Abstract: Artificial sand is the generalization of machine-made sand and mixed sand,and has been widely used in construction,mining and irrigation works in the region of scarcity of natural sand. One kind of artificial sands,machine-made sand,has been used in shotcrete supporting for Gushan tunnel of Jiaojin thruway,He′nan province. Based on the testing and practice results of this project,the physical properties of artificial sands and feasibilities to replace natural sands with artificial sands in three aspects of technology,economy and implementation for shotcrete support of tunnel are studied. The results show that the proposed technique is feasible,thrifty and reliable,so that it merits popularization.