Shield tunneling machine is a large-scale and complex core engineering equipment widely used in national tunnel infrastructure construction and national defense engineering construction, integrating disciplines such as optical engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, hydraulic transmission and systems, information science, and artificial intelligence. A high-precision control method for shield machine thrust speed is proposed in this paper. A specific adaptive robust control method for the speed of a three-position four-way servo valve controlled thrust hydraulic cylinder is proposed. A dynamic state-space model for thrust speed is established, and adaptive model identification experiments are conducted based on the shield tunneling comprehensive experimental platform. Then, an adaptive robust controller for thrust speed is designed based on the back-stepping method, and its Lyapunov stability is proved. Finally, the control performance of the thrust speed adaptive robust control system designed in this paper is verified through simulation and experiments. Compared with the open-loop control method for thrust speed currently used in practical engineering, the thrust speed adaptive robust control system proposed in this paper achieves excellent transient performance and steady-state accuracy, and has better adaptability and robustness to the uncertainty of the thrust speed control process model, which is superior to traditional PID control methods. The adaptive robust control system for shield machine thrust speed developed in this paper is the key foundation for autonomous control of shield tunneling and the prerequisite for the effective execution of multi-objective optimization decision for shield tunneling parameters. The research content of the paper has important academic research value and broad engineering application prospects in technology.
Shield tunneling machine is a large-scale and complex core engineering equipment widely used in national tunnel infrastructure construction and national defense engineering construction, integrating disciplines such as optical engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, hydraulic transmission and systems, information science, and artificial intelligence. A high-precision control method for shield machine thrust speed is proposed in this paper. A specific adaptive robust control method for the speed of a three-position four-way servo valve controlled thrust hydraulic cylinder is proposed. A dynamic state-space model for thrust speed is established, and adaptive model identification experiments are conducted based on the shield tunneling comprehensive experimental platform. Then, an adaptive robust controller for thrust speed is designed based on the back-stepping method, and its Lyapunov stability is proved. Finally, the control performance of the thrust speed adaptive robust control system designed in this paper is verified through simulation and experiments. Compared with the open-loop control method for thrust speed currently used in practical engineering, the thrust speed adaptive robust control system proposed in this paper achieves excellent transient performance and steady-state accuracy, and has better adaptability and robustness to the uncertainty of the thrust speed control process model, which is superior to traditional PID control methods. The adaptive robust control system for shield machine thrust speed developed in this paper is the key foundation for autonomous control of shield tunneling and the prerequisite for the effective execution of multi-objective optimization decision for shield tunneling parameters. The research content of the paper has important academic research value and broad engineering application prospects in technology.
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*Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.52505056), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No.2022YFC3802305).
China Railway Engineering Equipment Group Co., Ltd., Zhengzhou, Henan, China
Shuai Wang, Lianhui Jia, Fulong Lin & Liujie Jing
The State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power & Mechatronic Systems, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China
Yakun Zhang
School of Future Technology, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China
Shuai Wang & Bin Liu
Authors
Correspondence to Yakun Zhang.
School of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Jianrong Tan
School of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Zhenyu Liu
Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China
Weifei Hu
© 2027 The Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society
Wang, S., Jia, L., Lin, F., Jing, L., Zhang, Y., Liu, B. (2027). Adaptive Robust Control of Shield Machine Thrust Speed. In: Tan, J., Liu, Z., Hu, W. (eds) Advances in Mechanical Design. ICMD 2025. Mechanisms and Machine Science, vol 206. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-95-7904-4_38
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Published: 25 June 2026
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