A case study of effects of ground conditions on tunnel boring machines

P.G. Ranjith Nanyang Technological University J. Zhao Nanyang Technological University T.P. Seah Nanyang Technological University ABSTRACT: Geological conditions play an important role during design and construction of underground cavities and tunnels. In this paper, the performance of the tunnel boring machines (TBMs) was evaluated for different geological conditions. TBMs such as Earth Pressure Balance Machine (EPBM), Slurry Shield Machine, Hard Rock TBM and Mixshield were considered in this study. Results indicated that the applicability of the TBMs was closely related to the grain size in soft ground tunnelling. A comprehensive analysis of EPBM based on advance rate, thrust, torque and earth pressure of the machine was studied for mixed ground conditions in Singapore. The study showed that when EPBM approached mixed ground conditions, the thrust, torque and earth pressure requiring to balance the excavation face increased significantly. The thrust reached a value which was 90% of its maximum capacity and the EPBM was performing beyond its intended torque capacity.

1 INTRODUCTION Geological factors essentially influence the choice of a particular tunnelling method and in some cases govern the entire project. It follows that each tunnelling site calls for high orders of investigation, evaluation and appreciation of the geological aspects of relevance to the tunnelling project. The geological problems usually differ at each individual site and the type of difficulties experienced may not necessarily be anticipated. It is almost impossible to predict in advance with certainty the ground conditions that will be encountered along the line of the tunnel. Successful mechanised tunnelling requires that the configuration of the machine be optimised to suit the ground conditions. If the ground conditions that will be encountered are highly variable, machine design parameters cannot be optimised in all conditions and compromises must often be s truck to allow an acceptable performance to be achieved in all ground conditions. The aim of this paper is to discuss the effects of geological conditions on the selection of tunnel boring machines and to evaluate their performance. For this case study, geological conditions and tunnel boring techniques of over 100 tunnels around the world were investigated. The length and diameter of selected tunnels varies from 0.5 to 10.0 km and 3.0 to 14.0 m, respectively.

From an extensive literature review on machine tunnelling, the advance rates achieved by Earth Pressure Balance Machine (EPBM) and Slurry Shield Machine for various ground conditions are summarised in Tables 1 and 2. 2 SELECTION OF TUNNEL BORING MACHINES FOR SOFT GOUND Through analysing over 100 case studies, the applicability of various soft ground machines in relation to the grain size distribution is shown in Figure 1. The Earth Pressure Balance Machine operates well especially in fine-grained soil but requires the use of conditioners in sandy and gravelly ground condition as shown in Figure 1. EPB machines are usually fitted with disc cutters to break cobbles, boulders and soft rock. The slurry shield machine performs better in sandy and gravelly soil but requiring the aid of stone crusher to break cobbles. The MixShield is a recent development patented by Herrenknecht of Germany capable of excavation in slurry, earth pressure balance, compressed air and open face mode by altering the equipment configuration. It could be the instant solution for many tunnelling projects with mixed ground. However, the use of Mixshield is still remote due to its high initial cost and is relatively newer to the tunnelling world.

Table 1. Advance rates achieved by EPBM ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Geological Features Performance References ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Clay average advance rate of 21m /day Estefania & Fernandez, 1996 Clay average advance rate of 6m/day Fu, 1998 (best advance rate of 18m/day) Clay average advance rate of 240m/month Doran & Athenoux, 1998 Sand average advance rate of 7m/day Mizuno, 1993 Silty clay, fine sand average advance rate of 7.3m/day Yamamoto et al., 1995 Silty clay, fine sand average advance rate of 10.6m/day Dietz, 1994 Silty clay, clayey silt average advance rate of 15m/day Bretz, 1998 (best advance rate of 47m/day) Silty sand, silty clay average advance rate of 8.8m/day Rieker, 1992 (best advance rate of 19m/day) Sand, gravel average advance rate of 0. 7m/hr Chiorboli et al., 1996 Clay, silt, sand best advance rate of 112m/week Ow et al., 1998 Clay, silt, sand best advance rate of 45m/week Chan et al., 1998 Sandstone, siltstone best advance rate of 49m/week Khong & Lim, 1998 Limestone, chalk, clay best advance rate of 225 m/month Haack, 2000 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Table 2. Advance rates achieved by slurry shield machine ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Geological Features Performance References ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Gravel, sand average advance rate of 140m/month Amet et al., 1996 Clay, sand average advance rate of 10m/day Haack, 2000 Clay, sand average advance rate of 12m/day Haack, 2000 Sand best advance rate of 321m /month Morimoto & Kato, 1998 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________

0.075

0.425 Fine Medium

2.

4. Coarse Fine

19

75 Coarse

300 mm

Clay

Silt

Sand

Gravel

Co bbl es

Bou lders

Stone crusher required

Slurry Shield M achine

Disc cutter required

Earth Pressure Balance Machine (conditioners required with larger grain size)

MixShield

Figure 1. Applicability of TBM for various grain sizes. 7410 m with an excavated diameter of 7.7 m. The geology encountered during tunnelling is the Upper Till and Lower Till of the quaternary age and consist of predominantly silts and clayey silts with typ ical clay content of 5 % to 18 %. The Upper Till consists of very uniform silt and is also known as "clay till" with 13 % to 18 % of clay content. The Lower Till has less clay content and is known as "sand tills" and occurrence of clean medium sand could be found. In addition, fresh massive granitic cobbles and boulders of up to 250 MPa compressive strength are present and these may exceed 3 m in diameter. During excavation in the Upper Till, the clay content present was sufficient for the EPBM to operate in

3 SELECTED CASE STUDIES In this section, performance of EPBM for various tunnel projects including Storebaelt Eastern Railway tunnel in Denmark, Passante Ferroviario Tunnel of Italy and North East Line of Singapore are discussed. 3.1 Performance of EPBM in clay and silt (Storebaelt Eastern Railway Tunnel, Denmark) Part of the Storebaelt Eastern Railway tunnel is discussed here. The section consists of a length of

the open mode. The excavating face was stable enough to allow the machine to operate in the open mode. In this mode, the chamber was maintained only at approximately 70 % full. Water was added into the chamber to slurry the spoil and to minimise the cutter head torque. The EPBM experienced more difficulties in the Lower Till ("sand till") region. The machine encountered water charged sand bodies interbedded within the clay till. This resulted in ground lost into the cutterhead. The EPBM was required to operate in closed mode, with the earth pressure in the chamber greater than the pore water pressure in the sand bodies. At this stage, the hydrostatic pressure in the sand bodies was about 2.2 bar and earth pressure in the chamber was kept at 2.3 bar to 2.5 bar. In order reduce the cutter torque which frequently exceeded the design limit, conditioners in the form of polymers were added to stabilise the tunnel face. The EPBM was slowed down with a penetration rate of 5 mm/min. The EPBM machine in this project was designed to break boulders which exceeded the capacity of a normal slurry machine crusher system. However, it was found that because of the low shear strength zone (less than 200 kPa) where the boulders were encountered, the boulders could not be easily supported by the surrounding ground and became loose when cutting was in progress. Eventually, hydraulic splitter had to be used to break the boulders. This case study shows that the applicability of the EPBM in clay in which cohesion provides a relatively stable excavation face as compared to the highly permeable sand layer. 3.2 Performance of EPBM in diluvial sand and gravel layer (Passante Ferroviario of Milano, Italy) The total length of the tunnel to be excavated by the EPBM is approximately 4000 m and the overburden varies from 4 m to 16 m. The excavation diameter is 8.0 m. Milano subsoil is made up of fluvioglacial sandy and gravely alluvial deposits with dense to very dense s and deposits and gravel. The grain size distribution is shown in Table 3.
Table 3. Grain size distribution of Milano subsoil Diameter (mm) Percentage (%) less than 0.074 20 more than 2.0 76 more than 10.0 20

the triaxial test indicated that the friction angle was between 35 and 40. Given the low overburden to only 4m and the poor characteristic of the soil, handling the problem of settlement was deemed to be crucial. The EPBM was driven through the ground with the aid of injection conditioning agents at the front, together with the continuous filling of the void between the segment ring lining. The us e of earth pressure was also required to provide stability and to control settlement. In order to minimise risk of settlement, appropriate stabilisation pressure was applied to balance the excavation face. However, if the applied p r e s s u r e w a s k e p t t o o l a r g e, the machine productivity would go down and a surface uplift might occur. For the entire drive, the settlement was contained in the range of 1.1 to 14.8mm. The average value is 7.02mm. Depending on the amount of overburden, an average of 12 rings could be erected in a day. Considering the type of soil and the small overburden, the achieved results were considered satisfactory. 4 PERFORMANCE OF EPBM IN MIXED GROUND 4.1 Introduction The North East Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Line is designed to be an effective form of public transport to serve the needs of the North East sector of Singapore. The 20 km North East Line (NEL) is predominantly underground, comprising of 16 stations and a depot. Civil construction of the NEL is divided into 12 contracts. The focus of this discussion is confined to Contract 710 (C710). This contract includes the construction of four bored tunnels. The 2.1km twin bored tunnels from Outram Park Station to World Trade Centre Station are the longest tunnel drives on NEL. The other section of the tunnel that runs from Outram Park Station to Chinatown (CNT) Station measures 400m long. The selected machine used in this drive is an Earth Pressure Balance Machine (EPBM) manufactured by Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries (I.H.I). The length of the tunnel consists of mixed ground condition and the performance of the machine through the varied ground will be discussed below. 4.2 Geotechnical Profile along the tunnel route Geology of the tunnel route from Outram to CNT Station comprises of the Jurong Formation which are

The unit weight of the soil is 18 kN/m3 an d the porosity varies from 33 % to 38 %. The presence of quartzes also makes the soil abrasive. Results from

Figure 2. Geological Profile showing mixed ground conditions mainly moderately weathered and highly weathered zone of sandstones, siltstones and mudstone. Figure 2 shows part of the geological profile where mixed ground conditions are encountered towards the end of the drive. Inflow of water varies from a completely dry face to flow of 1.5 litres/min. The engineering properties of the Jurong Formation and the residual soil are listed in Table 4.
Table 4. Properties of residual soils of Jurong Formation Properties Natural water content (%) Bulk density (g/cm 3 ) Specific density Liquid limit (%) Plastic limit (%) Permeability (m/s) Compression ind ex Cohesion (kPa) Angle of internal friction ( ) Range 15 - 45 1.8 - 2.2 2.6 - 2.8 28 - 60 14 - 36 -6 -9 10 - 10 0.1 - 0.6 0 - 40 24 - 40 Table 5. Unconfined compressive strength (UCS) along tunnel route Geological Type UCS (MPa) Marine clay 0.02 Completely weathered zone 2.94 Highly weathered zone 9.8 Moderately weathered zone 59.8

For preventing the ingress of water through the segment joints, Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer (EPDM) gaskets are installed near the external edge of the segment joint with hydrophilic sealing strips nearer to the internal edge. The EPDM gasket and the hydrophilic strip are designed to withstand up to 4 bars of water pressure. Precast co ncrete tunnel lining is used in this project. 4.3 Performance of EPBM The discussion here is limited to the portion of the tunnel where the EPBM drives from the moderately weathered zone of Jurong Formation to the mixed geological condition consisting of marine clay, highly weathered and residual soil of the Jurong Formation. This portion covers a range from ring no. 220 to ring no. 320, which is about 120m in length. The EPBM drove through approximately 40m of mixed ground condition before reaching the end of the drive at the Chinatown Station. Figure 3 shows the performance chart of the EPBM. The average results are summarised below in Table 6. It was observed that the torque, thrust and earth pressure, increased significantly as the machine approached the mixed ground condition. The lowest thrust was applied in the moderately weathered zone with an average of 1000 ton. This was about 35%

The residual soils formed from the Jurong Formation are mainly cohesive and their consistency is generally stiff to hard. They consist of interbedded layers of clayey silt and s andy clay of medium plasticity and clayey to silty sand. The marine clay at the tunnel alignment has permeability in the range of 10 -10 to 10 -9 m/s. The unconfined compressive strength is 0.02 MPa with a n O v e r-C o n s o l i d a t e d R a t i o ( O C R ) o f approximately 1.7. In general, the unconfined compression strength of the ground along the tunnel route has been summarised as given in Table 5 (Khong and Lim, 1999).

Table 6. Performance of EPBM at different ground conditions Moderately weathered/ Ground Conditions Moderately weathered Highly weathered Zone Parameters zone Torque (kNm) Thrust (Ton) Earth Pressure (MPa) Penetration Rate (mm/min) Cutterhead Current (Amp) 1000 (1750) 1000 (1250) 0.02 (0.025) 25 (45) 80 (90) 1500 (2750) 1250 (1500) 0.07 (0.125) 20 (40) 90 (125)

Marine clay / Residual soil / Highly weathered zone 2500 (3500) 2000 (2500) 0.225 (0.325) 15 (20) 110 (150)

Note: (i) Figures in brackets indicate average peak values attained by the machine. (ii) Cutterhead has an average RPM value of 2.
CNT North Bound - Thrust Values
Thrust(Ave)

CNT North Bound - Torque Values

Thrust(Max) Torque(Ave)

3000 2500

4500 4000 3500

Torque(max)

Torque(KNm)

2000

3000 2500 2000 1500 1000

Thrust(Ton)

1500 1000 500

500 0 220 240 260 280 Ring No. 300 320 340 0 220 240 260 280 Ring No. 300 320 340

CNT North Bound - Earth Pressure Values

Pressure(Ave)

CNT North Bound - Penetration Rate

Pressure(Max)

0.45 0.4

120 100

Penetration Rate(Ave) Penetration Rate(Max)

0.35

Earth Pressure(MPa)

0.25 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.05 0 220 240 260 280 Ring No. 300 320 340

Penetration Rate(mm/min)

0.3

80 60 40 20 0
220 240 260 280 300 320 340

Ring No.

CNT North Bound - Cutterhead Current Values

5 0 Current(Ave) Current(Max)

CNT North Bound - Soil Conditioner

180 160

4 5 4 0

Cutterhead Current (Amp)

120 100 8 0 6 0 4 0 2 0 0 220 240 260 280 Ring No. 300 320 340

Soil Conditioner Vol(m3)

140

3 5 3 0 2 5 2 0 1 5 1 0 5 0 220

240

260

280 Ring No.

300

320

340

Figure 3. Performance chart of EPBM of the design maximum capacity. As the EPBM drove through the moderately weathered/highly weathered zone, the thrust applied by the EPBM increased to 1250 ton. In the marine clay region, the

thrust reached an average value of 2000 ton, which was almost 90% of the maximum capacity at this stage. The cutter torque also indicated an increasing trend from average values of 1000 kNm to 2500 kNm, with a maximum average value of 3500 kNm at the marine clay region. This implies that the

EPBM is performing beyond its intended torque capacity of 2930 kNm. The face earth pressure is observed using earth pressure gauges located on the bulkhead of the

CNT North Bound - Daily Rings Built Progress

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 Completion: Ring No. 329

Ring No. 221

Mixed Ground Region

No.of Rings

7-Nov-99

12-Nov-99

17-Nov-99

22-Nov-99

Time (Dates)

Figure 4. Daily ring built progress

CNT NB Cycle Time Per Completed Ring

Week No: 10, 08/11/99 - 14/11/99 Average time taken for each ring completion: 227 min Total ring built for the week: 38 Direct Interuption 17% (38 min)

CNT NB Cycle Time Per Completed Ring

Week No: 11, 15/11/99 - 21/11/99 Average time taken for each ring completion: Total ring built for the week: 43 Direct

27-Nov-99

234 min

Shove Time 57% (131 min)

Interuption 14% (33 min)

2-Dec-99

Shove Time 58% (135 min)

Ring Build Time 2% 6 (58 min)

Ring Build Time 28% (66 min)

CNT NB Cycle Time Per Completed Ring

Week No: 12, 22/11/99 - 28/11/99 Average time taken for each ring completion: 585 min Total ring built for the week: 16 Shove Time 34% (197 min)

CNT NB Cycle Time Per Completed Ring

Week No: 13, 29/11/99 - 01/12/99 Average time taken for each ring completion: 393 min Total ring built for the week: 11 Direct Interuption 16% (63 min) Shove Time 70% (274 min)

Direct Interuption 53% (315 min)

Ring Build Time 1% 3 (73 min) Ring Build Time 14% (56 min)

Figure 5. Cycle time per completed ring for weeks 10 - 13

cutterhead chamber. At moderately weathered zone, the earth pressure in the bulkhead was kept at 0.02 MPa. This value is lower than the actual pressure required to balance the excavating face. This is because the machine is driven through a more stable and competent ground condition and it is not necessary to balance the full face pressure. As a result, the EPBM can achieve a greater advance rate. However, it was observed that earth pressure increased significantly to 0.225 MPa while the machine was driven through the mixed ground region. The machine at this point maintained a full face pressure with the ground. The penetration rate decreased from 25mm/min to 15mm/min. The volume of conditioner increased from an average of 10m3 to 25m3 at the mixed face region. The increase in usage of conditioner is because of the more stringent control required to balance the pressure of the mixed face. The conditioner injected through the bulkhead into the chamber creates a slurry material. The slurry formed is pressurised by the thrust of the machine and this pressure is distributed over the excavation face to oppose the pressure of earth and water in the ground. The increase usage of conditioner is also due to the injection of conditioner into the ground through the cutterhead ports. This acts to reduce the cutter torque which was already reaching its maximum. The daily ring built progress decreased from an average of 6 rings to zero ring built when the EPBM first encountered the mixed ground. Following that, the EPBM achieved an average of only 3 rings built daily. The average time and motion analysis for a ring completion of the EPBM for weeks 10 to 13 is given in Figure 5. At week no.12 where the EPBM was in mixed ground, there was a significant increased in weekly direct interruption to 53% as compare to the previous average of 35%. The average time taken for each ring built also increased to 585 mins. 4.4 Discussion The significant decrease in the performance of EPBM in mixed ground condition was clearly seen in this case study. The performance of the EPBM decreases significantly when a mixed face geological condition was encountered. Balancing the full face pressure of the excavating face was not required in the moderately weathered zone of the Jurong Formation. However as the EPBM approached the mixed face, the earth pressure in the chamber was increased to that of the excavating face in order to stabilised the excavating face. A slower advance rate and longer ring building time was observed at the mixed ground region. The

average ring built time decreased from an average of 6 rings per day to 3 rings per day. The machine was pushed to its design maximum with the cutter torque exceeding the specification. The use of more conditioning was required in order to form slurry in the chamber to balance the face and to reduce the cutter torque. It was shown in this case example that the EPBM was pushed to its maximum limit when tunnelling through the mixed ground region. Prudent operation of the machine was deemed crucial especially in such ground conditions. 5 CONCLUSION The use of EPBM operation is limited by specific soil properties. The soil grain distribution, uniformi t y , p l a s t i c i t y , w a t e r c o n t e n t a n d permeability are parameters of decisive influence on the properties of the support medium. Operation of an EPBM is normally unsuitable in sandy and gravelly ground condition where the water permeability is high and inflow to the machine is large. To overcome this problem, conditioners in the form of polymers could be added through injection ports on the cutterhead to stabilise the tunnel face. The slurry shield machine is better at excavating in sandy ground. The reason being that the machine makes use of bentonite slurry to support the face. The bentonite slurry is constantly circulated between the chamber and the separation plant. The main disadvantage of using a slurry shield is the relatively complex procedure for the circulation of the slurry and the need for a separation plant at the ground surface. In slurry shield tunnelling, excavated material is transported hydraulically through a transport pipe to the slurry separation plant where screening of the excavated material takes place. It is technically difficult to separate fine grain clay from the slurry, the use of slurry shield machine is very often limited to larger grain size soil. The disposal of slurry is a difficult problem that has to be dealt with as well. Findings of the study show that for the slurry shield machines, in zones with predominantly fine grains and non -cohesive soils, separation of the soil from the bentonite slurry were of major concerns. For EPBM in coarse grain gravel with high permeability, the major issue was maintaining face stability. 6 REFERENCES Amet, J. C., Guibert, G. & Schwenzfeier, A. 1996. Shield -experience on line D Lyon

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Morimoto, M. & Kato, I. 1998. Bore through the 2335m railway shield tunnel without a change of cutter bit -Recording the advance of 321 meter per month. Jr. Negro, & Ferreira (eds.), Tunnels and Metropolises: 775-780. Nishioka, K. & Aoki, K. 1998. Rapid tunnel excavation by hard rock TBM in urban areas. Jr. Negro, & Ferreira (eds.), Tunnels and Metropolises: 655-661. Ow, C.N., Sigil, O., Moussy, P. & Rieker, K. 1998. MRT NEL C706, Jet-Grouting below Race Course Road. International Conference for Tunnels and Underground Structures. Rieker, K. 1992. Inner city soft ground EPBM-tunnelling MRT C201A and CP264, Taipei, Taiwan. C, V, J. Varma & A, R, G. Rao (eds.), Tunnelling Asia'97: 223-232. Smith, I, M & Ichikawa, H, H. 1993. Construction of Hong Kong's First TBM driven tunnels. H. Burger (ed.), Options for Tunnelling 1993 : 509-518. Tseng, Y, Y., Tsai, H, C., Tseng, C, T. & Chu, B. 1998. The Pinglin eastbound mechanised tunnelling. Jr. Negro, & Ferreira (eds.), Tunnels and Metropolises: 787-792. Yamamoto, A., Saito, K. & Chang, M, H. 1995. Shield tunnelling in soft ground excavated under existing buildings with EPB machine in Taiwan. South East Asian Symposium on Tunnelling and Underground S p a c e Development, Japan Tunnelling Association: 223-232.