Sep 24 2026
Lone Star Texas Grill, 930, Toronto, ON, M9W 1J9, Canada.
TAC ON Chapter Talk - "Jello-Mud in Pipe Jacking and Shield Tunnelling"

Join the TAC ON Chapter for our upcoming presentation event featuring speaker Franck Peng of Balsam Laboratory.

More than 40 metres beneath the Yangtze River, Jello-Mud was applied to complete two unprecedented DN2600 steel-pipe pipe-jacking drives of 3,214.96 metres and 3,208 metres. The pipeline was completed as a single drive using only the main jacking station, without the use of the 10+ preinstalled inter-jacks. The longer drive was officially recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s longest pipe-jacking drive.

Maintaining a continuous, low-resistance annulus over this distance presented a critical engineering challenge, particularly in water-rich soft ground. As part of the project’s frictionand annulus-management strategy, Jello-Mud—a thixotropic bentonite slurry produced using Balsam Laboratory’s BSP 70 liquid polymer was injected around the pipelines. Franck Peng of Balsam Laboratory Canada will discuss the injection strategy and field performance, including an immediate decrease in thrust force from TAC8,000 kN to 6,778 kN. He will also present applications of Jello-Mud in shield tunnelling, including shield lubrication, settlement control, high-pressure ground stabilization and the successful sealing of an ocean-crossing tunnel boring machine operating under 0.84 MPa water pressure.

Event Details:

Date: September 24, 2026

Time: 5:30 PM to 9:00 PM

Location: Lone Star Texas Grill, 930, Toronto, ON, M9W 1J9, Canada.

Registration Cost: $10 for members, $20 for non-members

Dec 3 2026
Bellvue Manor – Greater Toronto Area (8083 Jane St, Concord ON L4K 2M7)
TAC Workshop & Year End Social

Join us for Energy Underground: Canada’s Energy Tunnelling Opportunities — the 2026 TAC Workshop & Year‑End Social at Bellvue Manor!

The one‑day workshop featuring engaging sessions and opportunities to connect with colleagues from across Canada. The program brings together leaders from energy, tunnelling, utilities, policy, and finance to explore the opportunities shaping Canada’s next major infrastructure frontier.

The workshop will examine the expanding role of underground infrastructure in pumped hydro energy storage, nuclear‑related tunnelling and waste repositories, underground transmission and utility corridors, hydrogen and thermal energy storage, and trenchless and pipeline systems. The workshop will examine case studies from coast to coast.