Practical Management of Tunneling with Tunnel Boring Machines

Nuh Bilgin graduated from the Mining Engineering Department of Istanbul Technical University. He obtained his PhD at Newcastle upon Tyne University, UK, in 1977 on "Rock cutting mechanics of high strength rocks". He was appointed as a fulltime professor in 1989 at Istanbul Technical University (ITU). He worked one year at Colorado School of Mines, USA, in 1994 as a visiting professor and scholar of Fulbright, and one year at the University of Witwatersrand, SA, in 1989 as a visiting professor. He was formerly the Head of the Mining Engineering Department, Istanbul Technical University, and Senator of the school representing in the Senate of the university. However, at the moment he is working as a consultant for Mining and Tunneling Companies. He is currently the Chairman of the Turkish Tunnelling Society. He published more than 150 papers on Tunneling and Mining, including four books. He was the coordinator of one of the most prestigious international projects carried out at ITU. The project was on the development of mining methods and mining machinery in the Bismarck Sea for the production of metallic ores. Nautilus Minerals, from Australia, sponsored the project.

Sinan Acun graduated from the Geology Department of Kocaeli in 2004. Since then, he has worked as chief geologist for ASM Engineering Company; site engineer at Garanti Koza - Alarko Joint Venture in 4. Levent - Ayazaga Metro Project; TBM tunnel chief engineer in Gulermak - Dogus Joint Venture in Otogar- Bagcilar Metro Project; TBM tunnel shift engineer in Avrasya Joint Venture (Astaldi-Makyol-Gulermak) for Kadikoy - Kartal Metro Project; TBM tunnel section chief in Gulermak Heavy Industry in Kargi Hydropower Project; tunnel manager in Gulermak - Kolin-Kalyon Joint Venture for Mecidiyekoy-Mahmutbey Metro; TBM tunnels group manager in Kolin-Kalyon-Cengiz Joint Venture for Gayrettepe - Istanbul New Airport Line Metro Project. He worked as tunnel expert for Kolin Construction Company in Usak-Esme Salihli infracture Works for the Ankara- Izmir High Speed Train Line Project. Currently, he is working as tunnel TBM manager in ICTAS Construction Company for Sariyer-Kilyos highway road project using an EPB-TBM of 13.75 diameter. He is continuously attending World Tunnel Congresses and publishes papers. His paper, as co-author, "The factors affecting the performance of three different TBMs in complex geology in Istanbul" was selected as the best paper in WTC Bergen.