and even surpasses, and all this starts with the Qinling Tunnel, which has been built for 10 years.
The Qinling Tunnel, located in the central and western regions of the motherland, is the longest tunnel in China and the fifth longest tunnel in the world, and is known as the "miracle project through the mountains".
The difficulty of its construction, the complexity of the geology, and the large cost are far beyond people's imagination, and the doubts and voices of the outside world have never decreased since the beginning of the construction in 1995.
In 1997, a critical period for the construction of the Qinling Railway, the tunnel was originally planned to be 18.46 thousand miles long, but it would take at least 10 years to dig the tunnel by manpower.
Of course, there is no solution, and if you can have a shield machine, you can reduce the construction period from 10 years to 5 months.
Therefore, after careful consideration, the relevant units in the mainland finally sent a request to Germany, hoping to purchase two shield machines to shorten the construction period of the Qinling Tunnel.
Unexpectedly, although the arrogant German engineers agreed to sell the two shield machines they had eliminated, they offered a sky-high price of $760 million.
Even openly ridiculed and said, if you like to buy it or not, China will not be able to build a shield machine in 100 years!
If that's all it takes, after the Germans got the money, they also collected $100 million in the name of installation and training, and even equipment maintenance had to be billed by the hour.
What is even more humiliating is that when German engineers repair equipment, they will never allow Chinese to be present, and all kinds of bad acts of bullying people are still infuriating today.
Start from scratch
There is an old Chinese saying: 30 years in Hedong, 30 years in Hexi.
Back then, Germany stuck China's neck in the field of shield machines, right? Now that the German shield machine company called Wirther has been acquired by a Chinese company, it no longer has the arrogance it had at the beginning.
Although the results sound very relieving, I believe that most people will be curious, how did Chinese engineers do it?
At that time, our country was indeed not as advanced as the developed countries in the West in terms of science and technology, and it was frequently stuck, especially in the field of shield machines, which can be said to have suffered from cold eyes.
China lacked technical personnel related to shield machines, so throughout the construction process of the Qinling Tunnel, Germany engineers were stumbling and deliberately delaying the construction period.
This painful experience makes us understand that if we want to break the technical barriers of Western countries, we need to completely independently develop the shield machine and Chinese have our own machine!
Seeing this, many people may still not know what the shield machine is, in fact, it is very easy to understand, the shield is the cutterhead and shield shell, and its role is to ensure the protection and penetration of the machine.
As for the structure, as the name suggests, it is a structural structure, and the shield machine is an important weapon for building tunnels, which can also build tunnel structures while drilling holes.
The reason why the shield machine is used is because it can greatly reduce the collapse accident when manually digging the pothole, thereby reducing the hidden danger of casualties and shortening the tunnel construction period rapidly.
In the face of repeated provocations and jamming by Western countries, not to mention taking away hundreds of millions of our procurement fees, but also humiliating the Chinese, how can the sons and daughters of China sit idly by?
In 2001, the research and development of shield machine technology was included in the "863 Program", the full name of which is the National High-tech Research and Development Program, and 15 theme projects in 7 fields such as biology, aerospace, information and energy were taken as the focus of the development of high technology.
In 2002, after discussion, the superior leaders decided to list the key technology of the shield machine as a key project of the national formal research.
hold one's head high
However, due to the lack of technical accumulation in our country, and the extremely complex and huge internal components and processes of the shield machine, which come from different countries, everything has to start from scratch.
In order to thoroughly understand the principle and structure of the shield machine, the engineers of Dalian Heavy Industry at that time took the parts that were eliminated by the United States and disassembled them over and over again, and went to the site for verification.
It is no exaggeration to say that the engineers responsible for the research and development of the shield machine at that time did not let go of even a small screw, and continued to assemble and disassemble, and finally gnawed this "hard bone".
In 2008, China's first domestic composite EPB shield machine "China Railway No. 1" was born.
This news not only shattered the dream of Western countries to continue to be stuck, but also marked that there will be a place for China in the field of shield machines in the world.
In this war without gunsmoke, the Chinese, who are not afraid of losing and do not admit defeat, slapped the German engineers who laughed at us in the face with practical actions, but will they stop there?
In 2012, during the construction of the Chengdu Metro Tunnel, China's domestic shield machine "China Railway No. 1" and foreign equipment started at the same time.
The results exceeded everyone's expectations, the performance of China's shield machine in all aspects can fully withstand the test, and even faster than the efficiency of foreign shield machines, and most importantly, our price is only 25 million yuan.
Compared with the previous price of 350 million US dollars for a shield machine in Germany, China's shield machine is strong, not to mention, it is still a veritable "cabbage price", what reason not to choose us?
However, just when all the sons and daughters of China felt raised their eyebrows, India Ah San stood up again as a "conspicuous bag", bluntly saying that the reason why China can develop a shield machine is to draw a scoop according to the gourd, and we can too!
But the result? India engineers were holding instructions and drawings from China, and a group of people stared at each other and didn't know what to do, and in the end they couldn't rely on the parts we provided.
Everyone is not optimistic about you, but you are the most competitive. After China finally got its wish and tore a hole in the shield machine market, it was happy to mention the new title of "high quality and low price".
Not only did it achieve a technological overtake, but it even sold the shield machine to the European and American markets, and Germany took the opportunity to knock on China's bamboo bar, right? I'm sorry, but we're selling the latest technological achievements to your hometown!
This is not enough, since 2017, China's shield machine has successfully beaten the old technology giants such as Europe and the United States to become the world's No. 1 salesman, and two years later won orders from 30 countries, accounting for 75% of the global market.
At this time, where did the Germany company Wirther, which laughed at us go back then? Don't doubt that after they repeatedly threatened that it was Chinese technology that disrupted the market order and broke the rules, they could not escape the fate of being acquired by Chinese companies.
Finally, I would like to conclude with a sentence from Deng Gong: Whether it is in the past, today, or in the future, China must have a place in the high-tech field.
From the beginning, we relied on people, spent huge sums of money, and said good things to buy the sky-high shield machine eliminated by the West, to now China's shield machine is well-known all over the world, the hardships and difficulties along the way are only known to those who have experienced it.
But it is precisely because of this that we must be more determined to develop science and technology, engineering, economy and many other fields, and use our strength to tell the world that China is so good!
Resources:
The shield machine can also be "remanufactured", and this time it will be exported to Europe China Infrastructure News2022-07-03 09:03