Tunnel Boring & Heavy Civil Equipment worked example

Segment Handling Capacity at 65% segment feeder uptime: a worked example

Here is what the math looks like when conditions slip. We hold every other input steady and drop segment feeder uptime to 65%, then walk the calculation through step by step. Estimate segment handling capacity for tunnel boring and heavy civil equipment using production-ready inputs so teams can confirm whether capacity can cover demand before committing the schedule.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Segments handled per crane cycle: 4 units / cycle (held at the documented default)
  • Available handling cycles per period: 480 cycles (held at the documented default)
  • Segment feeder uptime: 65 % (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 90)
  • Damage-free (first-pass) segment yield: 97 % (held at the documented default)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Gross segment handling capacity = segment handling capacity output per cycle × available segment handling capacity cycles.
  • Good segment handling capacity works out to 1,211 units at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Gross segment handling capacity works out to 1,920 units at these inputs.
  • Segment handling capacity downtime loss works out to 672 units at these inputs.
  • Segment handling capacity yield loss works out to 37.44 units at these inputs.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where segment feeder uptime sits at 90% and the headline result is 1,676 units, this scenario comes in 27.78% below the baseline at 1,211 units.
  • The practical read: the gap between this scenario and the baseline is entirely attributable to segment feeder uptime, so recovering it is worth quantifying in dollars before considering equipment or staffing changes. It assumes uptime and yield are independent, steady percentages; in practice a congested back-up can couple them, and surge storage on the gantry can mask short outages.

Results at a glance

  • Good segment handling capacity: 1,211 units (headline result)
  • Gross segment handling capacity: 1,920 units
  • Segment handling capacity downtime loss: 672 units
  • Segment handling capacity yield loss: 37.44 units

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live Segment Handling Capacity calculator, set segment feeder uptime to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.