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By Patrick J. Doig

The Lewis Street CSO Tunnel is an important element in the efforts of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County (Metro) to improve the treatment of waste-water in the area. The tunnel is approximately 1,675m (5,500ft) long with a finished diameter of 2,600mm(102inches). 116m (380ft) of tunnel was constructed in soil with the balance being in lime-stone rock. Excavation was with a 3,700 mm (12ft) diameter Jarva hydraulic shield in soil and a Jarva Mark 12 TBM in rock. The permanent lining of the tunnel comprised concrete pipe with steel end-rings and a vinyl liner. This paper describes the construction of the project with particular emphasis on the excavation and lining of the tunnel.

Jan 1, 1997

By Peter Dowden, Trevor Carter, Allan Moss, Bruce Downing, Richard Beddoes

Traditionally (with a few exceptions) tunnel boring machines (TBMs) have been utilized on tunnel projects where the risks associated with deep tunnels (rock burst, squeeze, etc) are low (or expected to be low). This has generally been due to the extremely adverse consequences of entrapping or damaging a TBM under such conditions; but also due to the relative difficulty of dealing with these ground conditions in the confined working area of a TBM, in comparison to a drill and blast heading. This paper review the constraints of operating a TBM in a deep tunnel and discusses related project experience, particularly recent and current experience with TBMs in the deep Alpine Base Tunnels. Potential future applications of TBMs in the development of large, deep underground mines are also discussed.

Jan 1, 2007

By Bill Cain, R. John Caulfield, D. Scott Kieffer

The East Bay Municipal Utility District is undertaking seismic upgrades of the Claremont Tunnel in the San Francisco Bay area. The tunnel carries treated water across the active Hayward Fault to supply a major metropolitan area. Studies indicate the tunnel could be severed by fault offset during a major seismic event. A design approach to achieve limited operation of the tunnel following fault displacement has been established and design details are currently being evaluated. This paper describes the project, the design approach, and summarizes significant construction constraints.

Jan 1, 2001

By Bernd Hagenah, Hans-Peter Vetsch, Eric Jones, Sean Cassady, Danielle Johnson, Petr Pospisil

There are a number of issues associated with freight trains in non-electrified tunnels that are fundamental during the planning and operation of a rail tunnel. During uphill operation, increased air temperatures at the air intake locations of diesel trains can reduce diesel motor efficiency (stalling/choking) and affect HVAC systems. Strong airflows can aggravate fire scenarios due to fanning or water-reactive cargo materials. This paper focuses on the impact of freight trains on tunnel safety concepts, strategies to overcome heat issues at locomotive air inlets and air quality in tunnels operating diesel trains.

Dec 1, 2022

By Ross Goodman, Jesse Salai

The Ohio River Tunnel Project encountered multiple unexpected geotechnical challenges such as crown and invert instability due to the overstress condition affecting the strata above, below, and in the tunnel alignment during and after TBM excavation along with the potential for methane inflow. This paper showcases how the orientation of a tunnel alignment has a significant impact on how in-situ geological stress can impact the excavation of a tunnel from the contractor’s point of view and how geological features influence gas inflow to the alignment over time.

Jun 13, 2021

By C. Chope

The Minister for Roads and Traffic's opening speech highlights some of the topics to be covered in the conference with particular reference to the Channel Tunnel, the recent breakthrough of whose service tunnel marked a historic moment three and a half years after passing of the Channel Tunnel Act and which was the first example in recent years of a major transport project entirely privately funded. The Minister also mentioned the building of UK road tunnels, research and development, and the role of UK consultants in the single European market

Jun 13, 1905

By O. Tranbarger

In aging tunnels, wall and roof deterioration can eventually result in defects that must be detected and repaired to maintain safe structural conditions. In investigating tunnel defect conditions, a specialized FM radar system was developed with a programmable VHF and UHF operating sweep range for optimizing the penetration and measurement capabilities. The new FM radar technology was tested in two aging brick-lined tunnels in New York City. Test results showed that FM radar signals could penetrate eight courses of water-saturated brick and that the original steel liner outside the tunnel walls was intact.

Jan 1, 1985

By Verya Nasri

This paper presents analysis of damages and rehabilitation design for three major French rail-way tunnels built in mid-19th century. The La Nerthe tunnel underwent ovalization deformation with excessive displacement at the springline, and pinching and bursting of the liner bricks at the crown due to tectonic residual stresses with very high lateral earth pressure. The Saint-Louis les Aygalades tunnel invert was subjected to undulatory deformation resulting in tracks misalignment, which was caused by non-homogeneity of mechanical and hydraulic properties of the ground. The Roches de Condrieu tunnel required widening to comply with the increase in dynamic envelope of trains due to their larger cross section and higher speed. The applied rehabilitation methods and constraints of work in these busy mainline railway tunnels have been discussed in detail.

Jan 1, 2008

By Shahriar Vandani, Andy Herlache, Andrew Bro, Wei-Yu Chen

"The Presidio Parkway Project will reconstruct approximately 1.6 miles (2.6 km) of highway, including seven new bridges, three new cut-and-cover tunnels, and a new undercrossing connecting the Golden Gate Bridge to the City of San Francisco, California. The project site is approximately 5.6 miles (9 km) from the San Andreas Fault, capable of producing magnitude 8 earthquakes. Seismic hazards include strong ground shaking, soil liquefaction, ground settlement, and lateral spreading. The Main Post Tunnels (MPT) are two parallel cut-and-cover concrete tunnels approximately 1100 feet (335 m) long. The MPT site underlain by loose sandy soils susceptible to liquefaction and lateral spreading. Excessive racking and permanent displacement due to lateral spreading are identified as the main seismic vulnerabilities. Analyses showed that without ground improvement, tunnel racking of over 5 inches (13 cm) and permanent lateral tunnel displacement of up to 15 feet (4.6 m) could be anticipated. Cement Deep Soil Mixing (CDSM) is proposed to mitigate slope displacements and increase lateral stiffness of the foundation materials to reduce tunnel racking. A series of 2-D fully dynamic time domain analyses were performed to evaluate the performance of CDSM, confirm that performance criteria are met, and optimize the CDSM geometry and replacement ratio. The use of CDSM reduced the permanent tunnel displacement from over 15 feet (4.6 m) to less than 1 inch (2.5 cm). Tunnel racking was also reduced significantly. The adopted analytical approach presented herein can be considered for future tunnel design projects in seismically active areas.Introduction The Main Post Tunnels (MPT) are an integral component of the Presidio Parkway project which will replace the existing facility with a new multi-lane roadway between the Golden Gate Bridge and the City of San Francisco. The MPT are two parallel cut-and-cover concrete tunnels approximately 1100 feet (335 m) in length. As shown on Figure 1, the project site is located in a seismically active area, about 5.6 miles (9 km) east of the San Andreas Fault and 12.5 miles (20 km) west of the Hayward Fault. The San Andreas Fault can generate magnitude 8 earthquakes while the Hayward Fault is capable of producing magnitude 7.3 earthquakes. The design Peak Bedrock Acceleration (PBA) is 0.46g for the upper level design earthquake. The project alignment is shown on Figure 2."

Jan 1, 2014

By Peter S. Schneidkraut

This paper will discuss the Final Tunnel Linings which were placed in 6700m of a 2.32m inside diameter precast concrete lined interceptor sewer tunnel in Staten Island, New York. Two methods were employed to install the final tunnel linings. One method involved forming and placing a polypropylene fiber reinforced concrete cunnette invert, followed by an arch pour. The second method involved the jacking of reinforced concrete pipe into the tunnel, followed by a low density cellular concrete backfill grout. These two methods will be described and compared.

Jan 1, 1993

By Ching Wu, David A. Sutter, Peter Frobenius

The MUNI Metro Turnback (MMT) Project includes a 256 m (840 ft) twin tunnel section, which connects to the Embarcadero Station, and runs under Market Street in San Francisco. The tunnels go through a mixed face condition of fill at top and Bay Mud at bottom, and a significant number of buried timber piles. This paper presents the selection of tunneling equipment, excavation methods, excavation support and chemical grouting; specification of timber pile cutting methods; and steel lining analysis and design. This paper also reports on the initial phase of the tunnel construction.

Jan 1, 1995

By T. D. Rourke, Fred H. Kulhawy, O&apos

From mid-1976 to early 1978, a 5.64 m diameter tunnel, 2491 m long, was excavated by a modified Robbins full-face TBM under shallow cover in highly stressed sedimentary rock in Rochester, NY. In-situ stress measurements were made, and tunnel behavior was monitored with MPBXs, inclinometers, tape extensometers, and instrumented steel ribs. Detailed geologic mapping was also done. In this paper, the as-monitored tunnel behavior is described, and the TBM performance is evaluated from field records. Recommendations are also made for future tunneling in similar geologic environments.

Jan 1, 1981

By Sun Guangzhong, Liang Jinhuo

Adverse geological condition is a major factor which makes construction difficulty in tunneling. But if it is predicted and tunnel support is made efficiently in time, the above difficulty can be reduced. It is necessary to develop one or several effective and economical geological methods for prediction of tunnel geology while expensive and time-consuming instruments are used. This paper reviews and proposes several geological methods for prediction of fault, seam, contact zone, and groundwater inrush. These methods have been proved to be effective and economical in tunneling practice in China.

Jan 1, 1987

By Baczynski NR, Fagan MJ

A 3050m long section of a 1.65m internal diameter tunnel is presently under construction in the Brisbane area by means of the pipe-jacking method. The soils along the alignment had been deposited in a deltaic/estaurine environment and rapid changes in soil type occur. The tunnel passes beneath several extensive bodies of surface water. Groundwater problems have been experienced with tunnelling through alluvial sands and gravels. Details of the ground conditions, the pipe-jacking method used and tunnelling experience are discussed in this Paper.

Jan 1, 1987

By C. P. Shen, H. C. Tsai, Bennie Chu, Y. S. Hsieh

The Pinglin tunnels are situated within the fold-and-thrust belt structural region in Taiwan, due to continent-arc collision and plate tectonic setting. The pilot tunnel TBM (§=4.8m) became stuck ten times with the standstills to date. The westbound main tunnel TBM (§=11.74m) was buried in a collapsing calamity. The main tunnel TBM shall identify and overcome the adverse geology with high volume of ground water ingress itself. This paper presents our experience and methodology through the adverse geology with Pinglin large TBM.

Jan 1, 1999

By Brian Khalighi, Massimo Franceschi, Giovanni Giacomin, Gianni Porta

Headrace Tunnels and parts of the Access Adit Tunnels of Kárahnjúkar Hydropower project, KAR-14, in Iceland will be excavated using three full-face Robbins Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM). TBM sizes range from 7.23 to 7.63 meters in diameter and the total headrace tunnel length is approximately 40 km. The crushed rock is transported on conveyor belts to disposal areas near each Adit. The estimated average excavation rate is approximately 25 meters per day per machine. Electricity will begin to flow in April 2007, and the project is scheduled for completion in 2009. This paper is divided into four sections. In the PROJECT OVERVIEW section, a short overview of the scope of the project is presented. In the GEOLOGY section, the geological condition along the tunnel drives is briefly introduced. The TBM DESIGN section discusses the various design criteria and the resulting machine specifications. The paper concludes in the TBM OPERATION section with a case history describing the tunneling operation from start-up to the time of the writing of this paper.

Jan 1, 2005

By S. Babendererde

The twenty-ninth Sir Julius Wernher memorial lecture of the IMM, presented at Tunnelling '97, London, 2-4 September 1997. The tunnelling industry is well prepared to face the challenge from the population explosion in urban areas in the near future. Many well-established yet redundant concepts are still impeding progress, however, including the prediction of excessive surface ground settlements. The correct selection of TBM can minimise these, and ground deformations can be avoided completely if the appropriate techniques are applied. Advanced techniques have been used in the Tokyo Bay Crossing, where the tunnel lining was installed by robots. Other advanced techniques include the use of a sliding slip form to give temporary support to an extruded tunnel lining, the chemical processing of ground by polymers during earth-pressure balanced tunnelling and the use of electronic monitoring and steering devices in TBMs. There will be challenges to tunnelling in urban environments, as open cut techniques will no longer be tolerated. Two examples of mined stations are briefly discussed

Jun 19, 1905

By Fulvio Tonon

And Rabcewicz said ?tunnels should be driven full face whenever possible.? ADECO, which stands for ?Analysis of Controlled Deformations in tunnels,? now allows us to fulfll Rabcewicz?s dream in any stress-strain condition. In order to achieve that dream and its consequent control over cost and schedule, however, NATM must be abandoned for the ADECO. The paper presents the basic concepts in the ADECO approach to design, construction and monitoring of tunnels together with some case histories, including: full face excavation for Cassia tunnel (width of 22 m, height of 14 m) in sands and silts under 5 m cover below an archeological area in Rome, Italy; Tartaguille tunnel (face area > 100 m2) advanced full face in highly swelling and squeezing ground under 100 m cover where NATM led to catastrophic failure, France; and 80 km of tunnels (face area > 100 m2) advanced full face in highly squeezing/swelling ground under 500 m cover for the high-speed railway line between Bologne and Florence, Italy (turnkey contract).

Subsurface development requires some geotechnical conditions and challenges. Most of then are related to the compatibility between tunnelling system and surrounded ground conditions, and design criteria. Design criteria usually involve lining pressure and ground control of displacements. In order to fulfil these requirements, geotechnical parameters have to be obtained as well as construction aspects have to be taken into account for predicting the tunnel behaviour. The Brasilia Metro is presented as a case history illustrating the geotechnical conditions and challenges for its implementation. It is 42 km long, including tunnels excavated in collapsible porous soils by the New Austrian Tunnelling Method. The Brasilia porous clay presents some characteristics, which may lead to large deformations due to structural collapse. Empirical methods were calibrated for collapsible porous soils and then applied to predict tunnelling-induced settlements. Settlements due to soil structural collapse modify completely the expected settlement profile, increasing their values from the tunnel crown to the ground surface. Consequently, surface settlement trough volumes were also greater than the ground losses around the tunnel. In this case history, structural collapse of porous soils played an important role and must have been taken into account to predict correctly the settlement trough and profile. Numerical simulation has shown that settlement magnitudes due to structural collapse are strongly dependent on the soil stiffness reduction after collapse and the extent of the collapsible zone.

Jan 1, 1999

By M Ahmed

Reliable face support pressure is necessary for shield driven tunnels in cohesionless soils to prevent excessive ground movements. This paper presents experimental work on stability of a tunnel face using transparent soil models aiming to obtain magnitude of tunnel face minimum supporting pressure, failure pattern and extension of failed zone. A model tunnel was preinstalled in transparent soil which was supported at the face by means of water pressure. Tests were performed by reducing supporting pressure until collapse occurred. Model tests were sliced optically with laser sheet and images were captured for every decrement in tunnel supporting pressure. Later, these images were analysed by digital image correlation (DIC) and vector fi elds of incremental displacements were obtained. Values of minimum support pressures were given for different cover/diameter (C/D) ratios. Geometry of the failure zones depicted for different (C/D) values and appeared to be of chimney shape with a limited extension front of the face. A minimum support pressure was achieved with support pressures as low as 10 ± 1 per cent of the effective vertical stress at the tunnel axis. The stability of the tunnel face was related to the coefficient of active earth pressure with C/D ratio having a small effect on the magnitude of required pressure at collapse. In general, results of the study were in agreement with current knowledge of full-scale situations.

Mar 8, 2011