TJ_1212_extra_pages.

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Tunneling
north american Dec 2012/Jan 2013

www.tunnellingjournal.com
journal

ADVANCES IN AUSTIN
JOLLYVILLE WATER TRANSMISSION MAIN
MAKES GREAT PROGRESS

SEE PAGE 5 DETAILS ON PAGE 16 SEE PAGE 21

NIAGARA NEARS AFTER THE WORK UNDER
COMPLETION STORM PRESSURE
OTTAWA LRT PARTNER HURRICANE SANDYS BALLARD DIVING
SELECTED PLUS FLOOD REPAIR BILL IS TALKS TO NATJ
OTHER NEWS FROM EXPECTED TO ABOUT ALL THINGS
NORTH AMERICA REACH $3 BILLION INTERVENTIONS
 TJ_1212_OUTSIDE_FNT_COVER_PLUS_SPINE_001.qxd:cover 16/12/12 00:42 Page 1

Tunnelling
www.tunnellingjournal.com Dec 2012/Jan 2013

The international journal for the tunnelling industry

journal
SEE PAGE 6 SEE PAGE 16 SEE PAGE 46

TJ WORLD LONDON AIRPORT

NEWS CABLES LINK
HIGHLIGHTS FROM TJ VISITS THE BRISBANES
THE TJ WEBSITES CABLE TUNNEL AIRPORT LINK
DAILY NEWS PROJECT IN TUNNELS
SERVICE LONDON EXPLAINED IN
DETAIL
TUNNELLING JOURNAL DECEMBER 2012/JANUARY 2013

LEES SLIPFORMING
SOLUTION
BARTON - TBM AND D&B
TBMS IN MINING
12-11-09_206_ID006_eAz_Baku_Tunnelling Journal_210x297mm_4c_oc_Fassung 01

h e r r e n k n ec h t AG | ut i li ty t un n e l l i ng | T r a f f i c tu n n e lli ng AZ ER B A I J A N

BAKU: THE INTEGRATED TUNNELLING

SOLUTION FOR THE NEW METRO.
The capital of Azerbaijan has around 2 million inhabitants today, a figure which will rise to
around 3 million in the year 2025. To cope with this growth, Bakus metro is being extended
to a total of five lines. Today, more than 180 million passengers travel on the two existing lines.
Since August 2011, a Herrenknecht EPB Shield ( 6,250mm) has been working on the
new construction of line 3 in the north-west of the city. The originally defined tunnel route
of 2,100 meters has already been completed. Now, it has been decided to extend the tunnel
to a total length of 3,600 meters.
The Azertunelmetrotikinti construction company ordered the tunnelling machine as
well as an integrated solution package with additional equipment and service from the
Herrenknecht Group. This included machine and tunnel conveyor belt (H&E), navigation
system (VMT), segment moulds (Formwork), vehicles for the transport of grout and segments
(MSD) as well as specialists for tunnelling support. In addition, Herrenknecht delivered further
site installation components from the cooling tower and the grout mixing plant to locomo-
tives and ventilation systems to high-voltage cables.

B A KU | A zER B A I J A N
PR OJEC T D ATA CONTRACTOR
S-599, EPB Shield Azertunelmetro-
Diameter: 6,250mm tikinti
Cutterhead power: 945kW
Tunnel length: 3,600m
Geology: limestone, silty clay
and sand

Herrenknecht Tunnelling
Systems USA, Inc.
1613 132nd Ave E, Suite 200
Sumner, WA 98390
Phone +12534472300
Fax +12538639376
marketing@herrenknecht.com

www.herrenknecht.com

12-11-09_206_ID006_eAz_Baku_TunnellingJournal_210x297_01.indd 1 15.11.12 15:53

TJ_1212_CONTENTS_003.qxd:Feature
Right: Cable breakthrough
(p6)
Below: Saverne TGV (p10)
The ring for Brisbanes Airport
Link Tunnel (p46)
15/12/12 21:56 Page 3
contentS
5 Editors comment
6 Snapshots of
www.tunnellingjournal.com news
10 Boring the Saverne TGV
A dual function EPB and rock TBM for the
eastern line of the French high-speed rail is
a first for Herrenknecht.
16 Powering under London
What has Caterpillar done to Lovats TBMs
post-takeover and will contractors notice
any difference? Kristina Smith visited the
London Power Tunnels project to find out.
22 Hybrid TBM and Drill-and-Blast
Nick Barton describes the importance of
considering a mixed approach to long and
deep tunnel construction
34 Mining through mechanized
methods
Desiree Willis of the Robbins Company
Above: Segments for the lining on
Londons Cable Tunnels (p16) explains the current and future use of
Below: TBMs have an increasing role TBMs in the mining industry
to play in the mining industry (34)
38 Slipforming the Lee Tunnel shafts
Innovative techniques are being used in
East London to slipform some mightily
impressive shafts
44 Being analytical about tunnels
Dr Benot Jones, Tunnelling and
Underground Space MSc Course Manager
at the University of Warwick, UK, discusses
analytical solutions for tunnels
46 Brisbanes Airport Link
Paul Barraclough, Christophe Bragard and
Marty Scrogings from Parsons Brinkerhoff
Arup Joint Venture discuss some of the
more innovative aspects of the tunnelling
portion of this landmark project
53 Cable certification withdrawal
Following on from US Tunnel Emergency
Systems Cables Fire Rating Withdrawn
A Crisis or
Crossroad? in the
last issue of NATJ,
Arnold Dix assesses
the international
ramifications of the
ratings withdrawal
56 Product News
58 Contacts
Arnold Dix (p53)
TUNNELLING JOURNAL 3
 To complete your whole.

SUBWAY (C LINE), ROME, ITALIA

Contractor Generale: METRO C ScpA, Roma, Italia - Client: Roma Metropolitane s.r.l.

Products used: MAPEQUICK CBS SYSTEM, MAPEBLOX T,

POLYFOAMER FP, SILICAJET ST, MAPEFILL, MAPEGROUT COMPACT,
MAPEGROUT TISSOTROPICO, LAMPOSILEX

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From Mapei UTT line: Reliable technology for underground
construction
Alkali-free set accelerators for shotcrete.
Products for mechanized tunneling: foaming agents for soil conditioning,
polymers, sealants, lubrificants.
Products for grouting and consolidation.
Products for concrete repairing, protection and coating.
Products for waterproofing: synthetic waterproofing membranes, waterproofing
accessories.
Discover the world of Mapei: www.utt-mapei.com, hq.utt@utt.mapei.com

For 75 years weve been helping to build large and small projects.
TJ_1212_005_COMMENT.qxd:Feature 18/12/12
Take a break
I WAS TALKING WITH a friend
recently who explained how when
he was working as an engineer in
London in the 1980s on some
hand dug piles, a geotechnical
engineer and himself thought it
would be an interesting exercise to
measure the heave in the London
Clay over the Christmas and New
Year break. Between them they
hammered some reinforcing bars,
guarded suitably, into the bottom
of the excavation at the end of the
final shift and then levelled these
against a fixed reference point on
the segmental lining.
Unfortunately upon their return
they werent quite quick enough
to obtain accurate readings before
the miners dislodged them.
Nevertheless, it got us thinking. If
there are enough like-minded
engineers out there, and with the
amount of underground
construction work now being
undertaken in London, we
probably have a once in a
generation opportunity to obtain
results for heave from a range of
locations and ground types over
any extended breaks, not
necessarily just Christmas. This
may well help inform us all on
how the ground behaves plus
provide extremely useful
information for future projects. So,
how about it? The additional
information we would need, if
possible, would be the following:
The depth of excavation,
Ground type,
Size of excavation,
Duration between readings
Weather conditions over the
break,
Current groundwater conditions
is it under-drained/dewatered,
and
00:18 Page 5
editorScomment
Stiffness of the material if that
information is available.
If the results could be e-mailed to
us here at Tunnelling Journal
(tris@tunnellingjournal.com) then
we can have them published and
distributed to all, with the hope
that this will lead to a greater
understanding of the behaviour of
the ground in London - helping
clients, contractors and
consultants and possibly prompt
future research into this effect.
And lets not just keep this UK-
centric, wherever you are in the
world and whatever ground
conditions you are working in, this
could still be applied. If youre
taking a break, lets see what
happens to the ground. Its so easy
to do, but could throw up some
intriguing results!
On a final note, I was chatting
with a student Civil Engineer just
the other week and he said he
was really struggling to find a
summer work placement that he
needs for his course, and that he
was not alone in this dilemma,
many of his student counterparts
If you are a
tunnelling company
and you have
were in the same situation. Now
we all hear regularly about the
interest in taking
lack of young engineers around on a summer Civil
these days, so why are these Engineering
possible future tunnelling
engineers struggling for summer student then drop
assignments? If you are a us a line and well
tunnelling company and you have
interest in taking on a summer
try and marry you
Civil Engineering student then up with the right
drop us a line and well try and
marry you up with the right
candidate. And alternatively, if you
are a student in need of a summer
candidate.
placement, drop TJ a line and well
see how we can help.
Tris Thomas
TUNNELLING JOURNAL 5
TJ_1212_NEWS_006_008.qxd:Feature 15/12/12
NEWS FROM THE WEB www.tunnellingjournal.com - breaking industry news first!
The planned alignment of LUs Northern Line extension
Treasury loan guarantee for
Northern Line Extension
December 6, 2012
The UK Chancellor, George Osborne, has
unveiled 5bn of investment spending by
2015, which includes the provision of a
$1bn loan and guarantee by the Treasury
for London Undergrounds Northern Line
extension. The project will extend the West
End branch of the Northern Line from
Kennington to Battersea Power Station and
includes 3km of TBM driven twin-tube
tunnels and two new stations.
Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, said:
I am delighted that after months of
intensive discussions and hard work we
have got the go ahead from Government
on financing an extension to the Northern
Line, which is hugely significant as Nine
Elms is one of the areas with the greatest
prospect for new development in the whole
of the capital. It will be an incredible
confidence boost for developers preparing
to invest there and it will also be a
considerable boost for local people who will
benefit from the new Tube link.
Officials from the Mayors Office and
Transport for London (TfL) will now finalise
arrangements for financing of the extension
with the Government. However work could
begin on the extension by 2015 and
services could begin operation by 2020.
Missing anchor bolts could
be to blame for Japan tunnel
ceiling failure
December 5, 2012
At a press briefing on Monday (3rd
December), the Executive Officer of the
Operator of Japans Sasago Tunnel which
experienced a catastrophic collapse of its
ventilation false ceiling over a length of
110m on Sunday, killing nine motorists said (BFK) is now preparing the site to begin
that it appeared some anchor bolts used to
secure the concrete slabs to the tunnel roof
were missing.
There were parts of concrete where bolts works will begin in early 2013.
had fallen off, Ryoichi Yoshizawa allegedly
confirmed, according to a spokesman for
Central Japan Expressway Company or
6 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
22:28 Page 6
NEXCO-Central. Yoshizawa
added, The aging of the
bolts or the concrete slabs
could be a potential cause.
It has also emerged in
Japanese Media reports
that regular visual checks
had been performed on
the tunnel, but that there
had been no actual
physical testing, possibly
since the tunnel opened in
1977.
The Sasago Tunnel is twin
bore, the west-bound
tunnel to Tokyo being 4.7km
and the east-bound bore heading to Kofu,
4.3km long. The incident occurred 1.7km
from the exit portal of the east-bound tunnel.
According to a preliminary engineering
report, up to 300 of the 1200kg heavy
ventilation duct ceiling pre-cast concrete
panels, each 80mm thick, collapsed onto the
carriageway, completely crushing three
vehicles and starting two fires. An official at
Japans Fire and Disaster Management
Agency, said highway operators had carried
out further work to support the remaining
ceiling panels.
Crossrail constructs 1000th ring
December 5, 2012
Crossrails first TBM, Phyllis, has constructed
her 1000th tunnel ring under Londons
Hyde Park. It comes as the Crossrail project
completes excavations for Tottenham Court
Roads western ticket hall at Dean Street,
starts excavation for Bond Street stations
western ticket hall in Davies Street as well
as continued progress at Paddington.
The first of eight Crossrail TBMs, Phyllis,
is currently tunnelling under Hyde Park
after completing her 1000th tunnel ring
and has now constructed 1800m of tunnel
from Royal Oak via the Paddington Station
box.
Crossrails second TBM, Ada, has
travelled 800m and has entered the station
box at Paddington after successfully
passing under the national rail lines into
Paddington station. A total of 12,000
concrete segments, manufactured at Old
Oak Common, have now been used to
construct the western tunnels between
Royal Oak and Farringdon.
At Tottenham Court Road, the base
concrete slab has been installed for
Crossrails western ticket hall at Dean
Street. The contractor Bam, Ferrovial, Kier
construction of the mined tunnels that will
connect the ticket hall to the station
platforms. The spray concrete lining tunnel
The new western ticket hall at Bond
Street will be five storeys deep and is one
of two new Crossrail ticket halls that will be
constructed at Bond Street ahead of
Crossrail services commencing in 2018.
London Cable breakthrough
November 28, 2012
Contractor Morgan Sindall recently broke
through into an underground cable shaft
at the 1.1km point along the 2.6km long,
2.6m i.d. Whitechapel to Finsbury Market
cable tunnel currently being built for
Client UK Power Networks in East London.
The TBM was launched in May and has
since progressed 650m with final
breakthrough of the 14M project
expected in Spring.
Project manager Bill Francis said: The
chamber diameter was 50mm bigger than
the machine so the engineering had to be
incredibly precise. We carry out very
accurate surveying for this kind of project
Breakthrough on the 2.6km Whitechapel to
Finsbury Market cable tunnel
and it avoids enormous disruption along
the route.
The segmentally lined tunnel will be
fitted with brackets supporting 132,000
volt electricity cables 25 -35m below
ground, connecting substations between
the East End and the City. Tunnelling is
through London Clay.
Scottish Water starts
procurement process for 100m
Glasgow sewer tunnel
November 21, 2012
Scottish Water has started the procurement
process for a contractor to design and build its
proposed 100M, 5km long sewer tunnel in
Glasgow.
The utility is currently considering two
designs:
a shallow tunnel crossing major
infrastructure road and rail routes
a deeper tunnel within stable bedrock that
would need a lift pump station
Depending on the final choice, the 4.5m
diameter tunnel will be driven at depths of
between 10m to 30m. It will also run across an
area of old mine workings raising potential
technical problems.
TJ_1212_NEWS_006_008.qxd:Feature 15/12/12 22:29 Page 7

www.tunnellingjournal.com - breaking industry news first! NEWS FROM THE WEB

The tunnel will also have to be connected to
the existing sewer network at both ends.
Deadline for expressions of interest
for the project, which will run for an
estimated seven years from contract
award to finish, is 10 December.
Submission must be made via e-mail to
procurementhelpline@scottishwater.co.uk
Hong Kong tenders new
Boundary Control tunnel
November 21, 2012
Hong Kongs Civil Engineering and
Development Department (CEDD) has invited
tenders for the contract for the road and
tunnel works of the $15bn Liantang/Heung
Yuen Wai Boundary Control Point. The works
mainly comprise the construction of a dual
two-lane trunk road including an
approximately 4.8km vehicular tunnel linking
months after the company won the tender
as part of the Salini Costruttori/Maire
Tecnimont/Seli JV.
The EPBM, worth roughly 7M was
designed and built in 10 months in
collaboration with Kawasaki. The remaining
machines for the project are scheduled to be
delivered in 2013.
Says President of SELI Spa, Remo
Grandori, The EPB TBM for the
Copenhagen metro is the first of the four
units that SELI is manufacturing under the
industrial and license agreement with
Kawasaki. The target of the cooperation
with the Japanese giant is to develop and
manufacture a new line of EPB TBMs The first Copenhagen EPBM is ready

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Hong Kong CEDDs Liantang/Heung Yuen

Wai Boundary Control Point

up the proposed Sha Tau Kok Road

interchange and the Fanling Highway
interchange.
Also included is the construction of an
administration building and three ventilation
buildings; and tunnel electrical and mechanical
works and associated works.
The works are scheduled to commence in
May 2013 for completion in November 2017.
The CEDD has commissioned AECOM Asia
Company Limited to design and supervise the
works. Interested contractors may obtain the
tender forms and other particulars from
AECOM at 8/F, Tower 2, Grand Central Plaza,
138 Sha Tin Rural Committee Road, Sha Tin.
The closing time for the tender is noon on
January 25, 2013. Tender submissions should
be placed in the Government Secretariat
Tender Box at G/F, East Wing, Central
Government Offices, 2 Tim Mei Avenue,
Tamar.

First EPBM ready for

Copenhagen
Expanding Horizons
November 20, 2012
The first of four TBMs to be used on the
24km of twin tube tunnel for the
Underground
Copenhagen Metro was inaugurated on
16th November at the Seli factory, 11

TUNNELLING JOURNAL 7
TJ_1212_NEWS_006_008.qxd:Feature 15/12/12
NEWS FROM THE WEB www.tunnellingjournal.com - breaking industry news first!
covering the highest segment of the EPB
TBM market. These TBMs are dedicated to
the most challenging projects in the
technologically advanced markets, with a
special focus on Europe and North
America.
Strabag wins major
Chilean hydro project
November 9, 2012
The Chilean tunnelling division of STRABAG
SE has signed a US$490M design and build
contract for the majority of the tunnelling and
civil works totaling 46.5km on the Alto Maipo
Hydroelectrical Power Plant one of the
biggest private construction contracts in South
America
The client is Alto Maipo SpA, a subsidiary of
the Chilean-based AES Gener and the US-
based AES Corporation. The scope of works
includes detailed design engineering and the
construction of underground and civil works
of two hydroelectric plants Alfalfal II and Las
Lajas. The complete contract consists of the
tunnels and shafts totaling 46.5km excavated
by drill and blast as well as by TBMs. The
design and construction period starts in
November 2012 and will last for about four
and a half years.
The hydroelectric complex will have a total
capacity of approximately 531MW. The
location of the Alto Maipo Hydro Power Plant
is 50km south east of the city of Santiago,
area in the high Maipo River basin of the
municipal district of San Jos de Maipo
situated in the Andes close to the Argentinean
border with peaks up to 6,500m.
Qatar win for Impregilo
October 25, 2012
Impregilo has won the tender issued by the
Public Works Authority of Qatar for the design
and build of a 9.5km long storm water
drainage tunnel for the collection of the
surface and groundwater in the city of Doha,
capital of Qatar. The contract has a value of
approximately US$130M.
The project involves the construction of the
main 9.5km water collection tunnel with an
excavation diameter of 4.5m, and the
construction of 21 access shaft. The
excavation of the tunnel will be executed with
the use of two TBMs, with all works
completed in about four years.
Impregilo is currently involved in Abu Dhabi
in the construction of much of the STEP
Project (Strategic Tunnel Enhancement
Program), a 40km long hydraulic tunnel.
Impregilo is involved with the construction of
25km of its length. The project will allow the
collection to a treatment plant of the city
wastewater.
Changes at CAT
October 24, 2012
`After more than two years as Vice President
of Marketing and Sales at Caterpillar
8 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
22:29 Page 8
Tunneling Canada Corp, Klaus Ukens has
accepted a position within Caterpillar Mining
and has relocated to Dortmund, Germany. In
this new role Klaus will be responsible for
shaping Caterpillars Global Underground
Mining Strategy.
Effective November 1st the position
previously held by Klaus will be divided into
two separate but complimentary roles. The
position of Director of Sales will be assumed
by Craig Bournes. Craig has been a key leader
in the sales organization for 16 years and has
prior experience in both tunnel design and as
a geotechnical engineer.
The position of Director of Marketing and
Product Support will be assumed by Nick
Natale. Nick has spent the last year at
Caterpillar Tunneling leading marketing efforts
and championing parts growth. In his last 14+
years with Caterpillar Nick has held a variety
of marketing and product support roles across
North America and Europe.
Plan map of the tunnel alignment on Londons planned Super Sewer
UBS to assist in Super
Sewer financing
October 24, 2012
Thames Water has confirmed to TJ that it has
hired Swiss Bank UBS to provide financial
advice in relation to delivering the 4.1bn,
32km long, 7.2m diameter Thames Tideway
Tunnel project, or Super Sewer as it has been
nick-named.
The project is expected to be delivered by
a regulated Infrastructure Provider, which will
hold its own license issued by Ofwat. The
ownership and financing of the Infrastructure
provider will be kept separate from Thames
Water, said a Thames Water spokesperson,
Thames Water is working closely with
Government and Ofwat to develop the
financing solution for the project. UBS have
been hired to provide financial market
expertise to refine the financing solution for
the Infrastructure Provider ahead of launching
the procurement process next year.
Construction of the supersewer is
expected to start by 2016 and take seven
years to complete.
Heijmans to build new
Eindhoven station tunnel
October 24, 2012
ProRail has awarded the contract for the
construction of the new Eindhoven station
tunnel to Heijmans. The contract is valued at
over 32M. Work planning will start
immediately, construction will start in the 1st
quarter of 2013 and the entire project will be
completed by the summer of 2016.
A European tendering process was
completed for this contract in which Heijmans
submitted the economically most
advantageous tender. The work will be carried
out by the Heijmans Civil Engineering and the
Heijmans Non-residential Building business
units. The construction of rail-related and
building-related technical installations also
forms part of the contract. The station will
continue to operate during construction.
In addition to the current 8m wide tunnel,
an additional new 35m wide tunnel will be
constructed.
HCC scores third DMRC
contract
October 23, 2012
Hindustan Construction Company (HCC)
announced today, Tuesday, October 23, it has
secured its third contact from Delhi Metro Rail
Corporation (DMRC). The latest contract,
worth Rs373 crore, is for the design and
construction of 2.2km of twin tunnel between
Shalimar Baug and Netaji Subhash Place
stations on the Mukundpur-Yamuna Vihar
corridor, under phase-III of the Delhi Metro.
The contract is to be executed within a period
of 36 months and the scope of work includes
design and construction of the twin TBM
tunnels, twin box tunnels, underground ramp,
and architectural finishing of Shalimar Baug
and Netaji Subhash Place.
Tunnel 210x297.qxd:Mise en page 1 5/03/09 18:10 Page 1

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TJ_1212_010_015.qxd:Feature 16/12/12 00:52
Red waste blown
from the conveyor at
the disposal sight
BORING THE
SAVERNE TG
A dual function EPB and rock driving TBM for the eastern line of the French
high speed rail is a first for Herrenknecht. Adrian Greeman reports from site
CARS PARKED OUTSIDE the site offices at
Ernolsheim-ls-Saverne in the picturesque
French Alsace region soon acquire a distinctive
red colouration. It comes from fine particles of
red sand spoil blown about from the nearby
waste heaps
A series of trucks work continuously to take
the material away, mostly to nearby canal
barge loading points and then further on. But
there is still a lot to come as the second of two
4km long tunnels is driven for the TGV Est
high speed rail project. Altogether some 1Mt
has to be dealt with.
The work is part of the 2bn second stage
of the TGV Est route, which connects Paris to
Strasbourg and the German Rhineland border.
A first phase of the line, just over 300km to
Baudecourt near Metz, was finished in 2007
with the 320km TGV trains completing their
journey to Strasbourg on the standard line.
Now the remaining 106km of line is being
completed, to shave an additional half an hour
off the journey to the European Parliament city
and connections onwards to Germany's high
speed ICE system. "In fact the line is part of an
overall trans-European route extending all the
10 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
Page 10
way to Bratislava in Slovakia," explains
contractor Spie Batignolles' Alain Lacroix,
project director for the tunnel works for a total
13 company joint venture. Among them are
architects, consulting engineers and landscape
firms, contributing to a design build contract
for the tunnel section. Dodin Campenon
Bernard, part of the Vinci group, is a second
major contractor working with Spie Batignolles
on the excavation, and tunnel design is by
Swiss consultant BG Consulting Engineers.
"This is a first design/build project for the
client, Rseau Ferr de France," says Lacroix.
The client has two consultants on its side,
Tracebel and SETEC which designed the
original alignment and monitor the project.
The tunnel works
The twin 8.9m diameter parallel bores making
up the tunnel, are the largest major structure
on the new section of the route and in fact on
the whole line. Between Paris and the east for
the first phase, the land is mostly flat and the
original section did not face any great
obstacles. But near the Rhine the Vosges
Massif rises up, not exactly mountains but at
least a highland enough to get in the way.
Hence the tunnel and also a few significant
structures.
Lot 47 for the tunnel works also includes a
significant viaduct structure and some major
earthwork platforms, for example, a 35m high
embankment. But most of it comprises the
tunnel twin bores and their fitting out.
These carry the line up to 100m deep
beneath a picturesque, semi-wild and partly
wooded highland that is one of the national
parks of France. The site sits just on the edge
of a protected area.
The geology is at first sight relatively
straightforward, comprising almost completely
of a medium hard sandstone. There are
various subdivisions geologically says Lacroix
but the rock is essentially similar from one side
to the other.
There are complications however. Overlying
limestone and clay means that there is a
relatively "chaotic" section of ground to get
through at the beginning of the drives, which
were both made from the Alsace or eastern
side, and again at the end.
"In the middle of the tunnel too there is a
TJ_1212_010_015.qxd:Feature 16/12/12 00:52 Page 11

TBMS

GERMA
Rheims
Saarbrucken NY
F R Metz
Gare Champagne-Ardenne Forbach
A
Baudre
N
Chalons-en-Champagne Vendenheim
Naire-sur-Marne C Bar-le-Duc
Nancy
Paris Sanrebourg Saverne
Vitry-le-Francois
E Luneville Strasbourg

LUX.

G E R M
F Saarbrucken A
N
Y
Metz R
Above: The launch sight of the
A Herrenknecht TBM
N Left: Figure 1 Maps showing
C E the location of the tunnel
Tunnel along the complete route
Baudre
Below: Figure 2 Cross section
of the tunnel

Sanrebourg Saverne
Nancy
Vendenheim

Luneville
Strasbourg
Strasbou
urg

BELGIUM

LUX. GERMANY CZECH

Paris Munich SLOVAKIA

Bratislava
Strasbourg

FRANCE AUSTRIA
LIECH. HUNGARY Evacuation Maintenance
SWITZERLAND walkway walkway

TUNNELLING JOURNAL 11
TJ_1212_010_015.qxd:Feature 16/12/12 00:53 Page 12

CLEVER CONVEY
TBMS

also helps. "It does not breakaway in blocks at

This is a first design/build project for
the client, Rseau Ferr de France
section of faulted ground where we expected
the sandstone to be degraded or weathered,
and possibly with significant water," says
Lacroix. A short section of soft and difficult
ground also makes up the ends of the total
4200m drives.
The options for construction were
conventional excavation or perhaps rock
capable TBM. The start sections and the
central length of 170-180m would need
ground treatment to get through.
The short portal sections would use cut and
cover and "artificial tunnel" and for the main
drive the JV decided that a dual mode TBM
capable of handling both soft ground as a
sealed EPB and the medium hardness of the
sandstone, was the best approach and faster
than other methods.
"It helped us win the contract," believes
Lacroix. He says that grouting and
consolidation for the central section would
have been time consuming and potentially
fraught if there was substantial water, which
might have washed out grout.
Early on during tender stage the joint
venture explored the options for such a
machine, which is an unusual combination, by
talking to all the big manufacturers. Some of
them had done machines like it though
Herrenknecht had not. "They had done a
hard rock with bentonite slurry but not EPB,"
says Lacroix. In the end a decision came down
to price and speed of delivery, which was
helped by proximity he says. The American
firms Caterpillar-Lovat and Robbins would
have required a relatively long period to
deliver across the Atlantic and the JV was
eager to get on.
Fortuitously the Herrenknecht factory is fairly
110m the machine operated in closed mode
close to the site Schwanau is in southern
Germany just across the border from
Strasbourg and this gave it the edge
eventually.
"We were keen to get on and in fact the
first thing we did when we won the contract
in autumn 2010 was to put in the order for
the TBM," says Lacroix. Delivery and site
assembly were just over 12 months.
It is a primarily an open mode machine, with
an outer diameter of 10.01m, using 19" disc
cutters he says. It has no difficulties in the
ground.
"The sandstone is not particularly hard and
breaks away into small pieces, almost like
sand." The rock is competent in most of the
drive without much in the way of cracks which
all, very few."
That experience came later. For the first
when it began the first drive in November
2011. In this configuration it uses a screw
conveyor for the muckaway from the face
chamber, loading onto a conveyor mid-
machine.
Having passed that difficult sector it settled
down for the sandstone. The Herrenknecht
was reconfigurable inside the tunnel, by
removing sections of the sealed face chamber
and installing different muckout buckets
which load onto a short conveyor. The screw
conveyor remains in place, allowing the
changeover to be made in a few days. In the
sandstone the main problem was the
abrasiveness of the rock, says Lacroix. "It is
not hard but it wears out the discs quite
quickly. Each one is good for just around
400m3 of excavation" says Lacroix "which
Go ahead
Saverne tunnel/Franc
uring 4,020 metres l
Strasbourg high-spee
the Vosges mountains
the 106 km-long seco
Baudrecourt and Vend
machine has a diamet
from east to west at a
struction of the two
will be able to travel a
H+E is involved. A tu
H + E Logistics is use
material. Despite the
excavation residue, the
perfect and timely pro

Above: The tunnels

segmental lining

Above left: Spies Alain

Lacroix

Left: The portal section of

the tunnels

12 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
TJ_1212_010_015.qxd:Feature 16/12/12 00:53 Page 13

CLEVER CONVEYING. SAVERNE, FRANCE.

Go ahead for the new Vosges Tunnel.

Saverne tunnel/France. The railway tunnel, meas- The naked facts:
uring 4,020 metres long, is part of the Paris- I Tunnel diameter: 10 m
Strasbourg high-speed railway line and crosses I Conveyor length: 4,200 m
the Vosges mountains. The tunnel forms part of I Belt width: 1,000 mm
the 106 km-long second building phase between I Capacity: 1,000 t/h
Baudrecourt and Vendenheim. The tunnel drilling I Belt speed: 3.5 m/s
machine has a diameter of 10.5 m and advances I Filling rate: 43 %
from east to west at a 1.9 % gradient. Once con- I Lump size: max. 300 mm
struction of the two tunnels is complete, trains I Temperatur range: -10 C/ +40 C
will be able to travel at speeds of up to 320 km/h. I Installed power: 315 kW
H+E is involved. A tunnel conveyor system from I Belt storage: horizontal
H + E Logistics is used to remove the excavated I Belt storage capacity: 500 m
material. Despite the extremely large volume of I TBM: Herrenknecht
excavation residue, the innovative system ensures I Installation: 2011
perfect and timely processing.

H+E Logistik GmbH

Josef-Baumann-Str. 18
D-44805 Bochum
Germany
Tel. +49 (0)234 I 950 23 60
Fax +49 (0)234 I 950 23 89
www.helogistik.de
TJ_1212_010_015.qxd:Feature 16/12/12
TBMS
means one disc every three rings on
average."
These could be changed from behind the
head. The crews tended to "save up"
changes until around a dozen could be done
at once, stopping the machine perhaps every
three or four days.
Spoil was carried away with the now normal
system for larger tunnels, a long conveyor
provided by Herrenknecht sister company H+E.
It drops onto stockpiles at the Alsace end
where a variety of Komatsu and Caterpillar
loaders place the spoil into trucks, which take
some to fill areas nearby and the rest for
disposal.
"There is another contract of the high speed
line using some near Strasbourg and some
being disposed" says Lacroix.
Tunnel Lining
The tunnel machine installs a segmented lining
as it goes. That is easier and better than an in
situ lining says Lacroix and gives the machine
something to push off from. "I am not sure
this rock would prove very suitable for using
grippers."
The segment rings comprise seven main
segments and a half size key, in a universal
ring 2m long.
The precast units are manufactured nearby
says Lacroix. "Quite often we would set up our
own segment works but we found a precast
works around 30km north of Strasbourg and
have set up the carousels in their existing
factory where it is possible to turn out 12 rings
a day." It was a little difficult at first he says but
once through the learning curve the output is
good. The yard there stores 700 rings with a
smaller buffer stockpile on site of about 100
rings. As with many larger tunnels, and
particularly by French contractors, the Saverne
is not using a rail system for materials delivery.
14 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
00:53 Page 14
Instead the segments, and grout are delivered length of tunnel, 4km by the end of the drive"
by rubber tyred trucks, easily able to run inside says Lacroix.
the clean segment lining. There is a facility to inject silicon accelerator
The delivery vehicles are TSP units by once at the machine he says.
Metalliance and carry a full ring of segments For the soft ground sections the ring
and an 12m3 tank of grout. sequence also uses a connection made
between the rings using special plastic shear
wedges. These fit into cavities on the side of
the segments, he says. "There are two types,
with 10t capacity and 25t."
The latter stronger shear keys are used for
additional stability in the ring areas, which are
later to be broken through for side
connections. European regulations in the wake
of the Mont Blanc and other fires, now
demand cross passages and there will be
seven of these between the two bores, each
about 5m high by 5m wide. Four of these are
escape passages, with fire hydrant points and
anti-shock wave doors and three will have
equipment rooms additionally. The cross
passages were to have been excavated by
roadheader but the solid nature of the
sandstone proved too
Left: Rubber much and the excavation
tyred delivery of is using drill and blast.
the segments
Progress
Below: View
along the On the first drive good
completed tunnel progress saw some 24m
of drive daily, with a
Once in the tunnel the segments are bolted maximum 46m on the main bore. But the
together during the erection sequence on the pace was likely to be lost somewhat at the
machine and then bolts are removed again difficult centre section, particularly with a hold
after grouting at the end of the machine train. up of several days for the changeover to
"It is important to make sure the grout is closed mode once again.
sound and there is a possibility to reinject if "But in the end we avoided that," says
there are any issues," says Lacroix. The grout Lacroix. It was possible to keep going in open
mix is a relatively complex one of sand and mode he says because the ground, while
gravel, mixed with PFA as well as cement. fractured and in places wet, was never
"That helps with delivery over quite a long consistently so. "In fact we hit soft and
weathered ground in just
7m or 8m thicknesses."
The TBM had a forward
probe drill he says which
allowed some preview of
the ground up to 40m
ahead, "though we did
just around 20m of
drilling usually, looking for
water or soft ground."
The difficulty with soft
ground, as much as
anything is the loss of
pressure on the cutter
discs he says, which
causes directional control
problems, with the
machine particularly
tending to drop.
But by skillful use of the
tilting capacity of the
cutterhead it is possible to
avoid such problems he
says. Like many machines
the cutterhead tilts a few
degrees and this reduces
TJ_1212_010_015.qxd:Feature 16/12/12 00:53 Page 15

TBMS

"partly because they are uphill, rising 70m

along the alignment, and for logistical
reasons."

Tube two
The second bore began in September and has
been going well with 776m driven in October
for example. Lacroix is hoping the difficult
ground in the centre will not differ markedly
from the other bore, and there is no reason
why it should, so that once again the open
mode of the machine can be maintained and
time once more can be saved.
Inside the other bore meanwhile concreting
is underway for the track bed and the two side
platforms, one for emergency evacuation and
the other for maintenance. Both carry services
Above: Tunnel breakthrough in June and cabling. Lights, communication,
equipment, and other fit out has to take place.
the diameter of the cut; instead of carving out probe drilling it is not as much as the The JV also has other work to complete
slightly beyond the radius of the shield it can changeover, and then the changeback, would including substantial earthworks outside and
stay within it. have cost us." the 58m long viaduct on the Lorraine side of
"The steering issue is affected by the Back in the hard ground the machine the tunnel, which presents its own challenges.
reaction of the rock to the machine thrust and continued to make good time on the first Not least is a huge concrete reaction slab to be
by increasing friction you can compensate to drive. Even with one more change to EPB for embedded in the 35m high embankment
some extent for the softer ground." the last section, it emerged two months ahead approach to the tunnel; this must absorb the
Using this technique he says, combined with of schedule in June this year on the Lorraine full energy of an emergency braking of the
a complex guidance system, which Vinci has valley side of the hills. train on the viaduct.
developed in-house, it was possible to inch Dismantling followed and the machine was Tunnel portals, tailored by architects
forwards through the soft patches without any brought back piece by piece to the Spielmann, and landscaping by Bernard Lassus
need to switch mode on the machine. "And Ernolsheim-ls-Saverne starting point. "Both will complete the exteriors in time for train
although you lose some time with the forward drives are made from this end," says Lacroix passage scheduled to begin in 2016.

BUILD A CAREER BY CARING FOR OTHERS

AS WE MOVE FORWARD TO SERVE HONG KONG BETTER, WE NEED YOU TO BE A PART OF IT
As a diversified and dynamic company in Hong Kong, the MTR Corporation is involved in a wide range of business activities, including railway construction and operations,
property development and management, additional commercial activities, investment projects and consultancy services worldwide. These provide excellent career
development opportunities for you to join us in serving the community with caring service.
We are looking for applicants for the position of:

Risk Management Specialist (Ref: RMS)

MTR Corporation is further strengthening its risk management practice in current and
future railway projects. There is an opportunity for risk management professional to
join Projects Division which focuses on risk management of project delivery.
You will be responsible for reviewing the existing risk management process as well as
formulating and implementing new strategies focusing on risk programmes and cost
implications to ensure that effective and efficient risk management controls are in
place throughout the project life cycles of both current and future railway projects.
You will establish and adopt audit and compliance processes to ensure consistent risk
management principles are being applied consistently across the Projects Division.
You will also work with the design and construction teams including consultants and
contractors in identifying risks, developing risk registers, conducting risk analysis and
maintaining a risk management plan to ensure that risks are continuously identified,
mitigated and monitored. You will also support to develop and implement related
training and development plan for technical and professional staff.
All information provided by applicants will be treated in strict confidence and used for recruitment purpose only. All personal data of unsuccessful applicants will be destroyed within six months.
You should have a Degree in a relevant discipline and be a Corporate Member of a
relevant professional institution with relevant experience gained in large scale
multi-disciplinary project implementation environment, of which 5 years should be
in a risk management and implementation role with an in-depth understanding of
risk related programmes and cost implications. You should be results-driven with
strong project management and/or construction experience.
Appointment will be made on two-year renewable contract terms.
Applications
Please send in your application stating the position that you are applying for and
relevant reference number, together with your current and expected salary,
either by email to recruit@mtr.com.hk or by mail to Human Resource
Management Department, MTR Corporation, G.P.O. Box 9916, Hong Kong on
or before 11 January 2013.

TUNNELLING JOURNAL 15
TJ_1212_016_020.qxd:Feature 15/12/12 23:00 Page 16

TBMS
Evelyn, the 3.16m diameter
CAT machine being
delivered to site

POWERING
under London What has
Caterpillar done
to Lovats TBMs
post-takeover and
will contractors
notice any
difference?
Kristina Smith
Looking
visited the
down tunnel London Power
following
the machine Tunnels project to
launch find out.
TJ_1212_016_020.qxd:Feature 15/12/12 23:00
ON THE WESTERN SECTION of the London
Power Tunnels project for client National Grid,
Costain is putting a Cat 139 TBM through its
paces with support from Skanska and Joseph
Gallagher ltd. This is one of the first machines
to benefit from the fusion of Lovat and
Caterpillar engineering, since the latters
takeover of the former in April 2008.
So far things are looking pretty good. The
launch was recognised by all who were there
to be one of the most seamless launches ever
seen for a Cat/Lovat TBM, says tunnel agent
Angus Mackenzie. The whole design of the
TBM and Backup, the planning for the launch,
the way the TBM/backup fitted together and
the tech support from Cat, it just worked out
of the box.
Quite a contrast from some previous launch
experiences, says Mackenzie, where
manufacturers have not taken the constraints
of building a machine inside a tunnel into
account whilst mocking up the machine in a
factory environment. Or you find a design
which worked on a computer requires some
adjustment once you get out on site.
Thinking like a cat
Since mid-2009, Caterpillar has been
working on standardised designs for its
tunnel boring machines following its
2008 acquisition of Lovat. Looking first
at metro size machines, Cat then
analysed machines for large utility
tunnels: those up to 4m diameter. The
London Power Tunnels machine was
the fifth of 10 such TBMs to be made,
according to Caterpillar senior project
manager Benn Lau.
We got input from our engineering
team, from clients, from across the
industry to come up with what we
could commonize from each system for
a more standard utility size machine,
he says. Now if a client says I want to
build a cable tunnel, we can offer a
standard machine design to initiate
discussions, then customise it according
to the project and clients
requirements. Its more like buying a
car and selecting from option
packages.
To increase productivity, Caterpillar
Tunneling has established an
alternative Canadian manufacturer to
build their in-house designed TBM
backup systems. This frees up space in
the primary factory to produce and test
TBMs themselves. Most of the
technology is inside the TBM, says
Lau. This allows the shop to build
more TBMs and effectively increase our
Page 17
The 3.16m-diameter TBM, which can work
in open mode or EPB mode, is the fifth large
utility size machine for which Caterpillar has
used a common system design and more
common components. When we were Lovat,
our machines were very customised, says
Benny Lau, senior project manager for Cat.
Now, with the acquisition by Caterpillar we
are leaning towards a modular design. This
improves not only build quality and velocity
but also enables more efficient product
support once the machine is in the field.
It seems this approach has made a
difference. I think the Cat takeover of Lovat
has probably had more benefits than
disbenefits, says Mackenzie.
The 32km of new cable tunnels are part of
National Grids strategy to keep up with
increasing energy demands in the UKs capital
without having to dig up roads. The tunnels
will carry 400,000V transmission line cables,
with a 4m-diameter stretch between Hackney
and St Johns Wood also designed to
accommodate additional 132,000v cables to
supply distribution networks.
throughput.
One of the benefits of this system for
the customer is that it may provide a
shorter lead-in time, as the two
elements are manufactured in parallel.
It also means that we can focus our
expertise on the main TBM: the shell,
the main drive and the cutting head,
says Lau.
As an employee who has worked
under the Lovat banner and now the
Caterpillar Tunneling one, Lau
identifies some other organisational
changes. Caterpillars project
management methodology means that
they can now say exactly when a
project will be finished, says Lau. With
the Caterpillar planning process we
have demonstrated delivery of
machines on time, consistently. Thats
very good for our clients and project
owners.
Caterpillar also brings benefits such
as purchasing power, an established
supply chain, deeper pockets to invest
in expanding facilities and modernising
equipment and a mature quality
control system, says Lau. Finally,
though everyone in the tunnelling
industry knew the name of Lovat,
Caterpillars brand has a wider reach.
When you tell your friends you work
for Caterpillar, they definitely know
who you are talking about! says Lau.
TBMS
The Cat machine, named Evelyn by local
school child Chastity Nyadu-Bekoe is currently
constructing the 3.16m id, 7.2km long
western section of a 20km tunnel which will
run between existing substations at Willesden
in North West London and Hackney in North
East London, connecting the St Johns Wood
substation en route. The longer, 4m id eastern
section is being built by Cleopatra, a
Herrenknecht EPBM.
Once Evelyn has completed her run
between Willesden and St Johns Wood, she
will travel south to build a tunnel between
Wimbledon and Kensal Green, to be built in
two drives: 3km from Wandsworth heading
South to Wimbledon and then 9km from
Wandsworth, North to Kensal Green.
Both machines will be driving predominantly
through London Clay, although the
Herrenknecht has two sections where it will
intersect with the Lambeth group and sand
and gravels of the Harwich formation. So far it
has encountered one stretch where it was in
full EPB mode, but is mostly operating in semi-
EPB mode, using the screw to extract the clay
which must be conditioned with polymer
foam in order that it can be easily handled.
The dual-mode Cat machine will be
operating mostly in open mode. There is one
section near Earls Court where it may
encounter the Lambeth Group, although this
has yet to be confirmed by further site
investigation. If this is the case, there is a spur
chamber which will already have been
constructed near Earls Court which would
provide room for the machine to be switched
over.
The Caterpillar machine, though launched in
open mode, arrived on site part-configured for
EPB due to shipping economies with grout
pumps and the ground conditioning station
assembled on the backup. Costain removed
these before launch as they were not
considered necessary for the drive, although
some components on the relevant MCCs
(motor control centres) were left in place as
they are required by the PLC control system.
Both machines are served by conventional
tunnelling trains feeding into high angle
conveyors (HACs), supplied by Burrows
Brothers, at the pit bottom. HACs are great
for the right application, says Mackenzie. Its
working brilliantly for me. Mackenzie is
looking for other options should Lambeth
deposits need removing from Earls Court,
since this type of ground doesnt work well on
HACs.
Costain won the 220m London Cable
Tunnels contract in 2010, which includes the
construction of 14 shafts ranging from 6 to
15m in diameter along the route. The first
tunnel is due to be energised in 2016, with the
whole project scheduled for completion in
2018.
This is a design and build contract, a version
of the IChemE Burgandy Book, with a pain-
TUNNELLING JOURNAL 17
TJ_1212_016_020.qxd:Feature 15/12/12 23:01 Page 18

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18 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
TJ_1212_016_020.qxd:Feature 15/12/12 23:01
Figure 1: Plan map of the complete system of cable tunnels
currently being constructed under London
Hackney to St Johns Wood.
12.8km of 4m diameter Tunnel
Willesden to St Johns Wood.
7.2km of 3.16m diameter Tunnel
Kensal
Green
Willesden
substation St Johns Wood
substation
es
am
Th
River
Wimbledon to Kensal Green
gain share element which is modified
according to the contractors performance
against a series of KPIs (key performance
indicators). Safety is of extreme importance to
National Grid, says Mackenzie.
Getting the right approach to safety
requires a change in thinking, says
Mackenzie. The old ways of get it done and,
sure it will be all right just wont do any
more.
Some of the measures which Costain has
employed to minimise the risks of accidents
include installing CCTV on every crossing so
that any incidents can be recorded and lessons
learned, and a laser controlled system at the
pit bottom which stops drivers if any part of
the train is out of its kinetic envelope.
Record attempt
Around Mackenzies desk, the route of the
Willesden to St Johns Wood drive is pinned to
two of his walls. Running largely alongside the
route of the Grand Union Canal, it looks like a
very wiggly worm drawn by a child.
Only the last section coming into St Johns
Wood is straight and it is on this run that the
tunnelling team are eying up the Amec record
of 501m in a week. The Amec achievement is
recorded on a certificate, displayed on one of
the site office desks.
It would be great to do it, because it would
validate the design criteria of the machine
although consistency is more important to this
project than record breaking, says Mackenzie.
The tender rate is 30 rings a shift which is
360m a week. Thats a mighty ask, says
Mackenzie. To maintain that average means
that everything has to be working in the high
ninety percentiles, week in, week out. That will
require strong planning and maintenance
scheduling and it doesnt account for
Page 19
Hackney
substation
Above: Breakthrough
after 600m. Right:
Cutterhead condition
after 600m
breakages: its a new machine and we have no
history of component life cycles therefore parts
of it may well break without warning.
Although the best advance achieved so far
in one shift is 40 rings (48m), Mackenzie says
that they are not quite there yet in terms of
speed. Its not a TBM issue, its a system
issue, he says. The TBM has been working
in the high 90s but the total system efficiency
is somewhat less.
Among the system issues which have
slowed things down have been some
problems with the rolling stock. For example,
battery life is less than expected necessitating
more frequent battery changes during the
shift. There are a number of factors at play
here, says Mackenzie, but he has tackled one
of them which is the complexity in charging
and maintaining full battery charge, by
employing a dedicated battery charging
person.
The Caterpillar machine launched from
Willesden in March 2012, arriving at the
Channel Gate Road shaft, 660m away, in May.
and lined over 5000m without any significant
TBMS
That first section has been cleaned out, with a
few of the brackets which will hold the huge
cables installed and waiting for inspection by
National Grid. Balfour Beatty will be installing
the cables, employed directly by the client.
Having arrived at Channel Gate Road,
where the site offices for the project are
located, Evelyn headed off towards the Kensal
Green 1 shaft where a headhouse will be
located, arriving at the beginning of
September.
Costain constructed the tunnel through the
shaft, using bolted concrete segments
supported by a bespoke transit frame and side
propping, which took around a week. The
main reason was to
Left: Breakthrough maintain the return
at Kensal Green ventilation, says
Mackenzie, but also to
isolate the tunnel from future activities in the
shaft.
Now the Cat TBM is heading to St Johns
Wood, with a planned arrival early January.
This is the first time Costain has utilised an
electric drive TBM, says Mackenzie. To date
it has been very reliable. We have excavated
problems.
Some scraper teeth changes have been
required, along with modifications to the
gauge scrapers/wipers for the cutting head.
We found that when we were going round
TUNNELLING JOURNAL 19
TJ_1212_016_020.qxd:Feature 15/12/12 23:01
TBMS
the 250m radius, the wipers were cutting
larger than they should have been which
gave us steering issues and ring build issues,
says Mackenzie. So we trimmed them
down by 10mm and that seems to have
done the trick.
Progress for the Herrenknecht machine has
been slower. It began its launch in
September 2011 from Eade Road in Haringey
heading towards St Johns Wood and to date
has completed 50% of the drive with a best
output of 22 rings (28.6m) in a shift.
Evelyns next launch, from Wandsworth
heading South, may not be as smooth as the
first. Due to the configuration of the shaft
and fore/back shunt lengths available we will
have to launch in short mode. This machine
is not designed to carry that out easily, says
Mackenzie. It will be the same story when
the TBM comes back to Wandsworth to
head North.
Whereas the old hydraulic motor driven,
pre PLC machines could be operated in short
mode by installing a suitable power pack in
the stationary shell, the modern machines
cannot. There are four electric motors to
drive the head, controlled by variable
frequency drives (VFDs) in gantry 6. There are
two transformers on gantries 6 and 7, and
between gantry 7 and the head there are
four PLCs which have to talk to each other all
the time. You basically have to have all the
seven gantries together, or simulate that,
says Mackenzie.
At Willesden, there was a 100m straight
section at the beginning of the drive allowing
Costain to construct an adit in which to fully
assemble the machine. At Wandsworth there
is only a 22.8m straight section before the
route hits a 250m radius curve. This curve
will also provide another challenge as the
conveyor belt is 40m long and belts like
being installed in straight lines.
Its either build the rest of the backup on
the surface and take a huge umbilical into
shaft or take the bits you need off the
backup and put them on a frame and take
them into the shaft with an umbilical, says
Mackenzie. The closer you can get the
control centres to the head, the less extra
cable you need. Mackenzie thinks the
frame option may be the best one as it
20 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
Page 20
Left: The
segments
for the
wedgeblock
lining
Below:
Tunnelling
through
London Clay
would be too expensive to build on the
surface.
Machines can be customised for short
launch situations, says Lau, but when it must
launch in different modes, compromises
inevitably have to be made
Typically you would use umbilicals with
the TBM backup on the surface, says Lau
or if the shaft size allows, mount key
components such as motor control centres,
VFDs and the main sub station in the bottom
of the shaft and start mining from that. From
the contractors standpoint, managing the
extra hoses and cables is the headache.
Crossrail competition
This is the first project that Mackenzie has
worked on to employ the traditional wedge
block system to line the clay tunnel. Rather
than bolted segments with gaskets and grout,
there are seven pieces to a ring and the
seventh is a key which is pushed in at the top
of the tunnel to expand the ring onto the clay.
The segments on this section of the London
Power Tunnels are 1.2m long, which can
make life interesting on those 250m radius
curves. The challenge is to get the ring to
build properly, says Mackenzie. The driver
must drive as smoothly as possible to maintain
the correct excavated profile but the machine
is very short because there is no tailcan on it
which means that it reacts very quickly to
steering changes. A longer TBM is more
predictable to a certain extent when you
change direction.
An adaptation to the Cat machines helps
with the handling of the large lining
segments. The new Cat machines have a new
towing system too: rather than towing chains
that ran from the stationary shell back to the
first belly plate, it has a towing beam. For this
machine, the second section of the tow beam
has two small cranes for segment handling
purposes, a modification which was
suggested by Costain.
The towing beam is standard but for this
machine we worked out a strategy to modify
the beam so that you can manoeuvre
segments which gives the contractor
flexibility, says Lau. That wouldnt be
applicable for every machine because having
that capability extends the length of the TBM
and that might not be the best strategy for
every client. Our aim is to keep the machines
as compact as possible.
Using the wedge block system gets
interesting when the tunnel runs through
ground containing greasy backs: joints in the
clay which has been infilled with a fine layer of
soil or silt. When you expose them, the joints
have no cohesive strength and lumps just drop
down, says Mackenzie. The biggest one to
date has been in the order of 0.25 tonnes. A
series of spring steel fingers are installed at the
back of the stationary can to provide
protection over the top and shoulders of the
excavated ground
With the fingers installed the greasy backs
are not considered a safety risk but they can
and do create voids behind the tunnel lining
which must be grouted. Since there are no
gaskets, the joints between the tunnel lining
segments have to be pointed up before any
grouting takes place.
The key voids must also be filled on a
regular basis to prevent the clay drying out, a
job traditionally done using a rat bag which is
a hessian bag filled with sand and cement. But
Costain abandoned rat bags on the London
Power Tunnels project due to safety concerns.
The required rat bags were 20kg, and
needed a man to hold them in place while the
key segment was pushed in at 3000 psi.
Instead they are hand mixing a reinforced
caulking mortar, Terracaulk 40 AF, which is
placed in two operations, one during
tunnelling and one during the clean up phase.
Though the wedge block lining method was
new to some of the tunnellers, as well as to
Mackenzie, others had experience with it.
Theyve certainly got experience of it now,
says Mackenzie.
The biggest challenge for Mackenzie and
the London Power Tunnels project does not
come from the curves, the ground, the
machines or the logistics. The biggest problem
is competition from Crossrail. We appear to
be the training ground for Crossrails loco
drivers, says Mackenzie.
Staff and operatives are constantly being
poached to work on Crossrail. It is proving
difficult to find people, says Mackenzie.
Experienced engineers are as rare as hens
teeth.
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TJ_1212_022_032.qxd:Feature 16/12/12 15:52 Page 22

TBMS

Hybrid TBM
and Drill-and-Blast
from the start
Nick Barton of NB&A,Oslo, Norway describes the importance of
considering a mixed approach to long and deep tunnel construction
THE WRITER HAS been involved in the last
stages of several TBM projects where the
choice of TBM has clearly been incorrect,
and the machine remains in the mountain
forever, or is severely damaged and has to
be removed. He has also been involved in
projects where drill-and-blast from the other
end has been advised at an early stage, but
ignored until very late, with adverse
consequences on completion dates, due to
too late abandonment of the TBM method,
and fatal consequences for some workers.
Such extremes are unnecessary if more
designers were aware of the inevitable
deceleration that accompanies TBM
tunnelling, notwithstanding learning
curves and some good or extremely good
progress through favourable rock masses,
the latter also meaning favourable hydro-
geologies.
eventually engaged as an outside industry, with concentration mostly on
consultant, a wide-reaching survey of case solving the penetration rate PR and cutter
records was undertaken in Barton (2000), in life aspects of TBM prognosis. While
order to try to find a better basis for TBM jointing effects may be approximately
advance rate prognosis, which also included accounted for, the inclusion of faulting
poor rock conditions. It appeared that poor delays is usually avoided. The variable
conditions (as relating to faults) were strengths of rock masses (as opposed to
usually treated as special cases in the UCS), compared to cutter thrust levels,
Figure 1: Results of analyses of 145 lengths of tunnel with specific properties,
involving about 1000km of open-gripper TBM case records (Barton, 2000).
(Note: PR = penetration rate, AR = actual advance rate, U = utilization when
boring, and T = time in hours). The best performances, termed WR (world
record) are represented by the uppermost lines showing best shift, day, week,
and month. At the other extreme, and often explainable by low Q-values, are
the so-called unexpected events, where faulting, extreme water, or
combinations of faulting and water, or squeezing conditions, or general lack of
stand-up time, may block the machine for weeks or months. Some examples of
the most adverse crosses will be shown later.

Reversed logic for TBM m/hr m/hr

TBM tunnelling and drill-and-blast 10 10
tunnelling show some initially confusing
best AR=PR.T m
5 5
reversals of logic, with best quality rock 4 average 4
giving best advance rates in the case of drill- 3 WR 3
Penetratration rate

and-blast, since support needs may be

Advance rate

2 2
minimal. TBMs may be penetrating at their 1 good
1 1
slowest rates in similar massive conditions, if
2 fair
UCS and quartz % are high, due to rock-
.5 3 poor .5
breakage difficulties, cutter wear, and .4 .4
therefore the need for too-frequent cutter .3 .3
change, the latter affecting the advance .2
e.g. Q 4 ext. p .2
rate AR. This reversed trend for slow TBM =0.1 oor
.1 .1
tunnelling in best quality, highest velocity
1hr 1day e 1wk 1mth 1yr
(VP) rock has been demonstrated on many .g.
Q=0
projects. The improved rock mass quality U . 01
ne
associated with higher Vp may not give the xp
expected advantages for TBMs, as less ec
te
jointing makes for a reduced penetration d
ev
rate, and an increased frequency of cutter e.g en
change reduces advance rate. .Q t s
=0
.0 01
Law of deceleration for TBM
As an indirect result of several seriously ? ?
delayed TBM projects, where the writer was

22 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
TJ_1212_022_032.qxd:Feature 16/12/12 15:52 Page 23

TBMS

seem also to be absent in past and recent difficult for TBMs, with or without double- Equation 3 is important because very
competing models of prognosis. Rock mass shields (Theological-empirical means that negative (-)m values make the component
1/(1+m)
strengths can be estimated from lack of belief will be paid for, in one way or too large. If the fault zone is wide
5Qc1/3MPa. another). (large L) and PR is low (due to gripper
The numerous (145) cases analysed, We need three basic equations to start problems and collapses etc.) then L/PR gets
totalling 1000km of TBM tunnelling, shown with: too big to tolerate a big component 1/(1+m) in
in Figure 1, showed general deceleration AR = PR U equation 3. It is easy (all too easy) to
trends when advance rate was plotted for U = Tm calculate an almost infinite time for
various time periods. The classic TBM- T = L/AR passing through a fault zone using this
equation linking advance rate to (Obviously the time T needed for length L theo-empirical equation. This also agrees
penetration rate in fact needs to be must be equal to L/AR, for all tunnels and with reality, in numerous, little-reported
modified to a time-dependent form, to all TBMs.) cases. The writer knows of several
capture the seldom acknowledged reality, as permanently buried, or fault-destroyed
indicated below: Therefore we have the following: TBMs (Pont Ventoux, Dul Hasti, Pinglin) and
T = L / (PR Tm). But T appears on both rockburst damaged or destroyed TBMs
The conventional equation: AR = PR U (1) sides: (Olmos, Jinping II). There are certainly many
(where U= fraction of time utilized for more, and the causes can often be related
boring) Therefore it can be rewritten as: to the logic and experience which are
T = (L/PR) 1 /(1+m) (3) embedded in equation 3.
The realistic equation: AR = PR Tm (2) So far this equation seems to be absent
(where m is a negative gradient of
deceleration, and T is actual total hours:
Figure 3: Cutter-head trapped in faulted meta-sandstones, as described by
e.g. 168hrs/week).
Shen et al., (1999).
This deceleration stands in strong contrast
to the expected learning curve or initial
speed-up of PR and AR, usually experienced
in the first months of numerous TBM
projects, as contractors/operators get
familiar with a new TBM. The deceleration
with time and tunnel length is a fact-of-
life, however much it may be disliked.
ARmean (when expressed in m/hr) has to
decline when 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, and
1 year are each evaluated in turn, for any
given project. Of course one can select
projects where this is not so, but there will
usually be geological reasons for breaking
this deceleration logic.

Why fault zones may delay TBMs

There are unfortunately very good theo-
empirical reasons why fault zones are so

from other literature, as the fundamental

Figure 2: Unexpected events seen delaying TBM performance in Figure 1, can importance of deceleration (-m) has not
be directly linked to too low Q-values, where steeper gradients of deceleration been acknowledged, at least in public.
(-m) are seen. Just as in drill-and-blast tunnels, it is this region of the rock mass TBMs must follow a negative m-value, even
quality spectrum that may have greatest benefit from pre-injection. when breaking world records, like 16km in
one year, or 2.5km in one month, even
100m in 24 hours, since even here, PR is
Exceptionally Extremely Very Very Ext. Exc. sure to be greater than the implied and
Poor Fair Good good
poor poor poor good good remarkable AR 4.4m/hr.
Gradient of declining advance (m)

-1.0
-0.9 Examples of fault zone challenges
-0.8 The Pinglin Tunnel, with a stoppage event
-0.7
shown in Figure 3, is an example of TBM
-0.6
-0.5 tunnelling (actually three parallel tunnels),
-0.4 where serious faults caused such large
-0.3 cumulative delays, that drill-and-blast
-0.2 rescue from the other (western) end was
-0.1 finally allowed for completion, after some
0
13 years of struggle to drive this 15km long
.001

.002
.003
.004

.01

.02
.03
.04

0.1
.2
.3
.4

1
2
3
4

10
20
30
40

100
200
300
400

1000

twin-road tunnel. The pilot tunnel of 5m

RQD Jr Jw span had to be by-passed at least 12 times
Rock mass quality Q = ( )x( )x( ) to release the cutter-head, and this was
Jn Ja SRF
witnessed by the writer several times,

TUNNELLING JOURNAL 23
TJ_1212_022_032.qxd:Feature 16/12/12 15:53 Page 24

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World Tunnel Congress 2013
May 31 June 7, 2013
Geneva, Switzerland

Welcome to the land of mountains

and valleys, the land of some of the most
spectacular tunnels and galleries.
Welcome to Switzerland
the host country of the WTC 2013.

World Tunnel Congress 2013

organized by Swiss Tunnelling Society (STS)
Rheinstrasse 4 7320 Sargans Switzerland www.wtc2013.ch
TJ_1212_022_032.qxd:Feature 16/12/12 15:53 Page 25

TBMS

during conferences and courses occurring in
Taiwan in this period.
One of the two large diameter TBMs at
Pinglin was crushed in the first difficult
kilometres, by collapse of a major fault
zone, that had been successfully passed by
the cutter-head. The majority of the
northern tunnel therefore had to be
excavated by drill-and-blast, also with great
and capabilities.
The 7km headrace tunnel for the Pont
Ventoux HEP in the mountains in the north-
west of Italy, was driven parallel to a
marked NW-SE trending valley, and also
parallel to swarms of faults hidden under
slope screes. They represented the ultimate
repeated challenge. At one location, the
fault zone performance was 7 months for
only 20m of advance, representing an
average advance rate
AR=20/(7720)=0.004m/hr. This is almost
off the bottom of the chart, in the
unpredicted events area of Figure 1, where
crosses (+) are plotted. During 2004 the
tunnel was completed by drill-and-blast
from the other end of the tunnel, by-
passing the abandoned and rusting TBM.

Figure 4: Cutter-head of a large Figure 5: A fault of moderate width with clay core, but with high water
TBM (11.9m) and pilot TBM, pressure on one side, proved to be an insurmountable problem for the poorly
released on successive occasions. equipped inherited TBM. Note the 5 months of superimposed geologists
Photo: Dr. Chris Fong. observations, during 25m of stop-go lack of progress.

2750 fault
BH ? * ?
?
4/6/98 29/6/98 3/11/98 75 17/11/98 19/11/98 16/11/98 Open cave
shaft due
to erosion
2720 2730 2740 void

void
Continuous
steel sets void void
(css) css css
void

Jointed Visible thickness

hanging (of clay) 0.4-0.8m
wall
8/12/98
Natural
BH shaft erosion
to many
7/12/98 10s of metres
8
13/ 12/9 cave

6/9
8 1 /12/98
29/ cave

8m 19/11/98
-1 cave
10 cave
2720 2730 2740 blocks
and
rock fragments css fines
blocks
up to 0.3-0.4m3 and
css jammed in void fines

Figure 6: The inherited TBM had no

difficulties at times, including a 7000m3
inrush of clay, rock and water that buried a
tunnel worker and excavation equipment,
moving the tunnel face backwards by
about 100m. The resulting void 100m
ahead had somehow to be negotiated.
Unlike with headrace tunnels conducting
water, traffic cannot be expected to
negotiate a by-pass, especially not speeding
trains. So voids have to be solved when
reached.
The challenge of faults with water
Faults often consist of more fractured rock,
and there may be an increasing frequency
of clay-coated discontinuities as a central
clay core is approached. If this situation is
worsened by the presence of high-pressure
water on one side of the clay core, a
situation arises that is an especially severe
test of the TBM and contractors ingenuity
probe drilling capability. The cutter-
head was repeatedly blocked by
falling rock blocks from the rapidly
eroding fault plane. The black void
extends upwards and forwards by
10 to 15m, and its source is sketched
in Figure 5.
Deceiving VP of faults at depth
Two diverging boreholes can be seen in the
top diagram of Figure 5. These were used for
cross-hole seismic tomography. Interestingly,
because of the 700-800m depth of cover,
the obviously known diagonally intersected
fault was hardly visible some 10s of meters
ahead of the tunnel face. This was
presumably because of stress/compaction
effects on Vp, as discussed in Barton (2006),
and illustrated in Figures 7 and 8.
This fault compaction phenomenon has been
experienced in tunnels in Japan, as shown in
Figure 9, where a tunnel collapse was
registered, despite the possibility of
preparation for a reduced velocity, some
distance ahead of the tunnel face.
There are many examples of double-shield
TBMs getting stuck in fault zones, and such
delays are often removed from the
generally excellent TBM performance

TUNNELLING JOURNAL 25
TJ_1212_022_032.qxd:Feature 16/12/12 15:53 Page 26

TBMS

Double shield or open gripper?

Figure 7: The P-wave velocity increases as a result of depth or stress increase, In the sections concerning fault
for any given Q-value of rock mass quality. This means that a fault that is challenges to TBMs just presented, the
illuminated by seismic at many hundreds of meters depth will have a obvious general physical advantages of
surprisingly high velocity. However, as illustrated in an alternative double-shield TBMs have not been
presentation of this depth trend in Barton (2006), it is the contrast in velocity discussed. These machines of course have
to the surrounding country rock that is important, as seen in Figure 8. the possibility to push off the last ring of
PC-elements, if conditions for gripper
thrust are lost in faulted, clay-bearing, or
Qc Vp Emass Approx. over-breaking rock. This ability may save-
range
Rock mass quality Seismic velocity Deformation modulus of the-day if the quality of the fault zone is
( Vp - 0.5) deform. not too low.
Vp ~ logQc + 3.5 (km/s) Emass ~ 10.Qc1/3(GPa) Emass =10 (GPa) moduli
3.0 A useful case record in this connection
Emass Emass
(min) (mean) is the joint performance of four 9m
Extremely Very Poor Fair Very Ext. Exc.
Good good
poor poor good good (GPa) diameter TBMs, boring 14km each to
create the Guadarrama high-speed rail
100 100
Aproximate tunnels north of Madrid. The gradients
6.0 depth H(m) 6.0 53 68
1000 (-)m of deceleration (Figure 1) were about
30 46

W
750 half of the trends from 1000km of open-
5.0 500 5.0 17 32
Seismic velocity (km/s)

250 9 22 gripper TBMs for this 56km of mountain

100
4.0 50 4.0 5 15 tunnelling, often in granites. The mean
1
25 2 3 10 PR was only 2m/hr, but the efficiencies of
6
3.0 10 3.0 2 7 double-shield meant that final
20
30 1 5 performance had climbed into good
2.0 2.0 0.5 3 performance, by the end of the 30 to 33
Aproximate
porosity n% 0.3 2 months needed to tunnel 14km. This is
1.0 1.0 0.2 1.5 shown by the crossed ellipse far to the Proma
0.1 1.0
right in Figure 10. It is naturally a better the F
0 0
result than the first kilometer of another
0.01 0.1 1 4 10 40 100 400 1000
double-shield case record, where
RQD Jr Jw c performance was no better than open-
Qc = x x
Jn Ja SRF 100 gripper TBM, due to time loss from
unexpectedly high RMR and Q-values,
and exceptional cutter wear statistics.

Figure 8: Rock mass quality Qc-value isolines showing variation of P-wave The challenge of high rock stress
velocity with depth. The high velocity fault encountered at great depth may In recent years there have been many TBM
Fire P
be (or will be) a huge threat to tunnelling, especially to TBMs, because when tunnels with depth of cover > 1km, a few
it is exposed or at least unloaded at the face or side of the tunnel, its true also > 2km, and in two cases known to PROMAT
character becomes evident. Barton (2006). the writer, even 2.5km for short sections.
Tested
Both have suffered TBM damage or
tunnel
P- Wave Velocity (km/s) Fire tes
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
There are many iron tu
Panels
100 100
examples of inspec

200
n% = 20 5 1
200
double-shield TBM
N
300 300
getting stuck in visit
Qc = 0.001 0.01 0.1 1.0 10 100 fault zones, and
400 400
J
such delays are
Depth (m)

Depth (m)

500
1 2 3 4 5 (s -1)
500
often removed
600 600
from the generally
700
N = effect of increased porosity
700 excellent TBM
800 800 performance
J = effect of reduced jointing
900 Fault zone at
depth 700 - 800m ? Country rock ?
900 reported, as if they
1000 1000 were special cases Clyde
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
destruction due to rock bursting. Lives
have been lost in several deep TBM
reported, as if they were special cases. This is Yen are running also, possibly due to the tunnels in the last 20 years, and continue
understandable, but T (hours) is still running wrong choices (in retrospect) that were made to be lost even in the last few years. For
in reality. Unfortunately $ and Euro and some years earlier. some reason, drill-and-blast was usually

26 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
TJ_1212_022_032.qxd:Feature 16/12/12 15:53 Page 27

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TJ_1212_022_032.qxd:Feature 16/12/12 15:53 Page 28

TBMS

was updated to include the dimensioning of

Figure 9: In-tunnel seismic warns of a reduced velocity ahead (4.1km/s S(fr) or steel fiber reinforced shotcrete,
reducing to 3.7km/s). Despite the warning, tunnel collapse occurred already at which could be used to increase safety
the 4.1km/s location. See Hayashi and Saito (2001). when excavating deep road tunnels. A
notable case was the 24.5km Lrdal Tunnel
4.3 in western Norway, where mountain cover
The tunnel face at measurement (439m) reached 1.4km, and where stress-fracturing
4.2 A tunnel face collapsed (544m) and rock bursting were frequent in some
sections.
4.1 On the basis of case records of about
fifteen deep road tunnels in Norway,
where maximum tangential stresses ()
Velocity (km/s)

4.0
were mostly estimated to be in the range
Receivers for the in-tunnel
3.9 of 50 to 100MPa, and from some even
seismic reflection method
higher stress experiences in China, the
3.8 recommended SRF (stress reduction factor)
ratings shown in Table 1 were developed
3.7 for excavations in massive, burst-prone
rock masses (Barton and Grimstad, 1994).
Analysis result with an in-tunnel source
3.6 Independently from the above SRF update
Analysis result without an in-tunnel source
dating from 1993/1994, and this time
3.5 coming from the field of mining as opposed
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 to deep transport tunnels, the collection of
Distance (m) case records shown in Figure 13 also shows
stress-fracturing initiating when the
stress/strength ratio /c exceeds about
Figure 10: Early learning-curve months (1 to 4) of a double-shield project in 0.4-0.5.
massive abrasive granites. The ellipse to the right-hand side shows the mean There is some controversy concerning the
performance of four 9m diameter double-shield TBM boring a total of 56km. reason for the stress-fracturing starting
See Figure 1 for the source of this PR-AR-T method of plotting TBM progress, already when the maximum stress is only
starting with PR on the left axis, and showing advance rate (AR) progress with 0.4 to 0.5 x the UCS (laboratory-scale
time T, each on a log-log basis. Note the typical deceleration trends.
Figure 11: Four types of rock
1 10 100 1,000 10,000 100,000 mass, only one of which is
10 10 actually positive for TBM (#1,
ideally jointed: very fast progress
5 5 possible). Case #2 is designed to
4 4
3 3 represent a hard massive abrasive
2 best 2 rock like quartzite or granite, with
Penetratration rate (m/h)

good PR as low as 1 to 2m/hr, and 2 to

1 #3, #4 1
Advance rate (m/h)

3m per cutter change. This poor

0.5 #4 0.5 performance would be related to
0.4 0.4
0.3 #2, #3 fair 0.3 low values of cutter-life index CLI,
0.2 poor 0.2 one of the parameters used in the
#1 QTBM method of Barton (2000),
extre
0.1 mely 0.1 shown briefly in Figure 12. Case
poor
0.05 0.05
#3 may trap a TBM shield due to
0.04 0.04 squeezing. Case #4 is designed to
0.03 0.03
represents either erosion in
0.02 0.02
faulted rock, sometimes giving
0.01 0.01 cutter-head blockage, or stress-
1day 1wk 1mth 1yr 5 yrs induced fracturing.

not the method of first choice in these

projects, and because the tunnels were 2 4 1 3
long, the TBM method was chosen. This
may be a recipe for delay and worker
injury, if not loss of life. Many projects
first driven by TBM have been rescued by
late decisions to drill-and-blast from the
other end, or to drill-and-blast in the high
cover sections. The need for changed
plans seems to have been caused by
unjustified optimism that TBM are faster
for long tunnels.
In 1993 the case-record based Q-system

28 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
TJ_1212_022_032.qxd:Feature 16/12/12 15:53 Page 29

TBMS

(refer to the empirically based Figure 2

Figure 12: This chart shows some elements of the QTBM method of TBM gradients of (-)m.)
prognosis developed by Barton (2000). High Q and high RMR rock mass Since Q is a much used method of
quality values are (also) bad news for TBM because low PR means low cutter- quantifying rock mass quality in numerous
life, also reducing AR, as seen by the five arrows used to locate the three countries, and since it also correlates with
highest RMR classes at their approximate Q-values. Note that the Q-value can seismic velocity, it is logical to suggest
have similar magnitude to the QTBM value, provided that sufficient cutter that the rock mass quality estimates,
force F is available in relation to the estimate of rock mass strength SIGMA. when sufficiently well documented (e.g.
Other parameters shown are quartz content (q) and the biaxial stress on the 3km of Class 1, 10km of Class 2, 1.2km
face of the tunnel (), which is estimated for convenience of calculation, to of Class 3, approx. 650m of Class 4, and
be about 5MPa per 100m depth. approx. 150m Class 5 for an imaginary
15km long planned tunnel) should or
Relative difficulty of ground for TBM use could form the basis for selecting the
method of excavation.
Very May be
problematic problematic Fair Good Very good Good Fair Tough In this exercise one must especially note
the dominance (or absence) of ideal
th
eo ly

QTBM (5/PR) 5 central qualities, where TBM will easily

re
on

tic

win the race with drill-and-blast. Even

al

PR 5(QTBM) -0.2 more important: where in the project, and

10 10 how many kilometers, are the adverse
9 op 9 qualities for TBMs? Unfortunately severely
8 re d e r a RMR III 8
uc tor
es usu
faulted rock and the extremes of massive
7 Unstable: 7

AR (m/h)
PR (m/h)

th r a ll
Collapse, severe
us y
t
RMR II hard rock are both adverse for TBMs.
6 RMR I 6
5 overbreak, gripper-problems, Av. 5 Many parameters are important, including
4 cutter head seizure, PR 4 UCS (uniaxial compressive strength), q%
squeeze, flooding, etc. (hs)
3 24 Av. 3 (quartz content), CLI (cutter life index),
2 168 AR 2 and specific information about the
1 1 character of known fault zones (from
720
characterization of core, from refraction
0.001 0.003 0.01 0.03 0.1 0.3 1 3 10 30 100 300 1000 seismic, and from cross-hole seismic
RQD 0 Jr Jw SIGMA 20 q tomography).
QTBM = x x x x x x In Figure 15, imaginary rock mass
Jn Ja SRF F 10/209 CLI 20 5
quality statistics are presented for a

Table 1: SRF, the 6th parameter in the Q-value Figure 13: Initiation of stress fracturing and increased
estimation, is based on the ratio of maximum break-out when the stress/strength ratio /c exceeds
tangential stress/UCS for the case of rock-burst prone 0.4-0.5, from Martin et al. (2001). The case records are
massive rock. Note initiation of steep SRF gradient mostly from mining and nuclear waste research tunnels.
when /c exceeds 0.4-0.5. Extracted from Barton
and Grimstad (1994).

uniaxial compressive strength). A simple-
minded explanation is that there is a strong
(Weibull-based) scale effect on UCS as
sample size increases, so that UCS x 0.4-0.5
can be an approximate in situ estimate of
large-scale strength. Two equations for this
strength reduction, from Hoek and Brown
and Wagner were compared and simplified
in Barton (1987), and show a reduction of
about 50% or more, at scales of 1 to 2m.
TBM or Drill & Blast?
In Figure 14 the choice between drill-and-
blast and TBM tunnelling is clearly shown
to be Q-value dependent, with adverse
effects for TBMs at extremely low and
high rock mass qualities. Q appears as the
first six parameters in QTBM (see Figure 12)
and Q also determines the utilization (or
()m = deceleration gradient), but only
when Q -values are significantly below 1.0
planned 5km long tunnel, and for a much
longer 25km long tunnel. As may be
noted, there are assumed to be more
extreme value rock quality statistics in
the longer tunnel, such as harder rock
(HH) and more serious faults (FF), and
greater cover. It is clear from the Figure 14
comparison of drill-and-blast and TBM
progress, each as a function of Q-value,
that the TBM will struggle more at both

TUNNELLING JOURNAL 29
TJ_1212_022_032.qxd:Feature 16/12/12 15:53
TBMS
Figure 14: A Q-value and QTBM-value based comparison of drill-and-blast and
(open-gripper) TBM tunnelling, using respectively cycle-time and PR-AR-m
estimation. The tabulations of respective Q and QTBM could have similar
magnitudes (e.g. with cutter force = 20 tons in rock masses with 20MPa rock
mass strength SIGMA (= 5 QC1/3), where Qc = Q x c/100 and = density.
200
Average rates of advance for TBM
decline more strongly with increased
tunnel length or time of measurement
than they do in D+B tunnelling.
150
m/week
100
50
0
0 0.01 0.1
Q-value
ends of the rock quality statistic.
Recent RMR and Q statistics at a tunnel
in very massive granites, and the slow
progress by double-shield TBM, following
incorrect site description, suggest that
drill-and-blast tunnelling would have been
faster, at least in the absence of a higher-
powered TBM. There are also examples of
slow TBM progress being rescued by
drill-and-blast, in the case of a Chinese
tunnel that needed to be completed by
the millennium of 12 years ago.
The problem is that very adverse
(massive rock) with Q-values mostly in
excess of 200, plus adverse quartz
content, adverse UCS, and adverse cutter
life index, will collectively guarantee the
need for a generous budget of time and
The investment in
time and money
has been found to
pay off in overall
cheaper and faster
tunneling, partly
because over-break
is reduced and less
S(fr) is needed as
permanent support
30 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
Page 30
TBM
we
ek
ly
m
on
th
ly
D+B
year
ly
?
?
1 10 100 1000
cost for perhaps thousands of cutter
changes, if these adverse (HH) conditions
last for many kilometers.
Drill & Blast single shell NMT
During the last 35 years there have been
huge improvements in TBM technology,
with the wide-spread use of high-thrust,
high torque and double-shield
technology, and the gradually increasing
possibility to efficiently probe drill in
several directions, and to pre-inject in
many more locations around-the-clock
than was possible with TBMs just a few
years ago.
The appreciation of the benefits of pre-
injection has probably come from the use
of successively higher pressures (5 to
10MPa, as in Figure 16), and the use of
more expensive micro- or ultrafine
cements, from the world of single-shell
(e.g. NMT) tunnelling. The investment in
time and money has been found to pay
off in overall cheaper and faster
tunnelling, partly because over-break is
reduced and less S(fr) is needed as
permanent support.
This has been especially experienced in
Norway where permanent single-shell
B+S(fr) reinforced and supported tunnels,
that have also been systematically pre-
injected to control water, may even then
be only 1/4 to 1/5 the cost of double-
shell NATM-style tunnels, which use
temporary support of B+S(mr) but
Figure 15: The long tunnel by
TBM or hybrid? Adverse
extreme value statistics for rock
mass quality suggest avoidance
of TBM where there is FF-HH-FF
rock in the area of highest cover.
(FF means more serious faulting,
HH means very hard massive
rock). Solution: drive left half
with TBM, drive right half by
drill-and-blast, starting at least 1
year before, so as to get through
the second FF feature before
meeting the TBM, which may
have gone very fast. Of course
central access adits are an
advantage for the drill-and-blast
section, if they are physically
possible.
F H F
T1 = 5km
3 FF F H HH
2
km
1
0
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000
Q - value
F H F FF HH FF F H
T2 = 25km
12 FF F H HH
10
8
6
km
4
2
0
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000
Q - value
increasingly S(fr) - followed by a
membrane, a drainage fleece, and the
final reinforced concrete liner, the latter
of variable thickness, if over-break has
not been filled by other means (i.e.
shotcrete). The relative costs of single-
shell NMT in Scandinavia and double-shell
NATM in Europe and elsewhere, are
about 1 to 5, or roughly US$20-25,000/m
in the case of NMT (single-shell), for
typical rock mass quality Q-values in the
range 0.01 to 100. This can be compared
to US$80-120,000/m for full-blown
NATM, as briefly described above.
Of course it is not infrequent that NMT
is used where the predominant quality Q
TJ_1212_022_032.qxd:Feature 16/12/12 15:53 Page 31

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TUNNELLING JOURNAL 31
TJ_1212_022_032.qxd:Feature 16/12/12 15:53
TBMS
is 1 to 10, while the NATM is used where
the dominant quality Q is 0.1 to 1.0. But
the cost difference is nevertheless an
unnecessary expense, if NMT with pre-
injection is used. The concept of hybrid
tunnelling (TBM and drill-and-blast) in the
same project becomes more attractive if
the drill-and-blast section(s) can progress
at rates that are less affected by hydro-
geological variability, and if they are
complete at break-through, i.e. no
further lining required. In fact it has been
suggested that most if not all of the Q-
parameters improve with high-pressure
pre-grouting. (Barton, 2002, 2011).
Conclusions
1. There are significant numbers of TBM
projects that end up with difficult
decisions to be made, namely to
Figure 16: An illustration of the use of pre-injection using up to 70 holes of
25m length, which are drilled and injected in approximately 24 hours, in a
105m2 high-speed double-track rail tunnel driven in shales, limestones and
through numerous igneous dykes with too much water. Progress was a steady
20m/week for the completed tunnel, virtually independent of pre-conditions.
complete the projects by drill-and-
blast from the other end of the
tunnel.
2. This on its own suggests that the
TBM could or should have been used
only on the better investigated
portion of such projects, for instance
the lower-cover section, with drill-
and-blast started already from the
other end, and deliberately chosen
for the less investigated high cover
sections in the case of tunnelling
32 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
Page 32
through mountainous terrain.
3. The deliberate selection of both TBM
and drill-and-blast may often be a
simple matter of common sense,
giving schedule advantages and cost
savings. This is the preliminary level
of hybrid tunnelling.
4. Very often it is seen that time is lost
while waiting for TBM delivery and
assembly, and great advantages could
be gained by selective use of drill-
and-blast for more than just the
standard TBM assembly chamber and
starter tunnel.
5. A second level of hybrid tunnelling
will be the deliberate choice, because
of the perceived advantages, of open-
gripper TBM and drill-and-blast,
or double-shield TBM and drill-and-
blast.
6. A third level of hybrid tunnelling will
be the deliberate choice, because of
length of tunnel and perceived
advantages, of both open-gripper and
double-shield TBM, together with
drill-and-blast on high cover and
therefore poorly investigated sections.
7. TBM tunnelling and drill-and-blast
tunnelling show quite different
performance in hard, massive abrasive
rock masses, which are adverse for
TBM performance, despite the
excellent stability. TBMs also exhibit
adverse characteristics at the lowest
(severely faulted rock) end of the rock
quality spectrum.
8. TBMs gradually decelerate with time
and tunnel length, even when
breaking records. This is a natural
process that should be a part of any
realistic TBM prognosis, in preference
to denial of its existence.
9. TBMs that are operating in mostly
favourable conditions, may record
remarkable progress, and are
therefore an excellent investment for
part or all of many tunnelling
projects.
10. More uniform tunnelling progress can
be obtained, both in the case of drill-
and-blast and TBM tunnelling, if the
advantages of systematic pre-
injection through problematic
stretches is better appreciated. The
typical 24 hours delay for a pre-
injection umbrella may save weeks
or months in lost production.
REFERENCES
1. Barton, N. 1987. Predicting the behaviour
of underground openings in rock. Manuel
Rocha Memorial Lecture, Lisbon.
www.nickbarton.com, downloads. Also
Geotecnia 53, July 1988 (in Portugese).
2. Barton, N. & Grimstad, E. 1994. The Q-
system following twenty years of application
in NMT support selection. 43rd Geomechanic
Colloquy, Salzburg. Felsbau, 6/94. pp. 428-
436.
3. Barton, N. 2000. TBM Tunnelling in Jointed
and Faulted Rock. Balkema, 173p (Chinese
and Taiwan translations available).
4. Barton, N. 2006. Rock Quality, Seismic
Velocity, Attenuation and Anisotropy. Taylor
and Francis, UK and Netherlands, 729p.
5. Barton, N. 2011/2012. Assessing Pre-
Injection in Tunnelling. Tunnelling Journal,
December 2011/January 2012, pp. 44-50.
6. Hayashi, K. and Saito, H. 2001. Prediction
ahead of the tunnel face by a high-resolution
seismic refraction method with sources placed
in the tunnel. Proc. of 4th Int. Workshop on
Application of Geophysics to Rock
Engineering, Beijing, China. Int. Soc. Rock
Mechanics News Journal, 7(1): 2833.
7. Martin, D.C., R. Christiansson and J.
Soderhall. 2001. Rock stability considerations
for siting and constructing a KBS-3 repository,
based on experience from sp HRL, AECLs
HRL, tunnelling and mining. SKB (Swedish
Nuclear Fuel Co.) Stockholm, TR-01-38.
8. Shen, C.P., Tsai, H.C., Hsieh, Y.S. & Chu, B.
1999. The methodology through adverse
geology ahead of Pinglin large TBM. Proc.
RETC. Orlando, FL. Hilton & Samuelson (eds).
Ch.8: 117-137. Littleton, CO: Soc. for Mining,
Metallurgy, and Exploration, Inc.
 RAPID EXCAVATION AND
TUNNELING June 23-26, 2013
CONFERENCE
RAPID
Marriott EXCAVATION
Wardman Park AND
Washington, D.C.
TUNNELING CONFERENCE

The Rapid Excavation and Tunneling Conference (RETC)

is the premier international forum for the exchange and dissemination of developments and advances in
underground construction. RETC provides innovative solutions to the unique challenges associated with
the tunneling industry. Conference attendance exceeds 1,400 professionals from more than 30 countries.
Industry sectors include: construction, mining, geotechnical engineering, exploration, environmental, eco-
nomics, manufacturing, government, land, water/wastewaster, and transportation.

A comprehensive exhibit is held in conjunction with the conference. The exhibit features the industrys
most innovative and experienced producers and suppliers. RETC provides a rare opportunity to meet key
professionals from around the world.

The meeting will also feature field trips, short courses and specialty speakers. The program will cover:
Contracting Practices and Cost Grouting and Ground Modification East Coast Projects
Design and Planning Hard Rock TBMs SEM/NATM
Difficult Ground Large Span Tunnels and Caverns Shafts and Mining
Drill and Blast Microtunneling and Trenchless Tunneling Tunnel Rehabilitation
Environment, Health, and Safety New and Innovative Technologies Water and Gas Control
Future Projects Pressure Face TBM Case Histories International Projects
Geotechnical Considerations Pressure Face TBM Technology Tunneling for Sustainability
Ground Support and Final Lining Risk Management

For more information contact: RETC, www.retc.org, meetings@smenet.org,

303-948-4200, 12999 E Adam Aircraft Cir., Englewood, CO 80112.

RETC_2013_TunnellingJournal.indd 1 12/6/12 11:00 AM

TJ_1212_034_037_Desiree.qxd:Feature 15/12/12 22:16 Page 34

Mining through
MECHANIZED
METHODS
Desiree Willis of the
Robbins Company
explains the use of
TBMs in the mining
industry
A GLOBAL POPULATION of seven billion
and counting, combined with unprecedented
demands for everything from iron ore to coal
to nickel, are making one thing certain:
deposits in todays mines are no longer found
near the surface. Mines are reaching farther
underground than ever before to access new
ore bodies and extend the life of long-running
operations. As deposits become deeper,
mechanized methods of excavation such as
TBMs have the advantage over conventional
operations. I see the quest to reach ore
bodies increasing, and this will involve longer
access tunnels. For long distance access TBMs have been used
tunnels, TBMs could give cost and time successfully in mines around
advantages, said Martin Knights, past the worlda Robbins
president of the ITA and global lead machine still in use at the
consultant at Halcrow Group Ltd. Stillwater Mine was
From mechanized excavation to continuous previously used at the
muck removal by conveyor, mines are turning Magma Copper Mine in
to new methods to reach the next level. Arizona, USA (seen here).

34 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
TJ_1212_034_037_Desiree.qxd:Feature 15/12/12
TBM Potential
TBMs are well-suited for main access tunnels,
as well as exploratory bores, ventilation tunnels,
and other types of long tunnels in mines.
Mines that opt for TBMs often employ the
machine for its usable life, boring thousands of
meters of tunnel and spanning decades.
TBMs can reduce the size of the workforce,
and the work environment is better for laborers
as compared with drill and blast. They offer all
of the advantages of mechanical excavation
faster advance, better precision and control,
better ventilation, smoother tunnel profile, less
ground support, and more uniform muck for
processing, said Dr. Jamal Rostami, Centennial
Mining Engineering Chair at Pennsylvania State
University.
Dean Brox, Lead Associate-Tunnels for
Jacobs Associates, adds: Mining projects are
sensitive to overall project economics and
therefore any means of reducing costs of mine
infrastructure with the use of TBMs by faster
22:16 Page 35
TBMS
on Robbins TBMs, provides increased support
for fractured rock and rock bursting conditions.
The roof shield fingers on open-types TBMs are
replaced with a curved assembly of pockets,
allowing steel or wood slats to be bolted to the
tunnel crown continuously as the TBM
advances. The system has been successful in
very deep tunnels with up to 2km of cover.
Though the potential of TBMs is great, there
are some limitations in their use by mines. TBM
use depends on the shape of the ore body, for
example. A long ore body requiring longer
access tunnels would be the most conducive to
mechanical excavation. Other types of ore
bodies would require design improvements to
make TBMs economical. The geometry of
mining operations is invariably complex and
commonly requires variable sizes and
alignments for excavations as part of mining
operations. TBM cutterheads are typically
fabricated to fixed dimensions without the
flexibility to be
Left: Operations at changed and would
Stillwater Mine in require significant
Montana, USA modifications and
include the use of time. TBMs are also
TBMs to bore fabricated with
footwall laterals to limited ability to
access the ore body. excavate sharp
Raise bores are then curves, said Brox. He
constructed for level- continued by saying
to-level access. that flexible
cutterhead sizes that
Far left: Continuous would allow for quick
conveyors have great modifications and a
potential in mines greater ability to
the conveyor system make sharp curves
used at East Side would be beneficial.
Access was used for He is, however,
five years and optimistic in the use
handled muck from of TBMs on steeply
multiple headings. graded access tunnels
in mines: TBMs
have been designed
and more economic completion will be and have successfully completed steeply
beneficial, and will gain recognition in the inclined tunnels for pressure shafts and tunnels
mining industry. In particular, he continued, for hydropower projects as well as declines for
TBMs that can efficiently excavate tunnels with escalators to access underground subway
high overburden at decline gradients for access stations.
and mine operation are particularly attractive.
He cautions that the geology around ore Conveying Advantages
bodies does require special attention to TBM Continuous conveyors are another way for
ground support. Weak rock conditions can be mines to improve productivity and have been
expected in and around ore bodies due to used in coal mines frequently around the
alteration of the surrounding bedrock world. However, their adoption is still limited in
associated with the ore body. Significant other types of mines. Conveyors are well-
overstressing and/or squeezing may occur in suited to the mining industry because they
these weak rock conditions where tunnel transport large quantities of material steadily
alignments are deep or subjected to high in situ and efficiently along fixed haulage ways. They
stresses. High capacity and/or deformable also work well on an incline, where trains of
support systems may be required for the muck cars will not operate. Muck cars may be
occurrence of significant over-stressing. These used for short distances on a temporary basis
ground support systems may include anything where it is not economical to install a
from yieldable rock bolts to the McNally conveyor, said Mike Gowring, Construction
Ground Support System. The system, Consultant & Tunneling Specialist, who has
developed by C&M McNally for exclusive use consulted on mining tunnels worldwide. Brox
TUNNELLING JOURNAL 35
TJ_1212_034_037_Desiree.qxd:Feature 15/12/12
TBMS
agreed: Mines are increasing their use of
conveyors and since many existing mines are
expanding to higher productivities, conveyors
are the more economical solution.
Moving Muck below the Big Apple
While wide acceptance of continuous
conveyors in mines is still pending, their
successful application in similar conditions is
well documented. At New York Citys East Side
Access subway tunnels, a Robbins continuous
conveyor system hauled muck from
simultaneous TBM operations, as well as drill
and blast and roadheader operations. The
unique system carried up to 1,500 cubic
meters of muck per day up a 23m shaft and
across a busy roadway to a storage yard more
than 370m away.
This job was logistically unique. Not only
was it a massive undertakingwe also had
multiple different headings happening at one
time. There were two TBMs, two roadheaders,
drill and blast operations, concrete operations,
and shotcrete lining operations, all happening
out of one major shaft, said Don Hickey,
Project Manager for the
Dragados/Judlau JV.
The uneven sized pieces of
Manhattan schist, gneiss and
granite rock being conveyed were
similar to what might be
encountered by multiple mining
operations using various excavation
methods. While TBMs tend to
produce fairly uniform-sized rock
chips, drill and blast and roadheader
excavations can result in widely
varying muck consistency.
We limited the oversize rock
with a crusher, but pieces still
occasionally got through. We also
had a grizzly setup at the hopper to The Blitz tunnel drive will be at least 7.1km in length and will shotcrete, and rock bolts to
limit the size of material that the
belt would receive, said Hickey.
The conveyor performed at high
availability throughout the project, despite the
challenges in terms of muck volume and
consistency. Though transfer points had a
tendency to clog, the contractor reduced the
number of transfer points by making the
system a single belt and adding a booster drive,
which increased availability.
The conveyor performed well as long as the
system was maintained and cleaned. We put a
lot of hours on the system and moved a lot of
rock from different types of excavations. We
were satisfied with the conveyor system and
used this equipment for five years, so it has
endured the test of time, said Hickey. Long-
lived conveyors are certainly a plus for mine
use, where equipment is typically in operation
for its useable life.
Montanas Stillwater TBMs
At Stillwater Mine, located in Nye, Montana,
USA, mechanized methods have been in use
for decades. Tyler Luxner, Project Engineer at
36 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
22:16 Page 36
Stillwater Mining Company, believes TBMs Detection of the reef in relation to the TBM
guarantee a fast advance rate in life-of-mine requires careful analysis using two core drills
access tunnels. The common perception in mounted on the machine. Steering the TBM
mining is that TBMs are large and unwieldy is an interesting process because we have very
machines, but we have used them successfully complex geology here. We do diamond (core)
for 24 years. The U.S. mine recently launched drilling ahead of the machine, above the
its fourth TBM, a 5.5m diameter Robbins Main machine, and to the side after every 150m. We
Beam machine, in autumn 2012. drill and log the core right there while we are
Stillwater Mine is the best model, because drilling it, then interpret the results, so it is
of the fact that the company is comfortable concurrent with boring, said Koski.
with TBMs and has used them over and over, The operators then make adjustments to the
said Rostami. The platinum and palladium mine TBM bore path based on the perceived
first purchased a 4m diameter Kelly-type TBM distance to the reef. We dont want to get
in 1988 to excavate a mine access tunnel too far away from or too close to the ore body.
through the areas characteristically layered The ore zone is located in a very distinct layer
gabbro, norite, and anorthosite rock. We of igneous rock, so if we penetrate the right
were faced with trying to further develop the rock types then we know we are in the right
mine and open up its reserves, but one of the place, and if we see some ore we know where
challenges was the ventilation. We wanted to we are. Platinum and palladium is hidden in
base metal sulfides, so we look for the
reduce the cost of driving foot wall laterals, but
didnt want to have vertical ventilation shafts presence of the ore, but those metals are only
drilled, like those that are necessary for D&B. present in core samples about 50% of the
We also determined that ground support for time, so the rock types guide us, said Koski.
circular tunnels would be less, said Mike Geotechnical probe drilling is a regular
Koski, Chief Geologist at Stillwater Mining occurrence on the TBM, in addition to core
drilling to identify the reef position.
At the same time that we are
diamond drilling, we also want to
identify rough ground conditions
that are ahead, such as weak rock,
water, and dykes. We probe ahead
every 170m and look at the
results, and in that way we know
we are placing footwall laterals in
the best possible ground,
continued Koski.
The TBM is excavating Norite
rock and is capable of placing a
variety of ground support
depending on the conditions.
Support ranges from ring beams,
cross several fault lines in mafic norite rock. McNally crown support utilizing
continuous steel slats. Were
expecting mainly competent rock
Company. The mine wound up using that with claylike material in fault zones. Our
machine for several tunnels in the late 1980s standard ground support is welded wire mesh;
and early 1990s. however, if we encounter very poor or blocky
In 1999, Stillwater Mine purchased a ground, we can switch to the McNally support
refurbished Robbins Main Beam TBM from system, said Luxner.
Magma Copper Mine in Arizona, using it to Excavation is planned to take about three
excavate access tunnels in the East Boulder years. Stillwater Mine says it will likely continue
section. The machine has since been used on to use the machine after its initial project, and
nearly 6km of tunnels. Most recently, it began may extend the Blitz tunnel if its successful.
boring a new 2.6km long mine development
tunnel, known as the Graham Creek Mines Moving Forward
Expansion, in 2011. While other mines such as Australias Anglo-
American and Rio Tinto are taking the plunge
Blitz Tunnel into more mechanized technology, Rostami
Stillwater Mines latest endeavor is the Blitz urges greater acceptance across the board:
Tunnel, a development tunnel of at least 7.1km Miners can use TBMs in the same way as civil
that will provide information about the reef infrastructure projectsthe only difference is
along the eastern portion of the mine. that in most tunnelling, the hole in the ground
The Robbins TBM is detecting the location of is the product. In mining, the tunnel is the
the reef in relation to the machine while means to an end. Mining companies need to
simultaneously creating a rail haulage tunnel familiarize themselves with the technology and
that will be used for the life of the mine. become more comfortable in using TBMs with
TJ_1212_034_037_Desiree.qxd:Feature 15/12/12 22:16 Page 37

their own crews. I dont think that has

happened yet.
Gowring had a similar opinion, and offered
an example: This is where TBM manufacturers
and contractors must work together to
persuade mines and encourage them to
consider TBMs. For example, at the proposed
Galore Creek mine in remote northern British
Columbia, a 9km TBM tunnel would be the
only access through a mountain range to reach
the valley where the portal to the mine is
situated. I think TBM tunnels will become more
and more viable to provide access to such ore
bodies deep underground, making their
recovery economically possible. A 5.5 m diameter Robbins Main Beam TBM began excavating the Blitz mine development
Steeply graded TBM drives are gaining tunnel in Autumn 2012.
acceptance. At Australias Anglo-American
Coal Mine, work is moving forward to of softer ground, using a two-stage, center- technologies to lower production costs and
mechanically excavate a decline access tunnel mounted screw conveyor with replaceable improve safety.
using an 8m diameter Robbins hybrid EPBM. inner liner and carbide bits for abrasion With investments in worker training and
The machine will be built using Onsite First protection. A mixed ground cutterhead is fitted skilled crews to operate TBMs and conveyors,
Time Assembly (OFTA) in order to fit within a with interchangeable carbide bits and 17-inch mines can use the equipment at lower costs
tight project schedule. diameter disc cutters. In hard rock mode, which than that of conventional tunneling. Rostami
The 1km decline tunnel, at a grade of 1:6, will be the majority of the tunnel, a telescopic emphasizes that although the capital cost to
will be used for mine access to new coal muck chute is installed around the screw, purchase a TBM is higher, overall costs during
seams. The dual mode machine will tackle allowing rock chips to be loaded and the project can be much lower. In fact, mines
mixed ground conditions ranging from sand transferred to the screw itself. such as Stillwater have reported that their TBM
and clay to varying grades of hard rock up to The upcoming project is just one of several operations run at about 33% of the operating
120MPa UCS and coal seams with possible examples of mechanized mining. At Australias cost of similar D&B operations. TBMs offer a
methane gas present. Rio Tinto, work is ongoing to develop the cheaper cost per meter of tunnel once the
The Class I Division I, Explosion Proof Mine of the Futurea program to create mine is familiar with the method and is able to
machine will begin excavation in about 300m the next generation of mechanized mining run the machine in-house, he concluded.

TUNNELLING JOURNAL 37
TJ_1212_038_043_SLIPFORM.qxd:Feature 16/12/12 01:16 Page 38

Slipforming
the Lee Tunnel
shafts
Innovative
techniques are being
used in East London
to slipform some
mightily impressive
shafts, Kristina
Smith files this report
TJ_1212_038_043_SLIPFORM.qxd:Feature 16/12/12
AT A TIME when many consultants are under
fire for their cut-and-paste approach, the story
behind the design of the Lee Tunnel shafts in
East London is like a breath of fresh air.
Combining a first principles approach to
engineering with a willingness to collaborate,
client Thames Water and JV contractor MVB
(Morgan Sindall, Vinci Construction Grands
Projets and Bachy Soletanche) have developed
an innovative technique for slipforming the
inner lining of the shafts, which has saved time
and money and resulted in a better quality job.
Its retro engineering, says Colin Eddie
managing director of MVBs engineer Morgan
Sindall Underground Professional Services, who
came up with the idea behind the design. Its
a better use of the structural form and a better
use of materials not just a slavish compliance
to a Code of Practice.
Like any good idea, the principle behind the
new slipform inner lining design is simple:
construct a free-standing concrete cylinder and
put it into compression to avoid cracking.
However, the successful execution has required
some serious materials engineering to get the
right concrete mix, and a robust programme of
tests to prove that it would work.
Know-how for the mix design has come
from Charles Allen, a consultant working
alongside Thames Waters project manager
CH2M Hill, and MVBs chief materials engineer
Martin Rimes. Though Allens official role is to
approve materials and concrete mixes, he took
a hands-on approach to this challenge, says
Eddie: Charles input went far beyond
approval. He was very pro-active in the
development of the concrete mix.
The 635M Lee Tunnel is part of the 5bn
01:17 Page 39
Figure 1: Layout of the shafts and tunnels
Abbey Mills connection shaft (25m, 68m depth)
Will take overflows from CSO to the tunnel
Beckton pumping shaft (38m, 86.5m depth)
Will pump the sewage up to the treatment
works, when appropriate
Beckton connection shaft (25m, 78.5m depth)
To take flows from the tunnel to the pump station
The Plaistow
Thames tunnel Graben
connection
Made ground/alluvium
River Terrace gravel Harwich formation
London Tideway Improvements programme
aimed to stop sewage discharging into
Londons River Thames and its tributary the
River Lee. Thames Water must solve this
problem in order to comply with the Urban
Wastewater Treatment Directive.
When Victorian engineer Bazalgette
designed the sewers 150 years ago, he had far
less volume to cope with. Now, as little as 2mm
of rainfall can cause the combined surface and
waste water sewers to overflow, according to
Thames Water, with discharges into the rivers
SLIPFORMING
Beckton overflow shaft (20m, 74.5m depth)
Will allow overflows into the River thames
in the event the tunnel reaches capacity
River
Tha
Thames
Be
Beckton
out
outfall
cul
culvert
Suction tunnel The Greenwich
Beckton overflow tunnel fault zone
London Clay Lambeth Group
Thanet Sand White Chalk
occurring around 60 times a year.
The 6.9km, 7.2m diameter Lee Tunnel will
help with around 40% of the problem. As well
as carrying surface and waste water from the
pumping station at Abbey Mills East to
Beckton, it will store 380,000m3 of water when
required until it can be treated at the
refurbished Beckton sewage treatment plant.
The remainder of the overflow events will be
tackled by the Thames Tideway Tunnel, which
will run from East to West London and is
expected to come out for tender next year. Five
sewage treatment plants,
Aerial view including Beckton, are also
showing the being upgraded as part of
inner lining the London Tideway
and annulus at Improvements scheme.
Beckton Since water from the
Thames Tideway Tunnel will
travel with the aid of gravity into the Lee
Tunnel, the Lee Tunnel must lie deep
underground 75m to 80m below ground
level, sitting mostly within chalk. It will be the
UKs deepest tunnel and the four shafts
connected with it are the deepest of their kind
ever built in the UK.
The biggest of the four shafts is the 38m
diameter, 86.5m deep Beckton Pumping shaft
up which the waste water will be pumped for
treatment. The Pumping shaft is connected at
its bottom via a suction tunnel to the 25m
diameter 78.5m deep Beckton Connection
shaft which will fill up with waste water once
the Lee Tunnel is at capacity (figure 1).
To the east, the 20m diameter, 74.5m deep
Beckton Overflow Shaft will allow discharge of
excess waste water to the River Thames once
the system is full. And at the west end, the
Abbey Mills Shaft, 25m diameter and 68m
deep, will take waste water from Londons
largest combined sewer overflow which
TUNNELLING JOURNAL 39
TJ_1212_038_043_SLIPFORM.qxd:Feature 16/12/12
SLIPFORMING
Deep D-walls set new
record for Bachy
The circular diaphragm walls which form
the outer skins of the four shafts for the
Lee Tunnel project in East London are the
biggest ever constructed by Bachy
Soletanche. We have done 1.8m wide
walls before and we have done 100m
deep before, but we have never done a
1.8m-diameter wall, 100m deep, says
Bachy Soletanches Julian Gatward.
Perhaps the biggest ask for Bachy
Soletanche was the verticality tolerance
of 1 in 300. Over a 100m shaft, thats
30cm of tolerance in verticality which is
rather tight to achieve, says Gatward.
Verticality is important because it
ensures that the joints between the
panels, which make up the diaphragm
wall are good. And since a diaphragm
walls job is to keep the water out, good
joints are essential.
The largest diameter shaft, the 38m
pumping shaft at Beckton, has 1.8m-thick
walls. The overflow and connection
shafts have 1.5m walls and the Abbey
Mills shaft walls are 1.2m thick.
To construct an almost circular cross
section, Bachy Soletanche had to build a
many-faceted cylinder, created by
overlapping a series of straight panels.
The contractor uses an excavator to dig
down the first few metres, followed by a
hydrofraise, which works by excavating
the soil in bentonite.
The 2.8m-wide and 11m-tall
hydrofraise has two cutter wheels on its
underside with teeth that churn up the
soil. The bentonite and soil mixture is
then sucked in and pumped up to the
surface where most of the soil particles
are removed from the bentonite.
Bachy constructed the diaphragm walls
from primary and secondary panels. The
primary panels, made from three
adjacent bites of the hydrofraise were
between 6.8m and 7.2m long, with the
secondary or infill panels 2.8m wide.
In order to minimise twist when
digging the secondary panels, it helps to
have the primary panels on either side at
a similar age and strength because the
secondary panel has to eat into the edge
of each of its two neighbours. This is
quite tricky when one panel takes a
week to construct. So to help guide the
hydrofraise down in the right line, Bachy
devised a system which saw polystyrene
strips attached to the rebar cages along
the long sides of the primary panels so
that the hydrofraise could munch
through the polystyrene. Because of the
40 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
01:17 Page 40
pressures at the bottom of the excavated
panels, the polystyrene was pre-
compressed.
The flotation force provided by the
polystyrene was significant: a 27 tonne
cage weighed in at 20 tonnes with its
polystyrene addition, once in the
bentonite. This meant the polystyrene
had to be firmly attached to the rebar to
stop it popping out of the trench.
Once a panel was excavated, the
bentonite which had been used for
digging was replaced with clean
bentonite. Though not all contractors do
this, Bachy think it is vital says Gatward.
The reason is fresh bentonite has a lower
specific gravity than bentonite which,
although it has been through a cleaning
process, still contains tiny soil particles.
When concrete is delivered via tremmies
into the panels, the fresh bentonite will
float upwards, whereas used bentonite
will have a similar specific gravity to the
concrete and just mix with it.
Bachy found on this job that it had to
change the bentonite used for
excavation far more frequently than
intended, since the cleaning equipment
was unable to sufficiently filter out the
tiny chalk particles. This meant a change
in strategy to buy in more fresh
bentonite and offhire some of the
cleaning kit.
As for vertical tolerances, Bachy used
two systems. Inclinometers on the top of
the hydrofraise and pressure pads on the
side of its body helped the operator
guide the machine during excavation.
And then a Koden seismic probe was
lowered into the bentonite post-
excavation to record the cross-section at
different depths. The Lee Tunnel project
was the first time that Bachy had linked
the output from the Koden to a 3D CAD
package, a technique now adopted
group wide. Fortunately there were no
problem areas to identify: We then
looked at 10 slices all the way through
the shaft, so that at each 10m we could
see where they were compared to where
they should be, says Gatward. It gave
us the confidence to carry on excavating
without anticipation of problems.
The diaphragm walls were a great
start, says Mitchell. Now we have
exposed the four shafts we have been
very pleased with the D-walls. None of
them have been out of tolerance and the
tolerance has probably been closer to
1:500 rather than 1:300 in the end.
receives 40% of Londons sewer discharge.
MVB won the 417M tunnelling contract in
January 2010 and started work on site in June
that year. Bachy Soletanche began constructing
the first of the circular diaphragm walls for the
Beckton Overflow shaft in September 2010
with the first shaft excavation within the
diaphragm walls starting in May 2011.
The Herrenknecht slurry TBM began its
challenging launch from the Beckton Overflow
shaft in December 2011. The completion date
for the whole project is April 2015.
The design and build project is being
delivered under the NEC3 form, which
CH2MHills Roger Mitchell, deputy project
manager on the Lee Tunnel, says has nurtured
a spirit of teamwork on the job. And the use of
a Geotechnical Baseline Report (GBR), aimed to
reduce disputes by defining what a contractor
should expect in the ground, has contributed to
this spirit. The nature of the contract helps in
many ways the collaboration, the sharing of
information and also the culture we adopt,
says Mitchell. And the GBR helps to avoid
some of those issues that would otherwise
cause friction between the teams.
Cracking the design
During the value engineering phase the design
of the secondary lining of the shafts came
under scrutiny. The reference shaft design,
which called for traditional reinforced concrete
cast directly against the diaphragm walls, had
some fundamental challenges says Eddie:
The key issue is that reinforced concrete
when cast against the diaphragm wall, is
restrained, so you end up putting in a lot of
steel to prevent cracking, he says. This was
exacerbated by EC2 Part 2 which results in an
extremely high quantity of reinforcement to
limit crack widths.
With dense reinforcement required at the
bottom of the shafts, which will have to
withstand up to 8bar of pressure, placing
concrete so that it flowed around all the rebar
would have been a real challenge. And there
were also some doubts whether the shafts
would meet the required 100-year design life
and waterproofing specification, which called
for damp patches only.
MVB took on the challenges of the shaft
linings design, in a bid to come up with
something that both saved money and worked
better. Colin came up with the idea of using a
chimney and back-filling the annulus between
the lining and the diaphragm wall, says Allen.
That way you eliminate the restraint provided
by the diaphragm wall and it gives you the
opportunity to put the lining into compression
when you put the fill material around the
annulus.
So while shafts are often slipformed using
formwork on the internal face of the inner
lining only, the Lee Tunnel shafts have uniquely
forms on both faces to create a free-standing
structure. And separating the concrete cylinder
from the base slab is a slip membrane: 2mm-
TJ_1212_038_043_SLIPFORM.qxd:Feature 16/12/12 01:17 Page 41

SLIPFORMING

thick PVC membranes, the lower one glued to withstand attack from acids and sulphates in The huge base slabs of the shafts also got
the base slab, the upper one cast onto the the waste water. This was achieved by including the value engineering treatment. By changing
underside of the lining with a layer of grease in 36% of slag resulting in a low shrinkage mix their shape from a deep slab to a more
between them. The success of the slipform which is consequently chemically resistant. structurally efficient dome, MVB cut the base
technique depends on the design of the However this meant that the variation in mix reinforcement tonnage in half.
concrete, which is strengthened by steel fibres, performance had to come from retarders alone.
saving around 4,000 tonnes of steel for the The concrete was subjected to shrinkage Two down, two to go
four shafts. Only around the portals where the testing, both at the BREs testing facilities in the By November 2012 specialist contractor
TBM must break through, or where the suction UK and in Belgium where the steel fibre Slipform International had completed the
tunnel links between the Beckton Connection manufacturer Bekaert is based. The mix was linings for the Overflow and Connection shafts
and Pump shafts is there reinforcing bars. of such low shrinkage characteristics that even at Beckton, and was about to start on the shaft
The secret of designing concrete for 30m long test beams cast on a rough substrate at Abbey Mills. The 38m-diameter pumping
slipforming is that it must be just hardening as did not crack, which is unheard of, says Allen. shaft at Beckton will be the last one they tackle,
the form slides up to expose it, says Allen who The mix for the annulus infill concrete also starting in January or February 2013.
required careful design. Filling the gap between Originally MVB was not sure that the same
the diaphragm wall and the inner slipformed double-sided slipform technique would be
Figure 2: Top: Drawing of the lining, which varies in width from 250mm to appropriate for the 38m-diameter Pumping
double sided slipforming method. 750mm, the concrete must remain liquid long shaft. But some really hard work from the
Below: Plan of the double sided enough to prestress the lining, which is designers, says Mitchell, means that the same
slipforming method achieved using retarders. The infill concrete will principles can be applied, albeit with some
Climbing
barely shrink at all, says Allen. There will be slight changes to the construction sequence.
tubes autogenous [chemical] shrinkage only from the Overall, Mitchell says he is happy with the
Handrail post annulus fill, he says. Theres no drying way the shafts have been constructed and
Horizontal handrails
Concreting shrinkage because it is completely enclosed. comments on the great finish on the concrete.
1500LG. slotted channel
hatch
(125x100) timbers
The extensive testing programme also saw However, one of the practical challenges for
Hydraulic
lines Top deck level BRE put the slip membrane through its paces. Slipform International has been achieving the
6T capacity
Yoke Half coupler attached And there were slip forming trials at ground required tolerances.
slipform
jack legs to crossbar extension level on site before the real operation began. Keeping the dimensional stability of the ring
Internal truss
Sleeve box (225x50) timbers bracing Despite the low shrinkage characteristics of and the verticality is very challenging, says
and jack (100x100) timbers
anchors Working deck level the concrete, Allen was taking no chances with Eddie. This will be particularly important on the
Slotted 3660 unit beam cracking. There are places where cracking is Abbey Mills and Pumping shafts where
channel
walling more likely, for example around portals the structures must fit inside the shafts.
Hanging scaffold transition area between rebar and fibre could The first two shafts we have had some
top frame
be a potential weak spot. Here Allen designed relatively small deviances from our
Secondary
Hanging scaffold in crack inducers, supplied by Drytech, with requirements, says Mitchell. We have
bottom frame
concrete channels to allow reinjection of grout should managed to live with that, partly because they
layer
Hanging deck level cracking occur. But we couldnt even get it to are wet shafts so we dont have structures
crack there! says Allen. inside that have to join with them. It was a very
250 750

Section A-A
250

A
Diaphragm Wall
750

Hanging
deck layout
3660mm
unit beams
25 Internal truss bracing
0
Working deck layout

also designed the mixes for the slip-formed

core of Londons tallest building, The Shard. In
order to be able to achieve this, the slipform
contractor must have a range of concrete mixes
to choose from depending on factors including
the temperature and humidity and how far up
the structure the concrete is.
With slipform you have a suite of mixes:
plain OPC [Ordinary Portland Cement], 10% fly
ash, 20% fly ash and so on with different
retarding levels. For the Shard I ended up with
36 mixes from which the contractor chose
five, says Allen.
The Lee Tunnel lining required a Design
Chemical Class DC-3 concrete because it has to Annulus grouting of the slipform in action

TUNNELLING JOURNAL 41
TJ_1212_038_043_SLIPFORM.qxd:Feature 16/12/12
SLIPFORMING
good way round to use this very innovative
technique on those two shafts first so we could
get it better for the latter two.
To improve on tolerances, there have been
some adjustments to the sequencing of the
assembly, stiffening and monitoring prior to
Abbey Mills, says Mitchell. We have to get the
monitoring right and simple in order that the
people on the ground can react and act in time
to make a difference, he says.
The tricky areas for the slipform contractor
are at the bottom of the shafts, where they
have to install reinforcement around the
portals. In the case of the Connection shaft,
there were three: two for the TBM to enter and
leave via and one for the suction tunnel.
The design allowed for a formwork advance
rate of 250mm per hour. Allen reckons they
have been achieving around 150mm to
250mm per hour. For the larger shaft, MVB
anticipates a slower rate of 125mm per hour.
The changing temperatures and humidities
of the UKs seasons have also had a big impact,
says Mitchell. Slipforming in the summer is
different to slipforming in the autumn or the
winter. There has to be continuous monitoring
and adjustment.
The logistics of the concrete supply has also
been a challenge for each stage of the shafts
construction, says Allen, due to the awesome
quantities involved. Concrete supplier Cemex
has two plants on site, and their regular ready
mix plants at Stepney and Canning Town.
Challenges aside, the remarkable thing
about this technique is its savings in time, says
Mitchell. He compares it to a project in
Below: The finished product
Singapore he recently worked on where a
100m deep shaft was excavated and lined
internally top-down, with the inner lining
process alone taking eight months.
Here, the whole thing can be constructed in
less than six months. Thats a big change, says
Mitchell. We are doing the liner in three
weeks now and then it takes a further week to
prepare and fill the annulus. Using a jump form
would have taken a couple of months.
The other huge benefit is that this is safer
because it requires less reinforcing steel. We
have reduced the amount of rebar hugely and
42 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
01:17 Page 42
Busy Lizzies tough
introduction
The Lee Tunnels Herrenknecht slurry
machine, Busy Lizzie, has had a tough
year. The last 12 months has seen her
various parts being constantly
connected, disconnected, moved and
juggled. This has been the most
challenging launch that anybody has
ever done, says Mitchell.
Launched in the Beckton Overflow
shaft the geology did not allow for the
construction of a launch tunnel. Instead
the launch was in stages, with parts of
the back-up temporarily housed in a
three-storey structure erected in the
shaft. The back-up then had to be
transferred piecemeal from the
temporary structure to the gantries as
they were assembled in the tunnel.
The cutter head was lowered into the
shaft in December 2011. By September
2012, she was reported to be 450m in
and nearing the end of her long launch.
When TJ spoke to site in late November,
she was expected to arrive in the
Connection shaft mid-December 2012.
The launch has simply taken a little
longer than anticipated, says Mitchell.
It was very complex work that was
done very well. There was a lot of
engineering thought and temporary
works design that went into this.
The launch strategy had to take into
account the fact that Lizzie was
launching at 7.5 bar. The 8.8m diameter
machine broke through the diaphragm
wall into a 15m cubed grout block,
which Mitchell says worked well.
Currently achieving eight to 10 rings a
day, Mitchell expects the pace to reach
the target of 14 rings a day, once she has
passed through the Connection shaft.
This has been filled with cement
stabilised material and Thanet sand with
water added so that the pressures can
be balanced. A chamber built within the
that means you dont have to fix lots of rebar in
a confined space in a shaft, lowering the bars in
with a crane. If you can reduce the risk of
accidents, thats really a big win, says Mitchell.
As the shafts innovative linings continues
and the TBM starts to make decent progress
under East London, thoughts turn to the
4.1bn Thames Tideway Tunnel project. The
32km, 7.2m diameter tunnel will largely follow
the route of the River Thames at a depth of
around 67m, running from Hammersmith to
Abbey Mills. It seems highly likely that MVBs
new slipform technique will be put to good use
backfill material will allow access to the
cutter head for intervention or tool
maintenance and changes.
Keeping a close eye on the cutter head
is vital because of the pressures under
which the machine is operating: 5 bars
and above. Although Busy Lizzie is
equipped for hyperbaric interventions,
this option is always a last resort.
With the machines slurry pumps, it is
possible to lower the pressure by
pumping out the water to carry out
interventions at say 3 bar. And Lizzie
can grout ahead if its needed. So far,
there have been fewer flints within the
chalk than was predicted. The machine
is coping very well, says Mitchell.
There has been a bit of wear on the
tools and we will be looking to do some
small adjustments to improve things.
Lizzie really can get busy in 2013,
although there are other potential
difficulties ahead. In the second quarter
of next year, she will pass through a
large fault zone known as the Plaistow
Graben which passes through the sand
and gravel layers above the chalk.
There will be an intervention before
this, says Mitchell, with the intention of
ploughing through this area without a
stop. Interventions in that area would
be quite difficult, he says, with no small
amount of understatement.
there. The main beneficiary of this new system
will be the Thames Tideway Tunnel, says
Eddie. There are a large number of shafts to
be constructed and I see no good reason not to
use this technology. Mitchell agrees. You
need to have clever and open-minded
designers who are willing to consider and
approach it in the right way, he says. As long
as you have got that, it certainly has worked for
us. I am absolutely sure it will work for the
Thames Tideway Tunnel. We do have close
dialogue with them, and share our lessons
learned and our views with them.
TJ_1212_038_043_SLIPFORM.qxd:Feature 16/12/12 01:17 Page 43

Lee Tunnel (MVB joint venture comprising Morgan Sindall,

VINCI Construction Grands Projets and Bachy Soletanche)

Boundless Morgan Sindall

Underground Professional
possibilities Services is a specialist
consultancy business providing
a comprehensive range of expert
and technical design services to the
international tunnelling community.
For the last twenty years we have
combined smart design with practical
construction skills to deliver best value to our
customers time after time.
Contact us on: info@unps.co.uk

morgansindall.com

Morgan Sindall plc

Corporation Street Rugby Warwickshire CV21 2DW

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T 01788 534500

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Manager. You will work with in close contact with the company Management from Hong Kong, developing business globally, but with a
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Tunnel Construction Manager Chile South America

Our client has a need for Construction Manager to work on a Chilean mining project. You should be a qualied engineer with ideally
15 plus years experience in tunnelling & a signicant amount must be in the drill and blast tunnel technique working on the contractors
behalf. Due to location its essential candidates are uent in Spanish.

TBM Production Manager Paris Worldwide Project Sites

Our client has a need for a TBM production manager with no site appointment yet. You would join their team in Paris to be involved on
tenders until a job site starts. For this position you should have 10 years experience in TBM drives & be English speaking, French would
also be benecial.

Senior Design Engineer - Microtunnelling Division Bangkok - Thailand

Our client is looking to establish a design team. You should have a wealth of experience designing Microtunnelling Machines (Pipe
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Web: www.v-engineeringrecruitment.com

TUNNELLING JOURNAL 43
TJ_1212_044_045.qxd:Feature 15/12/12 21:51
VIEWPOINT
Being analytical
Dr Benot Jones, Tunnelling and Underground Space MSc Course
Manager at the University of Warwick, UK, discusses analytical
solutions for tunnels
ANALYTICAL SOLUTIONS, or closed-form
solutions, are solutions that lend themselves
easily to calculation. Mathematicians will cringe
at this simplification, but another way of saying
this is that if it can be solved in a single equation
without iteration, then it is an analytical
solution. If you need to iterate and converge on
a solution, then it is a numerical method.
The rise and fall of analytical solutions
Analytical solutions have been a useful design
tool for tunnel engineers for some 50 years. In
that time, computer power has increased
enormously, and numerical modelling programs
have become ever more user-friendly. Analytical
solutions, due to their need to reduce the
complexity of soil-structure interactions to a
single equation, usually make simplifying
assumptions about geometry and about
constitutive behaviour. For instance, tunnels are
usually circular, and the problem is usually
assumed to be either 2D plane strain or
axisymmetric, meaning that the longitudinal
dimension is ignored. Simple ground and lining
constitutive models are used; either elastic,
elastoplastic or viscoelastic, and the variation of
geotechnical parameters with depth or stratum
boundaries are either grossly simplified or
ignored. On the other hand, numerical models
can model virtually any geometry, construction
sequence, variation in geotechnical parameters
or constitutive behaviour. The construction
sequence can be modelled explicitly in 3D, pore
pressures and consolidation can be modelled,
and even creep or thermal effects included.
Given the power of numerical modelling and
its increasing accessibility, it is surprising that
there has been an explosion in the number of
papers published on the subject of analytical
solutions for tunnels in recent years. A literature
search reveals that more than 30 papers have
been published with new analytical solutions for
tunnels in peer-reviewed journals in the last 5
years. Many more have been published on the
same subject without presenting a new
method, for example, papers that compare
analytical, empirical and numerical results.
Google Scholar returns about 14,000 results for
scholarly articles if you type in analytical
solution tunnel* NOT physics (ensure you
restrict it to the last 5 years).
In recent years new analytical solutions have
appeared that take account of nonlinear
anisotropic ground (Vu et al. 2012), the effect of
a radially-strengthened cylinder of ground
around a tunnel due to the installation of
44 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
Page 44
rockbolts (Bobet, 2009; Carranza-Torres, 2009),
others that include creep deformation of the
ground (Nomikos et al. 2011; Birchall & Osman,
2012), rectangular tunnels under seismic action
(Huo et al., 2006), modelling deformation
ahead of the lining installation using a gap
parameter (Park, 2005), groundwater ingress to
tunnels (Kolymbas & Wagner, 2007), modelling
segmental linings (Lee et al., 2001; Hinchberger
& El Naggar, 2008) and much, much more.
So what is going on?
Given the superiority of numerical modelling,
what is the purpose of so much innovation in
analytical solutions to allow these simple models
to do something just slightly more complicated
than they could do before?
The argument that numerical methods are
computationally expensive is often put forward
in the introductions to papers about analytical
solutions, but is this really still the case when a
similarly simple 2D numerical model can be
created and solved on a standard PC in a few
minutes? Even though numerical modelling
software can be expensive, this seems like a bit
of a red herring. Being a devils avocado, the real
reason for this paradox may be that most of
these papers are published by academics, and
academics are not always trying to do
something useful, sometimes they are just
doing something they find interesting. Although
odd to us engineers, a lot of scientists do work
that has no immediate practical use.
Analytical solutions as part of the design
There may be a better argument to be made in
favour of analytical solutions. Duddeck &
Erdmann (1985), in a review of structural design
models for tunnels in soft soil, wrote:
In many instances the stress-strain-
deformation problem of a tunnelling procedure
can be solved only by the application of a
numerical analysis, e.g., the finite-element
method. The geometry of the opening and the
stratigraphic layers of the ground are not simple
in most cases. Non-linear material behaviour is
involved. The consecutive phases of the process
of driving and supporting are important for the
final stresses in the linings.
This is a quite strong criticism of analytical
solutions. However, they go on to say:
Comparison of the results on the basis of
numerical solutions is, however, very difficult
and does not yield easy insight into dependence
on soil and design parameters.
Since analytical solutions are easy to use once
a spreadsheet has been created and checked,
this makes them ideal for parametric studies. For
instance, by varying the stiffness of the lining
one can immediately see the effect on the
bending moments and hoop forces. Therefore,
analytical solutions are useful in feeling your
way around a problem and determining which
factors are important. The simplicity of the
model helps by limiting the complexity of
interaction between different factors that may
make it difficult to see what is going on.
In addition, many numerical modelling
experts use analytical solutions to validate their
models. If a numerical model is made to mimic
the same boundary conditions and constitutive
behaviour as an exact analytical solution, then it
should yield the same results. If not, it indicates
that there is a problem with the mesh, the
element type, the boundary conditions, the
convergence criteria or the solution algorithm.
Most commercially-available programs include
simple examples, which can be compared to
analytical solutions. The first steps in any
campaign of numerical modelling should be to
build simple models and validate them.
Once the simple case has been validated,
layers of complexity can be added to a
numerical model, one at a time, ensuring the
input is debugged and the results are checked
at each stage. This is also a kind of parametric
study, and enhances understanding of the
problem, but also allows easier debugging
because if strange results are obtained you
know that it is likely to be the newest layer of
complexity that caused them. Many of us have
learned through bitter experience that to try to
jump immediately to the most sophisticated
model makes it almost impossible to find out
what is going wrong, and makes it difficult to
know what behaviour should be expected.
So analytical solutions help us feel our way
through those initial stages of tunnel design,
and give us more confidence, just as empirical
data, if available, help us to refine numerical
models and have more confidence in the results
as the sophistication of the model increases.
An example
The problem of stress concentrations at tunnel
junctions is highly complex, depending not just
on the geometry, but being strongly affected by
soil-structure interaction and the construction
sequence. A major issue in numerical modelling
of junctions is to ensure that the element type
and mesh refinement of the shell elements
representing the lining will accurately predict the
 TJ_1212_044_045.qxd:Feature 15/12/12 21:51 Page 45

VIEWPOINT

large stress gradients around the opening. at the stage of breaking out the opening for the
However, there are no analytical solutions for a tunnel from the shaft), compared to the very Figure 1: Stress concentration factor
tunnel junction situation. The best we can do is simple case of a plane stress plate with a hole in for a plane stress plate with a hole in
an analytical solution for a hole in a plane stress it. This enhances our understanding of the the direction parallel to the applied
plate developed by Kirsch in 1898 (see Hoek & problem. The axial hoop stresses in the 3D stress (Nx/P) along a line transverse
to the direction of the applied stress.
e MSc Course Brown, 1980). This solution does not calculate numerical model are higher than for the plane
the significant bending moments that will be stress plate, and this is due to the three-
s analytical present in the lining due to curvature of the dimensional deformation of the shaft and the 1
lining, construction sequence and soil-structure soil-structure interaction. Essentially, when the

P(kN/m)
Y 0.9
interaction, or the effect of these on the axial opening is made, the ground arches onto the
forces, but it can still be useful. shaft lining around the opening, increasing the X
0.8

Distance from edge/radius of hole

In this case, a shaft-tunnel junction was being radial stress and hence the axial stresses. In
R
modelled (Jones, 2007). A mesh similar to that addition, the opening wants to close at axis and 0.7
wants to increase in diameter vertically and push
into the ground above and below the opening. 0.6
Figure 2: Comparison of stress
None of these effects can be modelled in the
concentration factor for hoop stress 0.5
analytical solution, but the comparison helps us
in the shaft lining above and below
to separate them and understand them. Also on 0.4
the tunnel centreline with Kirsch
Figure 2, the bending stresses from the 3D
analytical solution.
numerical model are plotted, and this 0.3
demonstrates why the analytical solution is of 1.5 zones/m
limited use to a designer the analytical model 2 zones/m 0.2
Axial stress Base case
Bending stress Base case is incapable of predicting these stresses, which 4 zones/m
Kirsch solution 8 zones/m 0.1
are almost as large as the axial stresses and are
8 Kirsh (1898)
therefore very significant. But the validation of 0
the model would not have been possible 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0
6 without the analytical solution and it is an Stress concentration factor Nx/P
Vertical distance from tunnel axis level (m)

important step in the process.

4
Conclusions problem and giving insight into the influence of
2 Analytical solutions, although largely supplanted different parameters. They help us validate
by numerical modelling for final design, still numerical models as part of an incremental
have a role to play. They can help us to feel our design process of increasing complexity. In short,
Tunnel opening 0
way at an early stage of design, simplifying the they are still of value and are here to stay.

-2
REFERENCES

-4 Birchall, T. J. & Osman, A. S. (2012). Response of a tunnel deeply embedded in a viscoelastic medium. Int. J.
Numer. Anal. Meth. Geomech. 36, 17171740.
-6 Bobet, A. (2009). Elastic Solution for Deep Tunnels. Application to Excavation Damage Zone and Rockbolt
Support. Rock Mech. Rock Eng. 42, 147174.
-8 Carranza-Torres, C. (2009). Analytical and Numerical Study of the Mechanics of Rockbolt Reinforcement
-1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 around Tunnels in Rock Masses. Rock Mech. Rock Eng. 42, 175228.
Stress concentration factor Duddeck, H. & Erdmann, J. (1985). On Structural Design Models for Tunnels in Soft Soil. Underground Space
9, 246-259.
Hinchberger, S. & El Naggar, H. (2008). An analytical solution for jointed tunnel linings in elastic soil or rock.
to be used for the shaft lining, but flattened (or Can. Geotech. J. 45, No.11, 1572-1593.
unwrapped), was used to mimic the conditions Hoek, E. & Brown, E. T. (1980). Underground Excavations in Rock, 527pp. London: IMM.
in the analytical solution. The mesh refinement Huo, H., Bobet, A., Fernndez, G. & Ramrez, J. (2006). Analytical solution for deep rectangular structures
was then varied and the ability of the model to subjected to far-field shear stresses. Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 21, 613625.
replicate the analytical solution can be seen in Jones, B. D. (2007). Stresses in sprayed concrete tunnel junctions. Eng.D. thesis, University of Southampton.
Figure 1 for the axial hoop stress above and Kolymbas, D. & Wagner, P. (2007). Groundwater ingress to tunnels The exact analytical solution. Tunnelling
below the opening. Similar graphs were plotted and Underground Space Technology 22, 2327.
for hoop stress and vertical stress in the shaft Lee, K. M., Hou, X. Y., Ge, X. W. & Tang, Y. (2001). An analytical solution for a jointed shield-driven tunnel
lining along a horizontal line at tunnel axis level. lining. Int. J. Numer. Anal. Meth. Geomech. 25, 365-390.
This exercise can be used to inform the mesh Nomikos, P., Rahmannejad, R. & Sofianos, A. (2011). Supported Axisymmetric Tunnels Within Linear
geometry used in the numerical model. For a Viscoelastic Burgers Rocks. Rock Mech. Rock Eng. 44, 553564.
different example, see Pound (2006). Figure 2 Park, K. -H. (2005). Analytical solution for tunnelling-induced ground movement in clays. Tunnelling and
shows a comparison between the Kirsch Underground Space Technology 20, 249261.
analytical solution and the numerical results Pound, C. (2006). The performance of FLAC zones in bending. Proc. 4th Int. FLAC symp. FLAC and Numerical
from the 3D modelling, again for the hoop Modeling in Geomechnics 2006 (eds. P. Varona and R. Hart), Madrid, Spain, pp.351-357. Minneapolis: Itasca
stress above and below the shaft opening. A Consulting Group, Inc.
comparison like this allows us to see what the Vu, T. M., Sulem, J., Subrin, D. & Monin, N. (2012). Semi-Analytical Solution for Stresses and Displacements in
effects of the additional complexity are a Tunnel Excavated in Transversely Isotropic Formation with Non-Linear Behavior. Rock Mech. Rock Eng.,
(curvature effects of the 3D geometry, soil Ahead of Print, July 2012.
structure interaction and construction sequence,

TUNNELLING JOURNAL 45
TJ_1212_046_051.qxd:Feature 16/12/12 01:12 Page 46

PROJECT REPORT

Whilst a huge transport infrastructure venture involving many disciplines and

construction types, Paul Barraclough, Christophe Bragard and Marty
Scrogings from Parsons Brinkerhoff Arup Joint Venture discuss some of the
more innovative aspects of the tunnelling portion of this landmark project.

BRISBANES
AIRPORT LINK:
Scale and complexity
in record time
BRISBANES AIRPORT LINK
M7 toll road opened to traffic
in July 2012, 50 months after
the project was awarded to
BrisConnections, a consortium
involving Macquarie
Infrastructure Group (Financier)
and Thiess-John Holland Joint
Venture (Contractor), with
Parsons Brinckerhoff-Arup JV
(PBA JV) as their designer. The
project is characterised by its
sheer size, extreme complexity
and world-class innovative
design. The consortium
laboured intensively with an
average capital cost of $100M
per month, to deliver, in record
time, Australias largest ever
transport infrastructure project.
The Airport Link project
consists of three separate
contracts:
Two Design-and-Construct
capital works projects
undertaken for the
Table 1: Summary of the project tunnel sections
No of lanes
3 lane main line
3+ to 5+ lanes
1 to 3 lane
2 lane
1 to 4 lanes
Cross passages
Underground Sumps and
substations
Busway tunnels (2+ lane)
Busway tunnels (2 + lane)
* Span is to extrados of permanent lining and does not include temporary/initial lining support, i.e. excavated rock is larger than stated in the table
Queensland State
Government:
the Northern Busway
(Windsor to Kedron) - a
3km two-way dedicated
Busway, including 1.5km
of tunnels, and
the Airport Roundabout
Upgrade, including
realignment of a main
arterial motorway and a
750m long match cast
segmental flyover bridge
A 45 year concession toll road
to operate under a Public
Private Partnership (PPP)
consisting of the
AirportlinkM7, 6.7km long
dual tunnel with additional
underground on and off
ramps and connecting
Tunnel type
Drained mined tunnels
Drained mined caverns
Drained/undrained mined ramps
TBM tunnels
Cut and cover tunnels
Mined drained and undrained
Mined drained tunnel
Mined drained tunnel
Cut and cover tunnels
structures to the existing road ongoing supply to the
network. community. The new toll road
Aside from the extensive tunnel and flyover upgrade reduced
sections that are the main the areas traffic congestion by
subject of this article, the up to 45%, cutting down traffic
project included 25 bridges time from the airport to the
(about half of which were non- Brisbane CBD to about 10
standard, curved, and/or mixed minutes (saving approximately
unit construction), 7km of 20 minutes), avoiding 18 sets of
surface roadways, new traffic lights.
parklands and bicycle paths.
Given the extensive nature of Alignment optimisation
the tunnel connecting A reference design was
structures at each end and presented as part of the project
midway along the tunnel, all EIS. The general concept is to
trunk services, including water, link the surface and multi-level
sewer, drainage, interchange, as well as the
communications, power, optic recently constructed Clem7
fibre, and gas had to be re- tunnel, at Bowen Hills (named
designed and rebuilt with a the project Southern
diversion strategy that assured Connection) to the East West
Arterial at Toombul (named the
project Eastern Connection)
leading to the Brisbane Airport,
whilst providing a connection to
Total length [m] Span [m] * the main North-South Arterial
3471 11.9 to 15.3 through Brisbanes north side at
1701 16.7 to 27.4 Kedron (named the project
2124 8.1 to 17.1 Kedron Connection) which was
4060 + 580 (cavern walk) 12.5 located about mid-way along
3470 10.5 to 26 the mainline tunnels (figure 1).
38 total + 2 cross cuts 5.4 to 5.7 One of the major alternatives
3 substations and 2 sumps 12.2 to 17.4 to the reference design that the
consortium selected and
503 14.5 designed for construction was
975 13.4 to 18 to locate the highway T-
interchange (figure 2) at Kedron
underground to reduce the

46 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
TJ_1212_046_051.qxd:Feature
Figure 1: Project general arrangement
Entry and Exit: Gympie Rd
Stafford R
d.
Entry and Exit: Stafford Rd
Entry: Lutwyche Rd
Airport link and
Northern Busway
Tunnels
Windsor
Exit: Bowen Bridge Rd
Entry and Exit: ICB
Entry and Exit: Clem 7
Figure 2 (above right): 3D
representation of the
underground T-interchange
at Kedron
Figure 3: Rendered section of the on and off ramps below the surface
streets at Kedron
16/12/12 01:12 Page 47
PROJECT REPORT
coincides with the crown of
So mp
ra
ut
hb
Southbound on-ramp (figure 4) to
ou
nd
meet the requirements of road
Kedron Entry and Exit: East West Arterial grades as well as optimising the
Ramp connections
Bench
A A alignment in regards to the tunnel
Entry and Exit: Sandgate Rd
Ramp
and
Invert
Headwall Westbound
off ramp depth, and the length of the
ramps. In this case, stepping up of
the upper tunnels invert, by
Ramp localised flattening of its invert
Cut and cover tunnel
Roadheader tunnel Ground with additional reinforcement,
surface Soil nail wall
Lutwyche was required to provide sufficient
TBM tunnel Canopy tubes
Earth structure Capping slab separation between the two
Elevated structure bridges tunnels, which was in the order of
Headwall Projected permanent lining
Surface roads Westbounds crown 200-300mm.
Transition structure Top heading Shotcrete collar
Bench Westbound invert As the tunnels reached the
Northern Busway Invert
surface, the connecting structures
Southbound
on-ramp were very complex (figure 5),
tunnel
Invert having to deal with multi-level
Section AA ramps, the integration of a
Bowen busway tunnel running in an
Hills Temporary
Ramp connections
Backfill capping slab arch orthogonal direction, a smoke
extraction duct having to travel to
Soil Nails
a ventilation station, while at the
Westbound same time passing under a major
Entry and Exit: Campbell St off-ramp
tunnel waterway and connecting to two
Invert
main arterial roads.
Southbound
on-ramp
In this area there are three levels
tunnel
Figure 4 (drawings right and pic below): of tunnel structure overlain by
WB off-ramp to SB On-ramp interaction surface roads, which in turn sit
below elevated bridge structures.
There are bridge piers which are
supported by transfer beams that
form the roof of cut-and-cover
tunnel structures below.
The design of these convoluted
multilevel structures had to face
further challenges: a widely
varying geology (soft soils to
200+MPa rock) and sequencing
of works on a major arterial
leading to the city centre. Three
dimensional modelling here was
of the essence, so that true
sections could be produced to
enable the contractor to visualise
surface impacts of the project. the structure and hence plan
This solution moved all large construction.
heavy traffic movements
underground (figure 3) Mined tunnels
improving traffic flow efficiency, The geology along the alignment
while keeping the surface roads of the numerous mined tunnels
for local vehicular movements, sections varied extensively from
buses, pedestrians and cyclists. very strong rock such as Brisbane
Tuff, argillites and phyllites down
Kedron Connection to very weak siltstones with ash
At the midway interchange at (clay) bands. In various locations,
Kedron, the connection between the rock cover above the tunnels
the on and off ramps and the was very limited while the geology
main line tunnels are located could change quite rapidly along
underground in large span the alignment. Following a
caverns. Tunnel ramps intertwine geotechnical site investigation, the
above the mainline tunnels, ground conditions were
resulting locally in the interaction characterised to define rock mass
of three levels of tunnels, with classes for each of the geological
two ramps almost encroaching on units expected to be encountered
each others profile (the invert of for each mined tunnel section.The
the Westbound off-ramp rather extensive range in tunnel
TUNNELLING JOURNAL 47
TJ_1212_046_051.qxd:Feature 16/12/12
PROJECT REPORT
Figure 5 (right): 3D representa-
tion of the surface to under-
ground connection at Kedron
cross-sections, spans, proximity to
buildings and other tunnels,
depths and geometries, in
addition to the varying geology,
required the designers to break
the alignment into small sections
and provide custom solutions for
the various tunnel lengths.
The temporary ground
support consisted mainly of
rock bolts with steel fibre
reinforced shotcrete, and the
tunnel excavations were kept as
much as possible to a top
heading-central bench-side
buttress sequence in the
drained tunnels, and top
heading-bench-invert sequence
in the undrained tunnels. As
described above, in order to
address variations in geology
and to optimise the tunnel
temporary support, both in
terms of cost and programme,
the design provided a toolbox
design approach; i.e, providing
a number of support types (up
to six). On the basis of the
geological investigation
information, 2D and 3D
numerical modelling techniques
were used to define suites of
support types and excavation
sequence for the anticipated
range of ground conditions.
The design also delineated
specific support selection
criteria to be based on observed
ground conditions and
behaviour, which were used
during construction. Typically,
three to five support types were
48 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
01:12 Page 48
Figure 6 (below): Geological modelling
provided to the construction
teams for each mined tunnel
section. The support types
altered rock bolt lengths and
steel fibre reinforced shotcrete
thickness or, where required,
incorporated spiles, wire mesh,
cable bolts or canopy tubes as
well as modifying the excavation
sequence.
By providing technical and
geological site surveillance
through PBAs construction
phase services team, the
designers had the opportunity
to react to construction
challenges and encountered
conditions, including review of
observed geology, ground
deformations and settlements.
This allowed substantial
optimisation to take place; e.g.,
in some locations replacing
mesh reinforced shotcrete with
steel fibre reinforced shotcrete ,
or the removal of split-face
excavation to a faster full-face
approach, or a mixture of
support types for mixed face
conditions (figure 7).
Programme and construction
and numerical analysis of tunnels
sequencing constraints required
the excavation by roadheader to
proceed from many fronts,
including the construction of a
temporary shaft adjacent to one
of the caverns in order to meet
the tight deadlines in
challenging geology.
Combined with the sequential
excavation methodology, this
resulted in the concurrent use of
17 roadheaders and numerous
excavators with rock hammers
for the mined tunnel works.
Figure 7: Typical varying geology encountered during
the excavation of the mined tunnels
Large span caverns
The tunnel alignment includes
five large span mined caverns:
four dictated by the
underground T-interchange
beneath Kedron and Lutwyche,
and the fifth cavern to provide a
convenient off ramp exit to the
CBD surface streets at Bowen
Hills, the southern end of the
project. The alignment had to
meet the high standards of a
safe and fast moving motorway,
with among other constraints a
design speed of 90km/h and an
8 second mutual driver visibility
time. These constraints dictated
the geometric characteristics of
these caverns, including safe
and smooth merging and
diverging on-ramp and off-ramp
lanes. The challenge did not
stop at the sheer individual size
of these caverns (up to 28m
wide excavation), but also
beyond the caverns themselves
into the 3D interaction with the
various adjacent underground
and above ground elements; in
particular, the pillars at the
cavern end wall separating the
mainline tunnels and the on/off
ramp tunnels where they
merge/diverge.
These pillars had to be
designed in varying geologies.
Two approaches were used,
depending on the size of the
cavern and the geology.
Where the rock was expected
to retain acceptable properties,
a cautious excavation sequence
was adopted that allowed
detailed assessment and
strengthening of the rock pillar
from an adjacent tunnel prior to
excavation of the full cavern
width. The geological mapping
and assessment confirmed the
suitability of a bolted pillar
TJ_1212_046_051.qxd:Feature 16/12/12
Figure 8 (above): Rock pillar
bolting
Figure 9 (right):
Pillar replacement
with reinforced
concrete to support
Kedron cavern end
wall between the
mainline and ramp
tunnels
solution (figure 8). Replacement
concrete pillars would have
been required if rock had
shown less favourable
characteristics.
Where the geology was
poorer (weathered and variable
geology) and the relative rock
cover was limited, it was
deemed that the rock pillar was
inadequate, strengthened or
unstrengthened. Subsequently,
through an intricate sequencing
of the works, a reinforced
concrete pillar was constructed
between the mainline and the
ramps to replace the weak rock
formation (figure 9).
Largest SFRC segmental lining
The eastern section of the tunnel
alignment encountered much
weaker geological conditions. Due
to soft and mixed face ground
conditions with high water
inflows anticipated, a TBM
solution was selected for the
construction of the twin 2km long
two-lane tunnels (4km total). In
order to optimise the use of the
machines, the TBMs were further
used along the alignment in
stronger rock between the
caverns.
Starting at the Toombul portal
with only 8m cover in soft
ground, comprising alluvial
01:12 Page 49
PROJECT REPORT
deposits of soft clays and loose to
dense sands, the two Earth
Pressure Balance (EPB) TBMs
progressively encountered harder
ground, tackling weak and highly
weathered siltstones, then
sandstones, mudstones,
conglomerates of various
weathering grades, even
intercepting a pocket of harder
Tuff deposit. The TBMs then
traversed through the pre-
excavated Kedron caverns (see
article in Tunnelling Journal, Sept
2012, TBM partial cavern
excavation in Brisbane), only
partially excavating the invert. At
the cavern relaunch, the TBMs
commenced excavation in higher
strength tuff, sometimes in excess
of 120MPa, progressing
approximately 1km towards the
Lutwyche caverns to their burial
chambers, where the shields were
lowered down into pits below the
future roadway and backfilled
with concrete.
The TBM burial option saved
extensive programme time and
removed the need for retrieval
shafts that would have adversely
impacted the community and
surface construction works.
The TBM lining consisted of
nine precast segments plus a key
(figure 10), with an internal
diameter of 11.34m and a
thickness of 400mm. Of particular
significance is that in over 75% of
the lining drive distance, the
segments were reinforced with
steel fibres only, which is believed
to be the largest pure SFRC
segmental lining used to date.
The remaining 25% of the
segmental lining required anti-
bursting cages in higher load
sections or full conventional
reinforcement near cross passage
openings and at fault zones. This
customised solution resulted in
optimal production time and
driving conditions, while providing
a lining with improved durability
and better resistance to handling
loads and impacts during
construction.
Where radial joint anti-bursting
reinforcement was required, a
continuous helix solution (figure
11) was developed to facilitate
efficient fabrication of the
reinforcement cages, enabling
Figure 10: TBM segmental automatic bar bending equipment
lining with cross passage to be used to their most precise
opening steel set ability and removing the need for
extensive welding, resulting in
TUNNELLING JOURNAL 49
TJ_1212_046_051.qxd:Feature
PROJECT REPORT
only a minor increase in steel
quantity.
Custom TBM cross passages
As the TBM tunnels were driven
through highly differing geologies,
a standard solution for cross
passage openings did not prove
adequate, for various economic,
scheduling and methodology
reasons.
Steel set openings - In the
weathered softer rocks, openings
Figure 11: Radial joint anti-burst-
ing reinforcement steel fabrica-
tion continuous helix
using steel sets and props were
adopted, two or three rings wide
dependent on the geology. In
several of these locations,
although the cross passage itself
was excavated in soft rock, the
crown of the tunnel was sitting in
sandy and clayey soils, which
Figure 12: TBM tunnels steel set opening
50 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
16/12/12 01:12 Page 50
Figure 13: TBM tunnel lintel and sill beam (+ bicones) opening sets
warranted the use of the steel set
opening system. A single set
consisted of four or six steel
segments connected together and
the assembly provided an opening
door in the centre while the
remaining structure ensured
support of the ground loads
through a steel bolted portal
frame. The design of the steel sets
incorporated sealed ports that
enabled canopy tubes to be easily
drilled and installed through the
steel set prior to door removal and
cross passage excavation. Prior to
the removal of the door, two or The openings were three rings
four props (again dependent on
the geology) were installed to
provide additional support against
squatting of the ring due to
ground removal behind the
segment (figure 12).
After excavation of the cross
passage and installation of the
waterproofing membrane and
final cast in-situ concrete lining,
the steel segments were filled and
encased in shotcrete to ensure
both durability (cover) and fire
resistance (heat transmission
buffer).
Lintel-sill beam openings - In
the more competent ground, a
lighter support was adopted
consisting of lintel and sill beams
in combination with bicones
between the steel fibre reinforced
concrete rings in the
circumferential joints around the
cross passage opening (figure 13).
Fire life and safety design
wide (6m) as it was initially
envisaged that the cross passages
would be excavated with a road
header, but due to schedule
constraints, the cross passages
ended up being mined with
remotely operated excavators (as
was the case in the softer rocks
section where steel sets were
employed). To facilitate easy
anchoring of the beams onto the
segments, anchor reinforcement
cages were placed into the
moulds during casting of the
precast SFRC segments. An
essential element in the design
was to ensure that the stiffness of
the bicones and of the steel
beams were compatible. If one
element was too rigid compared
to the other, then it would attract
more load in the system and result
in a failure of the structure.
The project incorporates a state-
of-the-art tunnel fire management
system utilising a smoke extraction
system via smoke ducts, along
with a complex deluge system
creating arguably the worlds
safest tunnel.
A unique aspect of the project
was that the fire and deluge
TJ_1212_046_051.qxd:Feature 16/12/12
system were designed using a
performance approach instead of
following prescriptive regulations.
Through a risk assessment
management approach, various
possible fire scenarios were
considered and the probability of
event and the consequence
factors were determined. By
modelling integrated smoke
extraction and deluge system
effects in response to the fire
scenarios, structural performance
requirements were established to
provide optimal operational safety
and asset management. This
performance approach was
developed in close collaboration
with multiple stakeholders,
including police, fire and response large span slab (span/thickness
services, emergency services and
the operators.
Extensive modelling was carried
out such that fire resistant
concrete utilising polypropylene
fibres with sufficient cover was
Figure 14: Hanging smoke duct slab
solution adopted in the TBM tunnels
provided so that under all credible the tunnel lining, using self-
fires, the tunnel linings could be undercutting anchors (figure 14).
quickly re-instated without a full
rebuild. The tunnels linings were
then further designed to ensure
no collapse under the high
challenge fire loads.
Ventilation is managed through
the use of a smoke duct a void
above the roadway that sits within
the tunnel diameter but is sealed
from the traffic zone and
transports smoke and heat sucked
from the tunnel to one of three
ventilation stations.
The slab that separates the
smoke duct from the mainline is
only very lightly loaded. Apart
from the mechanical and electrical
equipment and occasional
maintenance personnel, the
01:12 Page 51
Figure 15: Jacked box at Toombul; inside the jacked box (left) and aerial view (right)
structure mainly supports its own
dead weight.
The designers went back to first
principles to design this rather
ratio > 30). While the mined
tunnels smoke duct slabs, with
even larger spans, incorporated
corbel supports at the tunnel
lining connections, the TBM
tunnels used a standard approach
of a beam supported
by two hangers
positioned to minimise
the bending moments
in the slabs. Each 6m
long slab section is
supported by four
hangers, each hanger
consisting of four
reinforcing bars,
12mm in diameter.
The hangers are
encased in fire
resistant concrete
(using Polypropylene
fibres) for both
durability purposes
and fire resistance. The
structure is anchored
in the crown section of
The structure is designed to avoid
the possibility of a catastrophic
collapse and was modelled using
the highest order structural
analysis software available to date.
The anchors were subject to an
intensive testing programme to
demonstrate that the failure mode
of the structure would be ductile
and in the unlikely event of a fire,
the structure would deform
extensively into a carpet like
structure and therefore would not
fail without warning.
By using first principles, the
smoke duct slab structure
remained light and extremely
functional, while optimising the
balance among cost, airflow and
structural performance
Jacked boxes
At Toombul (Eastern Connection)
the toll way is required to pass
under operating rail lines. With
track closures not allowed, it was
decided to hydraulically jack two
tunnel boxes beneath the rail
lines. These jacked boxes
consisted of two reinforced
concrete box structures, each 65m
long and 12.5m high, jacked side
by side beneath six of
Queenslands busiest railway lines.
The combined box width is
approximately 38m, and it formed
one of the largest jacked box
structures under a major railway in
the world. The boxes were jacked
through highly variable ground
comprising very soft alluvial clays
overlying sandstone rock. The
historic railway embankment fills
contained numerous obstructions
including old sewers and timber
support piers which had to be
negotiated during mining within
the jacked boxes. The rail
movements were controlled
during the ground treatment
works and the jacking operation
using real-time instrumentation
and monitoring. A roof structure,
consisting of interlocking and
grouted canopy tubes (or pipe
beams) 65m long and 760mm in
diameter, was installed above the
box alignment to re-distribute
surcharge pressure away from the
excavated face slip circle. The
excavated face was stabilised
using an integrated system of soil
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
The authors would like to acknowledge Thiess John Holland,
BrisConnections, City North Infrastructure, Parsons Brinckerhoff, Arup, all
design subpyconsultants as well as thank the many thousands of people
who laboured from the concept phase through to the successful delivery of
this major infrastructure project.
PROJECT REPORT
nails and fracture grouting
through tubes and manchette,
which consolidated the soft clays.
The jacking was successfully
undertaken around the clock and
without disruption to railway
passengers, over 36 days.
Conclusion
The Airport Link project was a
highly complex, challenging and
vast infrastructure project that was
designed and built in record time,
while meeting very high quality
and performance standards.
It involved a wide range of
construction methodologies and
structure types, of various sizes,
pushing the boundaries beyond
national and world records.
Through innovation and utilisation
of international expertise, the
project team integrated concepts,
techniques and theories to deliver
an exceptional piece of
infrastructure, above and
underground.
Overcoming many challenges
within this tight timeframe
required the most thoughtful and
intelligent design, while
maintaining extensive
coordination with highly
competent and dedicated
construction crews. In delivering
this project, the project team
provided technical solutions to
problems that had never been
previously encountered,
embracing the fundamental
principle that engineering in its
purest sense is about problem
solving.
TUNNELLING JOURNAL 51
TJ_1212_DIX_052_054.qxd:Feature 16/12/12
CERTIFICATION
Emergency
Cable
Certification
Withdrawal
the problems gone
global - could
equivalency be
part of the solution?
Following on from the article US Tunnel
Emergency Systems Cables Fire Rating
Withdrawn A Crisis or Crossroad? in the
last issue of North American Tunneling
Journal, Arnold Dix assesses the international
ramifications of the ratings withdrawal
THE MOST BROADLY used and recognised
fire and life safety standards in the world are
the NFPA 130 and NFPA 502 fire life safety
standards for road and rail tunnels. These
standards are integrated by law and by
contract in projects on every continent
especially outside the USA most often where
urgent urban tunnelling activity is a recent
phenomenon in response to pressing planning
and transportation needs.
The impact of the withdrawal of UL
certification of a range of emergency electrical
circuit protective systems is being felt especially
acutely in these foreign jurisdictions as
engineers grapple with safety and compliance
issues in tunnels proposed, existing and under
construction. In these jurisdictions outside the
USA it is extremely difficult for local authorities
52 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
15:02 Page 52
death for tunnel users but that so long as
to assess the merits of any proposed variation
from the strict interpretation of the NFPA
standards. Put bluntly, dealing with the
withdrawal of emergency cable certification
may be difficult in the USA but it is a potential
crisis in countries outside the USA.
The emerging global challenge is to take a
professional approach to quantifying and
Put bluntly, dealing with the
withdrawal of emergency cable
certification may be difficult in
the USA but it is a potential crisis
in Countries outside the USA
Professor Arnold Dix
managing our changed understanding of
emergency cable certification, cable
performance and its impact on life safety in our
underground infrastructure. This may require
stepping outside the strict wording of the NFPA
Standards themselves.
The electrical performance of fire resistive
cables underlies the achieved level of safety in
NFPA 130 and NFPA 502 compliant tunnels.
This is because the integrity of safety critical
electrical cabling is often fundamental to
achieving a deemed safe road or rail tunnel
through the control and operation of alarms,
control circuits, emergency ventilation systems,
communications systems, lighting and the like.
To compound these challenges, as a matter
of law, it is accepted in most countries that
there is a residual level of risk of injury and
tunnel systems are built, maintained and
operated in accordance with an appropriate
'standard' the residual risk is acceptable. In
other words any injury caused as a result of an
accepted residual risk is legally acceptable (This
is normally described more diplomatically as,
the risk has been managed to As Low As
Reasonably Practicable ALARP).
The withdrawal of the UL 2196 certification
of electrical circuit protective systems, and the
withdrawal of the right to stamp cables with
UL certification by implication suggests utilising
cabling or protective systems of the type
withdrawn from the market does not meet the
performance requirements necessary to satisfy
NFPA 130 and NFPA 502 fire and life safety
TJ_1212_DIX_052_054.qxd:Feature 16/12/12
requirements. This means that the acceptability
of the achieved level of fire and life safety
performance in tunnels must be reviewed. This
is not a matter of routine 'risk assessment', it is
a matter of reassessment and judgement based
on the new information available about the
performance of emergency cables in a fire.
Interim Certification Inferences
UL have released information about interim
certification arrangements in the absence of
current UL certification and the withdrawal of
prior UL certification. The interim provisions
provide a window into the variables which UL
have identified as important when determining
functional performance of a proposed new
interim circuit protective system. These
requirements provide an insight into the
multiple critical factors associated with the fire
performance of such electrical systems. UL
2196 now requires (on an interim basis) the
following details:
Jacket-thickness, material
designation/formulation, including raw
materials by manufacturer and part number
Conductor-type/grade of copper or other
alloy (if used)
Insulation-thickness, material
designation/formulation, including raw
materials by manufacturer and part number
Any other cable material, such as a shield,
drain wire, rip cord, reinforcing materials,
1 m
15:02 Page 53
etc. will require a detailed description, by
type, dimensions, material description,
manufacturer and part number
Raceway-type, trade size and manufacturer
Couplings/Connectors - type, model number,
and manufacturer
Boxes - type, model, and manufacturer
Supports - spacing, type, model number, and
manufacturer
Pulling Lubricants - If used, described by
amount to be applied, manufacturer, and
part number
System orientation - vertical, horizontal, s-
type, or other is to be described in detail
along with the detailed description of other
system components"
Furthermore under the interim arrangements
follow up testing is required of the original
tested material every six months.
"Follow-Up Testing
Every six months:
Cables In addition to normal FUS inspection,
a one foot long sample of each cable type will
be selected by UL Field Services staff and sent
to UL laboratory facilities for a detailed analysis.
The analysis report will be compared to the
previous sample analysis and stored as a test
reference.
Systems - Sufficient cable to construct 5 test
systems for each of the systems described in
the FUS procedure will also be selected by UL
Field Services staff. If cable is not available, the
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Z_ijWdY[h[iebkj_ede\j^[BWi[h?dj[h#
\[hec[j[h ki[Z _d KBIh BdjaY VcY
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CERTIFICATION
authorization to utilize ULs certification mark
on the cable will be suspended until samples
for test are available and found compliant. The
systems described in the FUS Procedures will be
subjected to the UL 2196 test."
A reasonable inference that can be drawn
from these interim requirements is that the
overall performance of these fire resistant
assemblages is the function of a range of
interdependent variables and that the
performance may vary with time.
The testing every six months of cables and
assemblies raises the prospect that UL have
identified significantly changed fire
performance between the initial testing of a
product and subsequent testing. It is
conceivable that processes - such as the release
of volatile fire suppressants from cables with
time - have now been identified by UL as a
significant factor in the ongoing performance
of these emergency systems in fire challenge
scenarios.
The fact that UL has not re-instated
certification for these emergency cables and
assemblies also suggests that the failure modes
identified are potentially significant.
NFPA 130 & NFPA 502 Update
NFPA is currently trying to reformulate
prescriptive tests for cable performance. During
November NFPA held urgent meetings of both
its 130 and 502 committees to formulate
mmm$lcj#]cX^$Z[
TJ_1212_DIX_052_054.qxd:Feature 16/12/12
CERTIFICATION
revised certification testing standards for
emergency cables. These tests will necessarily
prescribe onerous fires during which electrical
performance of cabling systems must be
maintained.
The challenge with formulating such tests is
that the origin of the performance criteria
which must be met is often obscure more a
matter of practice than a matter of pure
science. For example the time temperature
curve for electrical cable continuity is in
substantial part derived from forensic
examination following real fire events but these
challenges may (or may not) be an appropriate
performance standards for a specific tunnel.
By way of example there is a strong
argument that the electrical cabling
performance in a tunnel fitted with an
aggressive fire suppression system and with
cabling installed at a low level within the tunnel
may rightly differ from the cabling performance
required in a tunnel with no active fire
suppression system and cabling running along
the tunnel crown.
Other discussions may rightly emerge in
tunnels where there is redundancy of
emergency circuitry or other aspects of the
design or operational risk profile that make the
electrical and mechanical systems performance
less vulnerable to single point electrical cabling
failure.
To highlight this point an inspection of a
tunnel in late November in the Middle East
revealed electrical cabling in hot dipped
conduit controlling a mist system in a road
tunnel. The level of fire risks is substantially
reduced albeit that the control cabling may be
more vulnerable to fire damage than originally
thought. Careful engineering judgement must
be exercised in such circumstances.
Fit for Purpose
The impact of the UL certification withdrawal
directly impacts the findings of any
bureaucratic assessment of fitness to
operate tunnels because the performance of
the cabling installed in fire conditions has been
questioned and NFPA 130 and 502 mandate
certified cable. Our immediate challenge is to
use engineering judgement to determine
which tunnels are in substance affected by the
current emergency cabling issues and to
mitigate those risks.
Improper Responses
It has been suggested during meetings over
the last few weeks that cables bearing the UL
marking should be sourced and used without
fear or hesitation as the marks the cable bears
were lawfully applied and therefore the cable
can properly be used. Such assertions reflect an
inappropriate and highly unprofessional
approach to ensuring the performance of
underground fire and life safety systems and
thereby the safety of tunnel users. The issue is
not whether cable bears the UL mark - it is
whether cable used will perform appropriately
54 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
15:02 Page 54
in a fire situation. No matter what cable is used
(certified or otherwise) the cable fire
performance must be understood and
incorporated into the fire safety design of the
project.
I am also aware of other projects in which an
executive decision has been taken, not to
worry fires dont happen here. Such a provisions in the documents mandating use of
response would constitute criminal conduct in
some countries if a fire occurs and death results
as a result of failed cable performance. In many
countries such conduct by professionals may
result in a prison sentence if there is a loss of
life). In the absence of UL certification
engineering analysis is an appropriate means of
documenting and determining if the use of a
specific cable in a unique application is
appropriate. A professional response is required
from engineers in such circumstances.
Looking Forward
NFPA 130 and NFPA 502 are robust standards
which recently adopted the concept of
'equivalence'. Equivalence is a mechanism
NFPA use to promote innovation and
enhancements to fire and life safety in
circumstances outside the prescriptive
requirements of the standards.
The current certification withdrawal
highlights the need for an 'equivalence' in the
overarching framework specifying NFPA 130
and 502 standards. Drafting regulatory
provisions contemplating a departure from
strict compliance with the standards could be
included in projects (especially outside the USA)
in order to mitigate the risks caused by
changes or flaws in the NFPA standards which
occur or are revealed in circumstances outside
the control of the client. Furthermore such
equivalency positions (if properly drafted)
provide a way of customising an NFPA standard
for local conditions, or unique circumstances,
without invalidating the overall fire safety
performance achieved by the NFPA standard.
Such overarching equivalency provisions
would supplement and be consistent with the
internal equivalency provisions within NFPA
130 and NFPA 502.
Currently NFPA 502 2011 Edition provides:
"1.5 Equivalency. Nothing in this standard
is intended to prevent the use of systems,
methods, or devices of equivalent or superior
quality, strength, fire resistance,
effectiveness, durability, and safety over
those prescribed by this standard, provided
sufficient technical data demonstrates that
the applied method material or device is
equivalent to or superior to the requirements
of this standard with respect to fire
performance and safety.
1.5.1 Technical documentation shall be
submitted to the authority having jurisdiction
to demonstrate equivalency.
1.5.2 The system, method, or device shall
be approved for the intended purpose.
1.5.3 Alternative methods or devices
approved as equivalent shall be recognized
as being in compliance with this standard."
Such equivalency provisions within these NFPA
standards highlights there potential to embrace
change, innovation and unique project
circumstances. The current withdrawal of UL
emergency cable system certification could
readily be navigated if there were equivalency
the NFPA 130 and 502 standards.
Conclusions
The current UL certification situation demands,
at the very least:
Informed prescription of minimum cable fire
performance requirements
Urgent revision of what constitutes Listed
fire cable
The establishment of pragmatic testing
criteria to better represent the conditions
of real cable installation and set reliable,
functional, performance requirements and,
where appropriate, reflect the unique
circumstances of a tunnel
An assessment of the expected
performance of existing installed cables in a
fire Emergency and, depending upon the
results of the expected cable performance
mitigation of any unacceptable
consequential safety risks
For those of us tasked with making and
advising on immediate decision making on
operational and in construction subsurface
infrastructure matters, a steady hand with an
eye to documentation and detail must be
applied. Now is the time to exercise informed
expert judgement and to well document the
process. In the event of failed tunnel
emergency systems with implicated failed
emergency wiring the importance of this step
will be critical. Exercising judgement in the
absence of a genuinely fire rated cable or a
proscriptive code is absolutely essential.
It is by no means clear the extent to which
the vulnerabilities revealed in the US are also
mirrored in other markets where other
certification and standards are applied. It would
be naive to presume there are no issues
elsewhere.
In the future it would be useful to draft an
equivalency framework where NFPA 130 and
NFPA 502 are specified. This would invite
innovative and effective solutions when
problems arise like the blanket withdrawal of
certification of emergency cabling for road and
rail tunnels.
REFERENCES
1. http://www.arnolddix.com/usa-cable-fire-
rating-withdrawal.html
2. http://www.arnolddix.com/library/
3. US Emergency Systems Cables Certification
Withdrawn: Crisis or Crossroads?
http://www.arnolddix.com/wp-
content/uploads/2012/11/TJ-Oct-Nov-12-Crisis-
or-Crossroads-2.pdf
 Constructing a
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TJ_1212_Products_056_057.qxd:Feature
PRODUCT NEWS
New data logger and In-Site
software from itmsoil
A new vibrating wire data
logger from itmsoil
combines low cost with high
technology making it
attractive for use in smaller
construction projects around
the world.
Group CEO Mark Kirkbride
said he was delighted to
launch a new and unique
piece of equipment filling a
gap in the market.
The company's existing
Campbell-based systems are
ideal for the biggest
construction projects but are
expensive when only a small
quantity of sensors are
needed. The new VWlog8
will be perfect for the
unattended monitoring of
smaller projects say the
company.
The logger can transmit
data via GSM/GPRS or store
it on an SD card. It reads
vibrating wire sensors using
Fast Fourier Transformation
(FFT), the most advanced
and reliable reading method.
It enables a fully
configurable data logging
schedule for each individual
channel and the settings,
and firmware, can all be
configured over GSM/GPRS.
The module itself is
approximately
250x100x40mm and would
be housed in an enclosure
on site.
Mr Kirkbride said: "itmsoil
remains at the forefront of
innovation in the
monitoring industry with
our development team
consistently delivering
premium quality products.
"I am pleased that with
the VWlog8 we are able to
make remote monitoring
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"The module is quick and
easy to set up in the field,
the set-up requires no
programming skill and there
is a built-in automatic
reading retry if the sensor
signal quality is poor."
The VWlog8 is now
available to pre-order at a
special introductory price of
750.00 (inclusive of all
56 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
15/12/12 21:48 Page 56
discounts). There are
optional extras, price on
application.
A limited first production
will be available for
shipping at the end of
January 2013.
Itmsoil is also pleased to
release the latest version of
In-Site, its inclinometer data
presentation software.
Improvements to the
software (v2.11.9) have been
made based on customer
feedback and also to allow
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other itmsoil data
presentation software.
New revisions to In-Site
have made it even easier for
users to manage and present
inclinometer data. Features
and improvements include:
Ability to export data into
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itmsoil's online
presentation software
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Introduction of two new
languages which can be
selected on start-up, the
three available languages
now include English,
German and French
Upgraded graphing
resolution in the report
function
Improved scaling function
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Incremental graphs can
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Rebranding of the
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aesthetics
"itmsoil as a company is
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comments Kirkbride. "We
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A free trial version of the
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http://soilsupport.co.uk/inde
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v2119-installer
Terratec delivers EPBM to Delhi
Terratec has announced that the two TBMs for the execution of
first of six TBMs for the Delhi the tunnelling works between
Metro Phase III was delivered to Kashmere Gate and Jama Masjid
the client after a successful Stations all part of Delhi Metro
performance of the workshop Contract CC-07. This brings the
testing. The official ceremony was total combined distance that
held in the presence of each TBM will bore to
representatives from the client a approximately 2,040m. The
JV between Metrostroy O.S. of tunnel segment lining will be
Russia and ERA Infra Ltd. of India made of RC segments, universal
after seven months from receipt type, with an outer diameter of
of order, a record for this class of 6,350mm, inner diameter of
machine. The second TBM for 5,800mm and width of
this project will be delivered to 1,400mm.
the JV before the end of the year. Delhi the capital city of India
The Tunnel Boring Machine is a and the largest commercial centre
6.61m EPB Shield. It has been in northern India has a growing
specifically designed for the demand for more infrastructure
conditions of this project and and transportation given the
incorporates state-of-the-art huge influx of people who flock
features such as the VFD electric to the city annually. The GDP
driven CutterHead, a versatile grew by 10.7% in the past five
design of the cutting tools that years making it the fastest
are intercheageable with 17 growing city in the region. Phase
roller disc cutters, the active type III focuses on more of the outer
articulation for the shield, and the lying areas of the city. As Delhis
tails built-in 2-Liquid backfilling population grows and expands
system. outward, there is a greater need
The JV intends to use a total of for transportation to these areas
Atlas Copco Colombia record order
Atlas Copco has won a US$10M order to supply equipment
for the second phase of Colombias largest hydropower
project, Ituango. The contract is the biggest received by Atlas
Copco Colombia in its 26 years of operation.
Atlas Copco will deliver a total 28 machines for
underground, surface and exploration drilling, loading as well
as stationary and portable compressors. The customer is the
CCC Ituango consortium, consisting of Camargo Correa from
Brazil, and Conconcreto and Coninsa from Colombia. The
order was booked in the fourth quarter and the equipment is
to be delivered over the coming year.
Colombia is an increasingly important market for Atlas
Copco and we are pleased to be able to meet local demand
for products and services related to infrastructure and civil
engineering projects, said Bob Fassl, Business Area President,
Atlas Copco Mining and Rock Excavation Technique.
TJ_1212_Products_056_057.qxd:Feature 15/12/12 21:48 Page 57

PRODUCT NEWS

Powerful partners several countries and, regardless of the

The construction of a tunnel is an extremely
complex and demanding engineering task. It
not only requires the right expertise and
equipment, but also the right partners. In
such a complex process the guaranteed
supply of sufficient power is a prerequisite for
success. As Energyst Cat Rental Power CEO
Gary Smith reveals, With our experience in
Spain, UK, Ireland and Germany we know
what it takes to deliver.
Whether you are only tunnelling 4m below
a busy city centre or drilling your way through
thousands of m3 of silt far away from
civilisation, a guaranteed supply of power is
an absolute must, say the company. However,
a fixed connection to an existing power grid
is not always possible. As a tunneller the
focus should be on the job at hand and not
worry about the power supply to the TBM
and all the back-up system equipment such
as conveyors, slurry pipelines or ventilation
mechanisms. In these cases power generation
rental can be a solution says Energyst, a Cat
rental company, which has extensive
experience with the challenges of tunnelling
and its unique requirements.
We were involved in tunnelling projects in
geological conditions or the applied
tunnelling technique, we know the stakes are
high, Smith confirms. No power means no
drilling and no drilling means costly delays. As
a Caterpillar company, we are conscious that
reliability is the number one priority. That is
why we offer tailored project packages that
can assure that reliability. And of course,
using reliable equipment from a partner that
understands your needs is crucial. The
impressive Energyst fleet offers an extensive
range of modern Caterpillar power
generation equipment especially designed to
meet the performance demands required.
But when it comes to supporting and
facilitating tunnellers, simply delivering the
power is just not good enough, according to
Gary Smith. The key to success he says is
adding value right from the start all the way
up to the completion of the project.
Customization is key because all tunnelling
projects are different. This requires the need
to be flexible and come up with turnkey
solutions every single time. For example,
Energyst support the BAM/Wayss & Freytag
JV in the construction of the Corrib Onshore
Tunnel by using eight 810kVA generators
instead of fewer generators with a larger
capacity. This to meet specific load demands
and efficiency specifications.
Energyst offers solutions not only when it
comes to hardware. Gary Smith continues, It
is all about service as well. We have an
outstanding track record when it comes to
our 24/7 call-out facility and our 24/7 remote
and early warning alarm telemetry. If needed
we educate local employees to perform
maintenance or preventative readings
reporting. We strive to achieve a real
partnership with our clients and offer
solutions with regard to all parts of the power
supply, from engineering and design, through
transportation and installation to
maintenance and completion, all in a safe
and environmentally responsible manner.
Despite high level CAT factory design and
build involvement, the power rental business
is very much a people business. This is not
any different from the tunnelling industry,
Gary Smith explains. Our dedicated people
are defined by their Can do Spirit and that is
an absolute must in this line of work. They
understand the customer demands and are
always willing to go the extra mile. All our
people are real experts and passionate about
their job. This is shown by the excellent work
they perform all around the world.

New silicate resin for anchoring systems

Minova has introduced a
newly developed two-
component silicate resin for
bonding rock bolts:
Carbothix. The resin supports
injection bolts, such as
Wiborex, and rod anchors,
such as the FiReP GRP bolts.
For their application, the
injection bolts are charged
with the silicate resin before
use. Alternatively, the bolt-
into-grout process uses
pumps to prefill boreholes
before inserting the bolts.
With its fast setting time of
four hours, Carbothix is an
efficient solution for
anchoring in tough
geological conditions.
Using the two-component
Carbothix silicate resin could
not be simpler: special
pumps, including the CT-PM
and PHP types, are used to
prefill boreholes or prepare
injection bolts. Since only the
actual annulus in the
borehole is filled, the resin
offers an efficient use of
resources. The viscosity of
the resin increased within
minutes in the application
process. This so-called thix
effect stops the resin from
leaking from boreholes
even at large diameters.
Pump pressure needs to be
applied to displace the resin
in the borehole.
The Carbothix resin retains
its thixotrophic quality,
allowing the bolts to be
placed without any time
pressure. After a period of
four hours, the bolts can
sustain loads of up to 360kN
(40.4tn) a pull-out force
proven in tests using 600mm
bolts with 25mm diameter
threads in 32mm boreholes.
In addition to injection and
filler grouting applications,
Carbothix also guarantees
reliable sealing against
flowing water.

TUNNELLING JOURNAL 57
TJ_1212_CONTACTS_058.qxd:Feature 15/12/12
contact US
Gary Tween
Managing Director
Tel: + 44 (0) 1622 720 631
Mobile: + 44 (0) 7973 205 638
gary@tunnellingjournal.com
Rory Harris
Chairman
Mobile: + 1 (859) 321 3164
rory@tunnelingjournal.com
Mark Piper
Finance Director
Tel: + 44 (0) 1672 563 662
Mobile: + 44 (0) 7768 554 646
mark@tunnellingjournal.com
Amanda Foley
North American Editor
amanda@tunnellingjournal.com
mands.f@hotmail.com
Pete Beach
Illustrator
58 TUNNELLING JOURNAL
21:35 Page 58
Tris Thomas
Editorial Director
Tel: + 44 (0) 1622 720 631
Mobile: + 44 (0) 7812 011 139
tris@tunnellingjournal.com
Steve Caming
Publishing Director
Tel: + 1 (603) 447 1187
Mobile: + 1 (603) 662 6263
steve@tunnelingjournal.com
tunneling@roadrunner.com
Peter Bell
Director
Tel: + 44 (0) 1622 720 631
Mobile: + 44 (0) 7770 441 867
peter@tunnellingjournal.com
Daniel Lee-
Billinghurst
Sales Consultant
Tel: +44 (0) 203 239 6754
Mobile: +44 (0) 7818 422712
daniel@tunnellingjournal.com
Peter Lawrence
Art Editor
contributorS
Kristina
Smith
Kristina Smith has been writing
about civil engineering and
construction for over 15 years,
having started her career out on
site as an engineer.
Adrian
Greeman
Adrian Greeman has been
writing about international
civil engineering projects (in
particular tunnels, bridges
and highways) for the past
16 years.
Tunnelling journal
TGS Media Ltd
PO Box 1261, Maidstone,
Kent, ME14 9HS, UK
488 Allard Hill Road,
Conway, NH 03818, USA
The publishers, authors and
printers cannot accept liability
for errors or omissions. All
rights reserved. No part of this
publication may be reproduced
in any form without prior
permission of the copyright
holder and the publisher,
application for which should
be made to the publisher. TGS
Media Ltd. ISSN Tunnelling
journal (Print) ISSN 2044-
074X, Tunnelling journal
(Online) ISSN 2044-0758
MAN VERSUS NATURE

No two tunnels are the same. Every project has its own challenges. 
Even basic elements like ground conditions often change during the bore.
To resolve any issues that you encounter, Robbins provides a full range
of support including engineering staff and on-site field service technicians.
From mixed ground to high cover conditions, weve helped our customers
overcome hundreds of challenges over the last 60 years.

We keep you advancing.

TJ_1212_extra_pages.qxd:Feature 18/12/12 21:21 Page 20

Tunnelling
www.tunnellingjournal.com Dec 2012/Jan 2013

The international journal for the tunnelling industry

journal
SEE PAGE 6 SEE PAGE 16 SEE PAGE 46

TJ WORLD LONDON AIRPORT

NEWS CABLES LINK
HIGHLIGHTS FROM TJ VISITS THE BRISBANES
THE TJ WEBSITES CABLE TUNNEL AIRPORT LINK
DAILY NEWS PROJECT IN TUNNELS
SERVICE LONDON EXPLAINED IN
DETAIL

LEES SLIPFORMING
SOLUTION
BARTON - TBM AND D&B
TBMS IN MINING
NATJ_1212_NAFNTCOVER_001.qxd:cover 17/12/12 21:58 Page 1

Tunneling
north american Dec 2012/Jan 2013

www.tunnellingjournal.com
journal

ADVANCES IN AUSTIN
JOLLYVILLE WATER TRANSMISSION MAIN
MAKES GREAT PROGRESS

SEE PAGE 5 DETAILS ON PAGE 16 SEE PAGE 21

NIAGARA NEARS AFTER THE WORK UNDER
COMPLETION STORM PRESSURE
OTTAWA LRT PARTNER HURRICANE SANDYS BALLARD DIVING
SELECTED PLUS FLOOD REPAIR BILL IS TALKS TO NATJ
OTHER NEWS FROM EXPECTED TO ABOUT ALL THINGS
NORTH AMERICA REACH $3 BILLION INTERVENTIONS
NATJ_1212_NAFNTCOVER_001.qxd:cover 15/12/12 17:31 Page 1

Tunneling
north american Dec 2012/Jan 2013

www.tunnellingjournal.com
journal

ADVANCES IN AUSTIN
JOLLYVILLE WATER TRANSMISSION MAIN
MAKES GREAT PROGRESS

SEE PAGE 5 DETAILS ON PAGE 16 SEE PAGE 21

NIAGARA NEARS AFTER THE WORK UNDER
COMPLETION STORM PRESSURE
OTTAWA LRT PARTNER HURRICANE SANDYS BALLARD DIVING
SELECTED PLUS FLOOD REPAIR BILL IS TALKS TO NATJ
OTHER NEWS FROM EXPECTED TO ABOUT ALL THINGS
NORTH AMERICA REACH $3 BILLION INTERVENTIONS
NATJ_1212_COMMENT_003.qxd:Feature 18/12/12 20:55 Page 3

comment contentS
A happy New Year
Wow, what a year, and it feels like its
flown by faster than Felix Baumgartner
overtaking a meandering seagull. So for
any of you who missed the highs and
lows, heres an end of year recap of my
best, and worst, bits of 2012.
If you happen to read my Comment on
a regular basis, youre probably sick of
me harping on about the Cutting Edge conference on pressurized
TBM tunneling, in Miami, this April. But, hey, its my Comment, and for
me it really was one to the highlights of the year. I was blown away by
the success of the event which is saying something, considering I put
together the program and the feedback we got from delegates. It Above: Storm
damage on
was also a chance to visit the stunning Port of Miami Tunnel, with
Staten Island,
Bouygues Civil Works Florida putting on a great tour of the project.
New York (p5)
At about the same time, plans were released for the new mammoth Right: A Ballard
30-mile (60km) long Bay Delta Tunnel, in California, which is sure to team undertake
feature heavily in the pages of the magazine in the year to come. The confined space
first of Sound Transits U220 drives broke through, in advance of repairs (p21)
completion of tunneling for Seattles U-Link Light Rail project, in June.
Mexicos largest TBM, a 33.5ft (10.2m) diameter Robbins EPBM, also
completed tunneling for the capitals new metro Line 12. 5 North American News
Project, contract & company news
In June, Seattles Alaskan Way bored tunnel replacement broke
ground on my birthday (which was nice); Torontos Holey and Moley
TBMs completed their first drives for the Spadina Subway extensions
8 The Insider
Goodfellow looks at how the recent US
presidential election might affect the industry
Southern Tunnels; and we all got together for a highly successful North
American Tunneling conference, in Indianapolis. July saw tunneling
completed on all of New Yorks megaprojects, with GTF JVs soft
ground East Side Access drives coming to an end; and the EA approved
10 Advancing in Austin
Excellent TBM advance rates on the
Jollyville Transmission Main are helping to
for Ottawas $2.1 billion light rail line. keep Austins WTP 4 project on track
By October, Canadas tunnel boom was in full evidence, with SNC-
Lavalin selected for Vancouvers Evergreen Line; the first Eglinton
contract awarded in Toronto; and a highly-successful Tunnelling 16 After the storm
Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts continue in
New York, with the subway and road tunnel
Association of Canada (TAC) conference, in Montreal. Unfortunately,
repair bill set to exceed $3 billion
shortly afterwards (and timed perfectly to coincide with my flight back
to the UK), Hurricane Sandy slammed New York head on causing an
estimated $3 billion worth of damage to tunnel infrastructure (p16).
So, as we head towards the end of 2012, I can only wonder what
21 Under pressure: informed interventions
Ballard Diving talks to NATJ about the
importance of pre-planning interventions
next year will have in store for us. Lets hope its a safe and happy one.

Amanda Foley 25 Ground support showcase

Project and company news from suppliers

Front cover
MWH is performing construction management-at-risk services for the City of Austin on the
Jollyville Transmission Main. This is a key component of the $359 million Water Treatment
Plant 4 project currently under construction. When completed, the plant will produce 50
million gallons of potable water per day as part of a long-term plan to account for future
growth within the Austin area. With a total length of 6.5-miles and an excavated diameter
of 10ft 8in, the Jollyville Transmission Main is the longest of three tunnels included in the
WTP4 project. The MWH subcontractor for this portion of the work is a joint venture of
Southland Contracting and Mole Constructors. They are using three TBMs in three separate
reaches of approximately 4,500ft, 10,000ft and 20,000ft each and have achieved daily
advance rates of more than 200ft. Photos courtesy of The Robbins Company.

NORTH AMERICAN TUNNELING JOURNAL 3

NATJ_1212_ADS_004.qxd:Feature 15/12/12 20:40 Page 4

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4 NORTH AMERICAN TUNNELING JOURNAL

NATJ_1212_NEWS_005_007.qxd:Feature 15/12/12
www.tunnelingjournal.com - breaking industry news first!
Billy Bishop gears
up for launch
Two 1.8m diameter rock TBMs, nicknamed
Chip and Dale, have arrived at the Billy
Bishop Toronto City Airport (BBTCA), in
Toronto, Canada. The machines, which were
transported to the site in November 2012,
were purpose-built by tunneling contractor
Technicore to drive a series of arch support
drifts for the airports long-anticipated 200m
(656ft) pedestrian tunnel beneath the
Western Channel of Torontos Inner Harbor.
The tunnel will replace the current passenger
ferry service to Toronto Island, where the
airports runways are located.
At present, the machines are being installed
within the projects 33m x 13m (108ft x 42ft)
mainland shaft, which has reached a depth of
25m (82ft) to advance the initial stage of
tunnel construction. The geology beneath
Lake Ontarios Western Channel consists of
Georgian Bay Shale, which is thinly
horizontally bedded, under a high horizontal
stress state, and subject to time-dependent
swelling deformation. Considering these
factors, the proposed tunnel construction
sequence consists of advancing a series of
seven horizontal TBM-driven secant bores
backfilled with concrete, followed by mass
excavation of the 10m (32ft) diameter rock
tunnel under the resulting concrete arch.
Toronto Port Authoritys CA$82.5 million
tunnel is being financed through an airport
improvement fee charged to passengers, with
the initial funds realized through a 20-year
Public-Private Partnership model. The
consortium that was selected to deliver the
project on November 25, 2011, is led by
Forum Equity Partners (developer and equity
provider), and includes PCL Constructors
(general contractor), Technicore Underground
(tunneling contractor) and Arup (designer).
The project is due to be completed in the
spring of 2014.
17:36 Page 5
Hurricane recovery at the Harbor Siphon
When Hurricane Sandy slammed
into New York City on October 29,
Manhattans East River subway and
road tunnels were not the only
infrastructure casualties (see p16).
When the Category 1 storm surge
combined with a full moon high
tide, it resulted in historic water
levels in New York Harbor. Despite
efforts to mitigate flood risks on
the project, the New York Harbor
Siphon Tunnel with its TBM
launch shaft located in the Staten Post hurricane damage at the edge of the
Island hurricane evacuation zone Harbor Siphon launch shaft site
was inundated with seawater.
Designed by Hatch Mott
MacDonald (HMM) in joint venture with CDM
Smith, the new water siphon is being built to
replace existing siphons that need to be
relocated to enable dredging operations for
the deepening of the harbor channel. As
part of that design we looked at flood
protection, considering the 100-year flood
elevation for the site, says David Watson,
Design Liaison for the CDM/HMM JV. Some
of that work was for the permanent design,
but construction is obviously a high risk time
period also. So as part of the contract
documents the contractor was asked to build
the shaft walls 3ft (1m) higher than the 100-
year flood elevation as a flood protection
measure.
Tully/OHL JV had launched its 12ft (3.6m)
diameter Caterpillar EPBM on the 9,460ft
(2,883m) long tunnel drive this summer. The
drive had progressed 1,500ft (457m) when
the hurricane began to develop. It seemed
clear that it was going to hit somewhere near
us and might be pretty substantial, says
Watson. So the contractor set up additional
measures to stop water from running into the
tunnel; a flood barrier at the at the mouth of
the tunnel and additional pumps in the shaft
with back-up generators. The Tully/OHL JV
also had some guys on site monitoring the
situation as long as they could, but when the
Zone-A mandatory evacuation order was
given, everyone had to leave. Worker safety
Edmontons NAIT LRT milestone
Edmontons North LRT reached a milestone
on November 16, as tunneling crews on the
North Light Rail Transit (LRT) to Northern Al-
berta Institute of Technology (NAIT) project
broke through the wall at Churchill Station,
connecting the North LRT with Edmontons
existing LRT network.
Crews have been working around the clock
since January 2012, excavating the twin tun-
nels that are slightly less than half a mile long
and link Churchill Station to ground level just
west of the EPCOR Tower. Now that the tun-
nels are complete, the next step will be track
NEWS
has to come first.
With the pumps left set up and running, it
was thought that these additional measures
would be enough to stop any residual water
that might run over the flood protection walls
from entering the tunnel. Unfortunately, that
was not the case. When they went back in
they found that although the pumps were
still running the barrier had been breached
and about half the tunnel had been flooded.
Due to the fact that the tunnel drive is on a
2.6% downward grade, the entire TBM was
essentially submerged in a saltwater bath.
Were currently in the process of
evaluating the situation and formulating a
plan to get back up and running, says
Watson. Caterpillar has been on site working
with the contractor to figure out what the
recovery plan would be. But at the moment
we are looking at some pretty extensive
repairs to both the TBM and the back-up.
The New York City Economic Development
Corporation (NYCEDC) is managing the
project on behalf of the New York City
Department of Environmental Protection
(NYCDEP) and the Port Authority of New York
and New Jersey (PANYNJ), with LiRo/Parsons
Brinckerhoff JV acting as construction
manager. The project is necessary to
accommodate future cargo volumes and a
new generation of cargo megaships in the
Port of New York and New Jersey.
laying and M&E works. The NAIT line is ex-
pected to be operating in the fall of 2014.
In addition to the completion of the North
LRT tunnel, this years work included con-
struction of all surface track for the north line
and foundation work for the Grant MacE-
wan, Kingsway/Royal Alex and NAIT LRT sta-
tions. Development of the stations will
continue over the winter months.
The CA$755 million project is funded by the
Government of Canada (CA$100 million), the
Government of Alberta (CA$497 million) and
the City of Edmonton (CA$158 million).
NORTH AMERICAN TUNNELING JOURNAL 5
NATJ_1212_NEWS_005_007.qxd:Feature 15/12/12 17:36 Page 6

NEWS www.tunnelingjournal.com - breaking industry news first! ww

signify the completion of the concrete

pouring phase inside the tunnel. In total,
about 300,000m3 of concrete was poured.
As NATJ was going to press, Western
Mechanical was about to begin transporting
the concrete arch forms through the tunnel
to the outlet channel where they will be
dismantled. Meanwhile, Canadian Overhead
Handling (COH) continued to erect the
closure gate at the outlet structure.
Castonguay has commenced drill and blast

RICK BERKETA, NIAGARAFRONTIER.COM

Niagara gears up for commissioning
November 15 marked yet another milestone
for Ontario Power Generations 6.4-mile
(10.2km) long Niagara Tunnel Project, in
Canada. With 10 steel stop-logs weighing
in at 215 tonnes in place at the tunnel
intake, main contractor Strabag successfully
filled the intake channel with water from the
Niagara River.
Subcontractor Bermingham Construction
has since begun to remove the cofferdam
that was erected in 2006 to dewater the
area. Once the gravel fill from the cofferdam
cells has been removed, Bermingham will
detach the steel pilings allowing river water
to flow unimpeded.
On November 8, a ceremony was held at
the tunnel with Government of Ontario
politicians, including officials from OPG and
Strabag, as well as other local dignitaries, to
mark the final placement of concrete to
sequences at the outlet rock plug. This 44m
(144ft) thick rock barrier will be narrowed to
12m (39ft). When ready, the final blast will
open the outlet channel to the existing canal.
The gate at the outlet will prevent the tunnel
from flooding until interface grouting of the
tunnel lining is completely finished.
Safety has always been our focus. Its
good that we came through the most
technically challenging part of the project
without a major accident,says Strabags
Project Manager, Ernst Gschnitzer. Now that
the job is in the home stretch I continue to
remind myself and my colleagues to keep
safety top of mind, to keep that good record
so we can celebrate our safety record when
we hand over the project to our client
OPG awarded a CA$600 million design-
build contract for the Niagara Tunnel to
Strabag on August 18, 2005, based on its
proposal to excavate the tunnel with a 47.4ft
(14.4m) Robbins main beam gripper TBM and
a two-pass lining. The project will bring more
water from the upper Niagara River to the Sir
Adam Beck hydroelecricity generators. The
additional water will allow OPG to generate
enough clean, renewable, electricity to power
about 160,000 homes.

Indianapolis' Deep Rock Connector delivery

On November 27, the 20.2ft (6.2m)
diameter Robbins hard rock cutterhead
that will be put to work on Indianapolis
Deep Rock Tunnel Connector (DTRC)
project, in Indiana, was delivered to site.
Its arrival at the staging area was
timed with a ceremony that included the
citys mayor and local officials, marking
the assembly progress of the Main Beam
TBM. Once launched from a 250ft (76m)
deep shaft, the machine will embark on
the 7.5-mile (12.2km) long wastewater
tunnel for the Shea/Kiewit JV.
The contractor-owned machine was
refurbished and redesigned by Robbins
in its Cleveland, Ohio, and Mt Pleasant,
Pennsylvania, facilities following its most
recent excavation at New York Citys
Second Avenue Subway. Its rebuild was
complex, according to Dave Girard,
Senior Engineer for JF Shea Construction:
We retrofitted a machine built in 1976
with the latest technology in particular,
variable frequency drive motors. Other
new components include the back-
loading cutterhead with 19in disc cutters
and rescue chamber.
Scheduled for launch in early 2013, the
machine will proceed towards the
Belmont Wastewater Treatment Plant at
depths of 270ft (82m) through
competent limestone and dolomite.
Robbins continuous conveyors, including
a horizontal and vertical conveyor, will
aid in muck removal on the long drive. The contractor-owned machine includes a
Once complete, the tunnel will be lined cutterhead refurbished by Robbins
with un-reinforced concrete, making the
finished diameter 18ft (5.5m). Indianapolis federally mandated
The Indianapolis Department of Public Consent Decree and $1.7 billion Long
Works awarded the $179.3 million DTRC Term Control Plan to curb combined
contract to Shea/Kiewit JV in November sewer overflows. Four additional deep
2011. Designed by Aecom, the DRTC will storage tunnels will also be built: The
convey up to 550 million gallons of White River and Fall Creek tunnels (due
combined sewer overflows daily to the to commence in 2015); and the Pleasant
Southport Advanced Water Treatment Run and Pogues Run tunnels (which will
Plant. The project is the first phase of begin in 2020).

6 NORTH AMERICAN TUNNELING JOURNAL

NATJ_1212_NEWS_005_007.qxd:Feature 15/12/12
www.tunnelingjournal.com - breaking industry news first!
Strabag picks up the pace on Torontos
Southeast Collector Trunk Sewer
All four owner-procured 3.6m (11.8ft)
diameter Caterpillar EPBMs are now in the
ground and mining for Regional Municipality
of Yorks CA$546 million Southeast Collector
trunk sewer project, just north of Toronto,
Canada.
Rideau Transit Group scoops Ottawa Confederation Line LRT contract
The City of Ottawa has selected the Rideau
Transit Group consortium as their preferred
choice to design, build, finance and maintain
the CA$2.1 billion Ottawa Light Rail Transit
(OLRT) project. The announcement was made
at a press conference on December 6, at City
Hall, with Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty,
Mayor Jim Watson in attendance.
The Rideau Transit Group (RTG) is led by
ACS Infrastructure Canada and includes a big
Canadian component, with Quebec
engineering firm SNC-Lavalin and assorted
subsidiaries playing roles as financiers,
engineers, operators and maintenance
overseers. Other team members of the
consortium include EllisDon Corp, Dragados
Canada, Veolia Transportation Services,
Adamson Associates, BBB Architects Ottawa,
Dr G Sauer & Partners Corp, Fast + Epp, Hatch
Mott McDonald, IBI Group, L2 Advisors,
MMM Group, Scotia Capital, Sereca Fire
Consulting and Thurber Engineering.
Rideau Transit Groups (RTG) proposal
17:37 Page 7
The projects main contractor, Strabag,
secured the CA$290 million contract to build
the 15km (9.3-mile) long gravity trunk sewer
tunnel project in August 2011. In addition to
the tunneling works the project also requires
the construction of 16 shafts, which vary from
4m to 14m in diameter, and
one portal access.
Two of these shafts and
the portal access are the
starting points for the TBM
drives and have been
constructed by various
methods and include NATM
starter tunnels lined with
sprayed concrete and lattice
girders.
The first TBM Sutha was
delivered to the Shaft 1
portal and began mining in
July. The second TBM
Joanna was delivered to
Shaft 10, also in July, from
where 60% of the projects
tunnelling will be conducted.
The third machine Mattea
began mining at the end of
October from Shaft 3, with
the fourth TBM Sophialy the
last to get going from her
starter tunnel at Shaft 10.
The project has been
designed by a joint venture of
Aecom and Hatch Mott
MacDonald.
outlines a construction schedule that will see
the 12.5km (7.8-mile) Confederation Line
construction substantially complete by the end
of 2017 and in service by 2018. Moreover, the
consortium has agreed to a fixed price
contract of $2.1 billion, meaning the City and
Ottawa taxpayers will not be financially
responsible for construction cost overruns.
ROGER LALONDE, CITY OF OTTAWA
Mayor Watson makes the announcement
NEWS
Waller Creek progress
Progress continues on the $146.7 million
Waller Creek Tunnel, in Austin, Texas, with
roadheader excavation of the tunnel on track
for 80% completion by Christmas. The City of
Austin began construction on flood diversion
project about 18 months ago, having
awarded a $48.6 million tunnel contract to SJ
Louis Construction of Texas in February 2011.
Ranging from 22.5ft (6.9m) to over 30ft
(9.1m) in excavated diameter, the NATM-style
tunnel is 5,500ft (1,676m) long. SJ Louis is
currently making preparations to begin con-
crete lining the tunnel in April 2013. TYP tun-
nel concrete form systems are being supplied
by Everest Equipment Co and five custom
formwork transitions and junctions are being
supplied by Contractors Engineer Inc. Tunnel
lining is expected to be complete by April
2014, with all above-grade and creekside fa-
cilities in service by September 2014.
Over the decades flooding along Waller
Creek has devastated downtown Austin. The
project will greatly reduce the risk of flooding
and reclaim about 28 acres of the 100-year
floodplain for urban development.
RTG also assumes all geotechnical risks related
to construction of the 2.5km (1.5-mile)
Downtown Tunnel and three underground
stations at the center of the project.
Funding for the line is being provided by the
Government of Canada, the Government of
Ontario, and the City of Ottawa. The
Canadian Government is contributing $600
million through the Building Canada Fund.
The City will allocate up to $192 million of its
federal Gas Tax Fund transfers to the project.
The Government of Ontario is contributing
$600 million. In addition, the City will allocate
$287 million of Provincial Gas Tax receipts to
the project. Remaining funds will come from
development revenues and transit reserves.
Following the December 6 announcement,
city councillors will debate the staff
recommendation twice first on December
12 and again on the day they take a final vote
on signing the contract on December 19. The
project is expected to start in February with
work on the tunnel due to start in July.
NORTH AMERICAN TUNNELING JOURNAL 7
NATJ_1212_Insider_008_009.qxd:Feature 16/12/12
Who really wins after the election?
IN CASE YOU HADNT NOTICED, the US had
an election recently for the President, 33
senators and all members of the House of
Representatives. It appears (ignoring many
versions of spin from both sides) that the broad
balance of power remains unchanged with the
Republicans in control of the House, Democrats
in the Senate. And apparently some guy called
Barack Obama won his second term as President
of the United States. So what does all this mean
for the tunnel business?
There was a lot of rhetoric in the election
campaigns about the size and the role of
Government in society; with the Republicans
touting a lesser role for Government with
reduced spending, and Democrats espousing the
virtues of an active Government driving and
investing in strategic areas to promote growth.
To followers of more recent political history, it
may be surprising to observe that (according to a
Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report of
Government spending between 1956 and 1990)
the three major surges in public infrastructure
investment since World War II were all overseen
by Republican Presidents (Eisenhower, Ford and a
brief spike under Reagan, which quickly reverted
to the status quo in the mid-1980s). Apart from
those surges in spending, the Democrats
(Kennedy, Johnson and Carter) oversaw a steady
increase in infrastructure spending and no
increase in spending was observed under Nixon,
Reagan (other than the spike described above),
and the older Bush. What is doubly interesting is
that the policies of investment driven recovery
espoused by Eisenhower, Ford and Reagan
appear to be more akin to the modern
Democratic Party platform.
As an industry, we have an obvious vested
interest in spending on physical infrastructure.
Unfortunately, infrastructure spending is one
budget item that gets almost continuous bad
press. The ASCE gives another bad grade to the
state of US infrastructure and the apathetic
political reaction tells its own story. The attitude
seems to be that infrastructure was fine last year
and therefore will be OK this year. By way of
possible explanation, the CBO has reported that
the best return on infrastructure spending
8 NORTH AMERICAN TUNNELING JOURNAL
15:32 Page 8
the
insider
Bob Goodfellow, PE, CEng, Senior Vice
President, Aldea Services LLC
(quoting almost a 40% rate of return) is
obtained by minimizing the capital spend and
simply maintaining the current level of service.
Any major improvements to infrastructure
networks reduce this rate of return to 20% or
less; and broad-based upgrades quickly move
the rate of return into the negative.
This CBO report flies in the face of what the
ASCE and our own industry would like to see
but this is the reality of what the major political
decision-makers review before determining the
priorities for appropriating budgets.
It is up to us to make a better case for
improvements in infrastructure. While the
Federal Government is critical in supporting
major infrastructure work in the US, States and
major Cities are in the frontline of assessing their
infrastructure needs. The most important
question they have to answer, and the area
where we can help them the most, is: when
does infrastructure actually stop functioning
effectively? I contend that the most obvious
way that Infrastructure stops working is when a
needed piece of infrastructure construction is
delayed or simply does not get built. The best
example from the tunnel business in the last few
years was the cancellation of the Trans-Hudson
Express (THE) Project by Governor Chris Christie.
Cancellation of the project cost New Jersey
jobs and improved commuter links with New
York City. Coupling this with an expanded tax
base in New Jersey in the medium and long
term, it is not unreasonable to assume that the
return on this investment in infrastructure would
have realized the often advertised $2-4 return
for every dollar spent.
In light of these benefits and giving
consideration of the economic conditions that
have plagued the US since 2008, extremely low
cost of borrowing and even considering the
variable cost estimates in place at the time, the
decision to cancel the Trans-Hudson Express
project appeared to be a bad one at the time;
and it doesnt look any better today.
The last weeks of the election campaign saw
Hurricane Sandy blow through the Northeast,
raising issues about the robustness of
infrastructure and the vulnerability of previously
secure infrastructure to the effects of climate
change. Climate change and its impact on
infrastructure is not a new discussion.
CSO systems that plan for capture of major
storm water flows are at the sharp end of these
debates as their function is directly related to the
frequency of major storms. For example, a 10
year storm is an event that has an annual return
probability of 0.1. This means that the storm
should return, on average, every 10 years; and if
two of these 10-year storms happen in the same
year, followed by another the following year, the
model is clearly not correct any more (if it ever
was). More overflows and pollution will be the
result as the effectiveness of CSO storage
systems is reduced.
Changing climate impacts our CSO systems
directly but transportation tunnels are not
immune from these effects. There is direct
experience with flood protection (failed and
successful) of the Mid-town tunnel in Tidewater,
VA; and the recent flooding of the Brooklyn
Battery Tunnel and New York Subway system
that were previously thought to be secure.
One potential solution might be to take
advantage of the submersible systems
technology developed for the SMART tunnel in
Malaysia and actually allow these tunnels to
flood under extreme storm conditions. The
technology involved in the quick conversion of
the SMART tunnel back from flood diversion to
functioning highway tunnel would be valuable
for these and other potentially vulnerable
structures and could provide savings over
structural protection measures that may not be
effective when called upon.
As usual after an election, our industry will
look to the Government to see the direction of
major investment. Looking objectively at the
party platforms through a tunnel industry lens, it
is clear that Democrats see more value in
investing in physical infrastructure as a way to
stimulate economic activity. Assuming that we
havent fallen over the fiscal cliff and that the
two parties are talking as the 113th Congress
begins work in January, perhaps infrastructure
construction and the tunnel industry will be a
winner of this election.
NATJ_1212_Insider_008_009.qxd:Feature 16/12/12 15:32 Page 9

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NORTH AMERICAN TUNNELING JOURNAL 9

NATJ_1212_JOLLYVILLE_010_014.qxd:Feature 17/12/12 22:57 Page 10

REALIZING AUSTINS CONTROVERSIAL

$508 million Water Treatment Plant 4 (WTP4)
project has required engineers and contractors
to address a host of environmental and
community concerns to ensure that the City
can provide enough water for its growing
Advancing
population. Originally put forward 25-years
ago and then shelved due to public unease
the multi-faceted project includes a raw water
intake structure at Lake Travis; a raw water
tunnel and pump station; the new 92-acre
WTP4 site; and the Jollyville transmission main,
a 6.5-mile (10.6km) underground pipeline
in Austin
Following some initial
connecting WTP4 to the Jollyville Reservoir.
mobilization delays,
WTP4 background and scope
Between 2000 and 2010, Austins population excellent TBM progress
grew by 20%, and for years it has ranked as
one of the fastest growing cities nationwide.
on the Jollyville Water
Growth projections predict that the population Transmission Main
will have increased by a further 500,000 in
2040, and Austins aging water infrastructure part of the Water
magnifies the issue of increased demand.
With the decommissioning of the Green Treatment Plant 4
Treatment Plant in 2008, Austin was left with
only two water treatment plants: the Davis Project in Austin,
Water Treatment Plant, built in 1954, and the
Ullrich Water Treatment Plant, built in 1969.
Texas, is allowing
Both draw water from the same source, Lake contractor Southland/
Austin, and are decades old. The new WTP4
will add reliability by giving Austin Water Utility Mole JV to pull back on
customers an additional treatment plant that
draws from a different source and provide schedule. Amanda
continuous service during shutdowns and
repairs to the other plants. Foley reports

10 NORTH AMERICAN TUNNELING JOURNAL

 NATJ_1212_JOLLYVILLE_010_014.qxd:Feature 17/12/12 22:57 Page 11

JOLLYVILLE

Left: The 270ft deep x 36ft diameter Four
Points Shaft, with grouted liner plate
covering the Edwards Formation bedrock
Below: Four California switches will be
used within Reach 2, to facilitate rapid
advance rates in the 22,000ft long drive
Below right: Mining Equipment muck cars
are hoisted within the Four Points Shaft
Initially, WTP4 will be capable of treating 50
million gallons per day, but the pipeline as a
whole has been designed with a future
capacity of around 350 gallons per day. The
overall scheme is being delivered by MWH
Constructors, who has a $359-million
construction management-at-risk contract for
the project. It represents Austin Waters first
use of this infrastructure delivery method,
which places responsibility for all the different
construction packages with one firm.
The scheme includes a tunneled lake tap at
Lake Travis, on Texas Colorado River, and a
0.7-mile (1.2km) long raw water tunnel that is
under construction by Austin Hill Country
Constructors, a joint venture of Obayashi and
Manson Construction. However, by far the
largest tunneling component of the project is
the Jollyville Transmission Main.
Four Points Shaft and the Jollyville Reservoir
Shaft are the staging points for three tunnel
drives. These are being excavated through
competent limestone, with little temporary
support, at depths of up to 350ft (107m)
under residential areas and the protected
Balcones Canyonlands Wildlife Refuge.
The reason for the depth of the alignment
is due to the sensitive environmental nature of
the regions upper limestone geology. In
particular, karst voids within the Edwards
formation provide a habitat for endangered
cave-dwelling invertebrates including six listed
species of arachnids and insects. Strict controls
on groundwater also exist, to minimize any
potential hydrological impacts to the karst
system and the Balcones Canyonlands
Preserve above, which has been set-aside as a
habitat for the Jollyville salamander and two
species of protected rare birds. This results in a
tunnel alignment within the lower Glen Rose
limestone formation (see Figure 1, p12).
The most interesting and challenging
aspects of this project are the environmental
constraints, says Ray Brainard, Practice
Director of Engineering Geology with Black &
Veatch. For example, we did extensive
groundwater assessments in the early stages
of the preliminary design, proving that there
are two distinct groundwater systems in the
region. One that feeds the springs in the
upper Edwards aquifer and a second that
were tunneling through in the Glen Rose.
curve on the project has a 750ft (228m)
radius, with others at around 1000ft (305m).
One is to avoid going under a high school,
but mainly the curves are due to easements.
The route pretty much follows roads, except
under the Balcones preserve, explains Tunnel
Superintendent, Kent Vest.
Greatly assisted by the fact that no ground
support has been required within the tunnels
as yet, the rapid pace of production is the
result of extensive planning, with mucking
and ventilation logistics posing a major
challenge in the long, small diameter, tunnel
drives. Our progress relies on the speed of
muck haulage, says Arciszewski. When
were 20,000ft into the Reach 2 drive, its
probably going to take the better part of an
hour for the trains to get in or out. So
ultimately well have four California switches
installed, one every 5000ft (1.5km), so that
we can have trains staged along the route.

ng Jollyville Transmission Main

Designed by Black & Veatch, the 35,000ft
(10.6km) long, 118in (2.9m) o.d. Jollyville
Transmission Main will connect the new
water treatment plant to the Jollyville
There is very little interaction between the
two, but in order to comply with demands
from the environmental community for
additional contingencies, we ended up
lowering the entire tunnel a further 50ft

n Reservoir by gravity flow. Awarded to

Southland/Mole JV in September 2011, the
$85 million Jollyville contract includes four
shafts, ranging from 220ft (67m) to 350ft
(106m) in depth. Two of these shafts the
(15m) to guarantee that we would be in that
lower aquifer at all times.
The tunnel is being driven using three rock
TBMs, with one 9.8ft (2.9m) diameter
Southland-manufactured Double Shield TBM
having already completed the 4,400ft
(1.4km), Reach 1 drive from the Four Points
Shaft to the Water Treatment Plant 4 Shaft
earlier this summer. A further two machines
a new 10.7ft (3.25m) Robbins Main Beam
TBM and a Robbins refurbished 9.8ft (2.9m)
Southland Double Shield were launched
towards the PARD reception shaft in late
August from the Four Points (Reach 2) and Another challenge on Reach 2 is the
Jollyville Reservoir shaft (Reach 3), respectively. downhill gradient. Basically, from Four Points
Within a week of its launch, the Robbins to the PARD Shaft theres a 170ft (52m)
Main Beam had advanced 300ft (90m), and change in elevation, with no intermediate
has kept up a strong pace ever since, having shafts, says Vest. So ventilation is quite
currently bored 9,000ft (2.7km) of its 22,000ft tough, and its also not easy getting water
(6.7km) Reach 2 drive. Its a nice machine, back to the shaft. To help combat this the
says John Arciszewski, Southland/Mole JVs joint venture is using a relatively large 38in
Project Manager. Its amazing how much (1m) diameter vent line, with two booster fans
bigger it feels, just because of the layout. It is every 4,000ft (1.2km). Thats another nice
about 100ft (30m) longer than our other thing about the Main Beam, the vent line runs
machines, so the equipment is much more through the machine right up to the head,
spread out and there is a lot more room. The which really minimizes the dust and provides a
operators really like it, but our survey windows better environment, says Vest.
are very tight, and its been tricky going The refurbished Southland Double Shield
through some of the curves. The tightest that is mining the 9,700ft (2.9km) long Reach

NORTH AMERICAN TUNNELING JOURNAL 11

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NATJ_1212_JOLLYVILLE_010_014.qxd:Feature
Figure 1: Layout and geolgoy of the Jollyville shafts and tunnel
1200
Water Treatment Plant (WTP4)
Elevation (feet above sea level)
1100
Canyonlands
1000
900
800
700 Four Points
Shaft
600
500
0 10,000
3 drive, from the Jollyville Reservoir Shaft to
the PARD Shaft, has also been making stable
progress with 5,300ft (1.6km) mined to date.
Its basically a hybrid machine, says Vest.
Due to time constraints, we had to utilize
machines we already owned. This machine
was previously used on the East Side Water
Tunnel, in Rochester, New York. Robbins
rebuilt it for this project with a new cutterhead
and roll correction.
No support has been required so far in any
of the tunnel drives, with ground conditions
fairly uniform throughout the Glen Rose. On
Reach 3 there is some quartz, according to the
GBR up to 12%, but not much in Reach 2, if
any, says Arciszewski. But cutter wear has
been good. Following our first 4,400ft (1.3km)
Reach 1 drive, we only changed two cutters,
which was more bearing failure than wear.
Water inflows have also been minimal: We
do get little pockets of perched water, but it
bleeds off pretty quick, says Vest. There is a
sump built into Reach 2, to enable us to
leapfrog cooling water and any groundwater
back to the shaft. But we have very strict limits
as far as how much groundwater infiltration
we are allowed in the tunnel. If we ever
exceed those limits we will have to start
installing grouted liner plates.
We have about a 10th of a gallon/minute
inflow along 17,000ft (5.2km) of excavated
tunnel at present, so its a dry tunnel says
Brainard. But we have strict trigger limits and
should they be exceeded it would require a lot
of work to cut off that inflow. The City
doesnt want to take chances and is willing to
commit the necessary resources to do that.
Shafts, community and environment
The WTP4 project has always been
controversial, and remains controversial
today, explains MWH Vice President, Jim
Brennan. It was first planned 25-years ago
Black & Veatch actually did that design, and
my old company Morrison-Knudsen got one
of the tunnel contracts but the project was
shelved when the initial treatment plant site
proved too environmentally contentious. The
project remained on the backburner until
17/12/12 22:58 Page 13
Edwards Walnut Glen Rose
Balcones
Jolleyville Reservoir
Preserve
Pard Shaft
20,000 30,000
three or four years ago, when the current
WTP4 site was labeled less sensitive than the
previous location. Even then, the city council
considered deferring completion of the project
for another five to 10 years. But, when it was
estimated that this would add somewhere
between $160 million to $200 million to the
overall budget, the city council decided to
keep the project moving forward.
Although the deep tunnel alignment
reduced the amount of contingency we had
to take into account for the karsts, three of
the four shafts still go down through the
Edwards formation, says Brennan. These are
the 220ft (67m) deep x 13ft (4m) diameter
Water Treatment Plant (WTP) Shaft; the 270ft
(82m) deep x 36ft (11m) diameter Four Points
Shaft; and the 350ft (107m) deep x 36ft
(11m) diameter Jollyville Reservoir Shaft.
There is an environmental
coalition associated with the project
Below: One of many small
karst features within the
Reach 3 tunnel, containing
quartz crystals (right)
JOLLYVILLE
and US Fish and Wildlife is currently in the
process of getting the Jollyville Plateau
Salamander that lives in the area listed. The
salamander will probably get listed next
summer, and well be done with excavation by
then. But we were asked by the City to design
the project as if the salamander was already
protected, so we have taken into account any
and all possibilities of affecting that habitat,
says Brainard. There are also six species of
endangered spiders and insects that live in the
Edwards karsts and we are going under the
Balcones Canyonlands, which was set aside
for two species of birds, the Golden Cheeked
Warbler and the Black Capped Vireo.
To address these environmental concerns
the City established an Environmental
Commissioning Group to act as additional
oversight during design and construction of
the project. This environmental process has
enacted additional requirements and
restrictions above the usual City of Austin
construction project standards. There was a
lot of coordination while we were sinking the
shafts, says Arciszewski. The Environmental
Commissioning Group was in the shaft 24
hours a day and every time we found a void
they were required to inspect it and make sure
it wasnt a suitable habitat for some of the
endangered species.
The temporary support design for the
shafts is based on groundwater modeling,
which shows there are dolomite zones within
the Edwards formation that contain most of
the permeability, says Brainard. But there is
very little vertical connection
NORTH AMERICAN TUNNELING JOURNAL 13
NATJ_1212_JOLLYVILLE_010_014.qxd:Feature
JOLLYVILLE
between these zones, so we wanted to keep
any water that we found at that same
elevation. The shafts therefore have a sealed
lining, consisting of grouted liner plates,
throughout the Edwards and Walnut
formations. When we hit permeable zones
we would also over excavate and add a gravel
ring, essentially behind the grouted ring, so
that the water could travel around the shaft
and continue to feed the same karst
structures that it was feeding before. Says
Brainard. Once below the transition to the
Glen Rose aquifer, the temporary rock support
becomes bolts and wire mesh.
Although all the shaft sites are closely
monitored, the environmental monitoring at
the Four Points shaft site is particularly
sensitive due to the fact it is the staging point
for two of the three TBM drives. While
sinking the shafts we were allowed maximum
groundwater inflows of 10 gallons per minute
through the liner plate section, says
Arciszewski. However, at one point when we
were sinking Four Points we had about a
gallon and a half per minute coming through
the liner, and the monitoring well showed a
slight drop. Somehow it got out into the local
press that we were draining the aquifer, so we
had to bring in a specialist contractor to inject
chemical grout and seal off the joint.
In terms of community concerns on Jollyville
which are equally as challenging as the
environmental constraints it is actually the
120ft (37m) deep, 31ft (11m) diameter, PARD
shaft thats the most sensitive, even though its
the only shaft that doesnt go through the
Edwards. Its near a wealthy housing
community, explains Vest. The houses are
up on a bluff, so they look down on the site.
They had a web site called Stop the shaft
and it took quite a lot of community relations
and concessions on things like working hours
and truck routes to make it work. We can
only operate here from 7am to 7pm during
the week, and 9am to 5pm on Saturdays.
14 NORTH AMERICAN TUNNELING JOURNAL
17/12/12 22:58 Page 14
The level of community input has been
well beyond what we would usually expect on
a project like this, says Brennan. In addition
to the Jollyville Main, we also have the 92-acre
site at the treatment plant and lots of
neighborhoods associated with that, and then
we have another neighborhood coalition out
at the intake site on Lake Travis, which is
surrounded by exclusive homes. Its taken a lot
of effort and a lot of public relations work to
get there, but the City from the mayor on
down has done a very masterful job of
satisfying all the stakeholders the best they
can, which has allowed us to move forward.
Current progress
With Southland/Mole working two twelve-
hour shifts Monday through Friday, and one
shift every alternate Saturday, tunnel
excavation is expected to be complete by early
April. The Reach 2 Main Beam is currently
averaging 180ft (55m) per day, with a best
day of 208ft (63m) and a best week of 900ft
(274m). Reach 3s Double Shield has been
averaging 150ft (45m) per day, with a best
week of 655ft (200m). At these rates, Reach 3
will break through into the PARD shaft at the
end of January, with Reach 2 completed by
Left: John Arciszewski, Southland/Mole JVs Project
Manager, in the Reach 3 Double Shield. Above: Kent
Vest, Superintendant, in the Main Beam Reach 2 drive
Left: The 270ft deep Four Points shaft, with
the Balcones Preserve in the far background
Above: A muck train drives in towards one of
the California switches on the Reach 2 tunnel
end of March. Overall project completion for
the WTP4 project is slated for May 2014.
Southland remains confident it will meet or
beat its schedule. Both the Reach 2 and
Reach 3 TBMs started late, but we should be
able to pull that time back, says Arciszewski.
We were quite conservative on schedule for
the final lining, so that gives us some
contingency as well. Installing the 84
(2.1m) diameter steel lined pre-cast concrete
pipe final liner and backfilling the tunnel with
grout will be the final logistical challenge for
the Jollyville team. To maximize on schedule,
pipe installation will commence prior to
tunneling on Reach 2 and 3 being complete.
With the exception of an 800ft (240m)
stretch under Bull Creek, the entire tunnel will
be lined with 20ft (6m) long sections of
double-gasketed PCCP pipe, so the fit up is
pretty quick, says Arciszewski. From an
environmental perspective Bull Creek is one of
the most sensitive areas, and it also has the
least amount of cover, so well install butt
welded steel pipe in that section.
The final task for the Southland/Mole JV will
then be the installation of permanent
structures in the three of the four shafts and
the backfilling of the Four Points shaft.
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NATJ_1212_SANDY_016_019.qxd:Feature 15/12/12 18:06
HURRICANE SANDY
After the
storm
Many of New York Citys key road and rail
tunnels were inundated with salt water
during Hurricane Sandy. Recovery work
continues well into the Christmas period,
with the total repair bill expected to reach
$3 billion. John McKenna reports
16 NORTH AMERICAN TUNNELING JOURNAL
Page 16
LOWER MANHATTANS FINANCIAL
DISTRICT has seen its fair share of
destruction, most notably when the World
Trade Centres twin towers were destroyed by
terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
Following Hurricane Sandy, a Category 1
storm that hit New York on October 29, it was
the southern tip of Manhattan that bore the
brunt of the destruction wrought by the storm
- at least in terms of tunnel infrastructure.
Seven of the citys subway tunnels were
flooded during Sandy, and all but three of the
tunnels were up and running little more than
a week after Sandy hit. However, these
remaining sections of subway lines were still
out of operation when NATJ went to press in
early December, and all three sections are
located in lower Manhattan. The continuing
closure of these line sections - the R train
suspended between 34 St-Herald Square &
Jay St-Metrotech, the J/Z trains suspended
south of Chambers Street, and the 1 train
suspended south of Rector Street - leaves Wall
Street commuters with just one subway line,
the 4-5 line, to cram on to (Figure 1).
Perfect storm
When Sandy hit New York, its storm surge
coincided with a new moon high tide to
inundate Lower Manhattan with flooding
that those working on the citys subway
system had never witnessed before. It is
estimated that 66 million gallons of water
had to be pumped out the subway system
following the storm.
New York City Transit Chief Maintenance
Officer, Joseph Leader, says flooding
protection such as sandbags and temporary
inflatable barriers deployed in vulnerable parts
of the system were simply overwhelmed by
the storm surge that hit Lower Manhattan.
Even with all the barricades it was just not
going to work, says Leader. It was almost a
Category 2 storm, and the surge was nearly
14 feet high.
NATJ_1212_SANDY_016_019.qxd:Feature 15/12/12 18:06 Page 17

HURRICANE SANDY

Despite flood defenses being overwhelmed
by the water rushing through the tunnels,
Leader said he was confident the subways
pumping system would move the water out
quickly enough to avoid any lasting damage
to the infrastructure. However, what Leader
hadnt anticipated was that all of Lower
Manhattan would lose its electricity supply
due to water infiltrating one of utility Con
Edisons substations. Power only began to be
restored four days after the storm.
Without power and with vital structural and
electrical components resting in saltwater,
New Yorks Metropolitan Transportation
Authority (MTA) sought alternative solutions
to pump out the water. Alongside placing
portable diesel-fuelled high-capacity pumps at
strategic locations throughout the subway
system, the MTA also deployed its three
pump trains. Each train comprises a flatbed
rail truck carrying pumps capable of pumping
5,400 gallons per minute.
What an amazing asset those pump trains
were, says Carmen Bianco, New York City
Transit Senior Vice President for Subways.
We pumped 66 million gallons out of our
system and those trains were instrumental.
We know that if we had more of those we
would have been able to do even better, so
we are now looking for trains not in service to
convert so that we have a few more.
The search for more pump trains is
understandable given the anticipated $4.75
billion of damage that Sandy has inflicted on
the MTAs entire system, with just under $3 the pump room to get it going, and as we
billion of that relating to tunnel infrastructure, began to bring back power we then were
and $2.2 billion relating to the subways alone looking for faults and beginning a big
(see table on p18). replacement process.
As Leader hints at, both on the subways
No signal and the road tunnels (see below) much of the
By far and away the biggest single item on replacement of electrical equipment has been
Sandys tunneling repair bill is the estimated a temporary patch job of replacing faulty
$770 million it will cost to restore the components to get New York moving again.
Subways signalling system to pre-storm However, the MTA is under no illusions the
conditions. With power out in Lower long term impact Sandy could have on these
Manhattan, much of the areas subway systems. For example, it put the cost of
signalling equipment was flooded with bringing the Brooklyn Battery (now known as
saltwater for days. Indeed, it is the damage the Hugh L. Carey tunnel) back to operation
caused to signalling equipment in the at just $10 million, while the cost of properly
Subways Montague tunnel that is causing a restoring it, including all its electrical systems,
vital section of the R-Line in Lower is put at $400 million.
Manhattan to remain suspended months Speaking about the damage to subway
after the storm. signalling equipment, Bianco adds: Because
The Montague tunnel for the R service of the salt infiltration we really dont know the
contains relay rooms and complicated impact that it will have on the life of
equipment, says Bianco. That tube flooded components.
from floor to ceiling and we had very complex One area of the subway where signalling
signal equipment totally underwater. We have equipment was successfully defended was the
had to rebuild most of that equipment and on L service, also known as the BMT Canarsie
thats taking some time to do. Line, at a section underneath 14th Street. The
Montagues problems were compounded, line is a vital east-west link running across
says, Leader, not only by the lack of power Manhattan all the way out to Canarsie, in
from Con Edison to utilise pumps, but by the Brooklyn. The majority of the line is above
fact that when power came back its key ground but goes into a tunnel at 14th street
pump room was still unusable. that is susceptible to flooding. It also operates
One of the main pump rooms was an expensive computer signalling system. As a
completely submersed, says Leader. My result, Thomas F. Prendergast, President, MTA
people temporarily made a control panel for New York City Transit, says the decision was

Opposite page (below left):

Water floods the Hugh L.
Figure 1: Map of Lower Manhattan showing some of the
Carey Tunnel (formerly the
subway and road tunnels affected by the Hurricane
Brooklyn-Battery) during the
Continued suspensions (dashed lines)
hurricane; (top left) MTA The R train is suspended between 34St-Herald Square & Jay St-Metrotech Q
M uee
crews inspect the L trains The A train is suspended south of Howard Beach, replaced with a shuttle train Tu idtow ns
on the Rockaway Peninsula. nn n
el
tunnel under the East River The J/Z trains are suspended south of Chambers St
The 1 train is suspended south of Rector Street.
N
Opposite (top right) and
below: South Ferry subway The L and 7 tunnels also
Some of the stations flooded, but are not shown
station was heavily damaged with visible flooding on this map. Pumping began
or pumping are
by salt water flooding during named and circled.
at the Steinway tubes, which
carry the 7 trains.
Hurricane Sandys unprece-
Holland L
dented 13ft storm surge
H A T T A N
Tunnel
N
Left: A pump train works A
M
around the clock on the L Her
H
Herald
eraldd Square
SSq
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qquare
aree
trains East River tunnel
Chambers
hambers
am
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Tracks
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ac
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e Z
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ams
Chamber
Chambers
mbe
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eerr St.
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Q ge
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Fuuulttoonn St
Fulton S N
ve

1
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East
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ecto
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ers S
Brid
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hatt

Boowling
Bowling
w inngg
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Broa
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Broad S
St Pumping initially began at
oo ge

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e
an
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the Joralemon Street Tunnel.

t.
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id

Whitteh
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Whitehall
ehall
eh
ha SSt. F The first tunnel connecting
Manhattan and Brooklyn,
BR

Clar it was completed in 1907

South Ferry
err
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OO

Flooded to
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the ceiling 2 3
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4 5
attery

pumping had begun at the

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Rutgers Street Tunnel and

the Clark Street Tunnel.
Jaayy St-Metrotech
Jay
Ja St
St-M
Meetrotech
e
ec

NORTH AMERICAN TUNNELING JOURNAL 17

NATJ_1212_SANDY_016_019.qxd:Feature 15/12/12
HURRICANE SANDY
made to remove the signalling equipment.
The Canarsie tube was seen as critical, says
Prendergast. Transponders for the signalling
system were bagged, sealed and taken away
to high ground.
He adds that he regrets that such an
approach wasnt possible for the entire
subway system, as there was insufficient time
to both remove signalling equipment and
safely evacuate people from the city. If we
were going to remove all signal equipment,
we would have to do it days in advance, he
says. And then you cant run the trains to
get people out.
In addition to signalling damage, exposure
to saltwater can severely damage the quality
Whitehall Street and South Ferry were two
of the worst affected subway stations
of the rails. Prendergast says that once power
and signalling systems came back on in
previously flooded sections, trains would be
sent out on test runs for up to 24 hours
before the lines were reopened to the public,
and this was not just simply to make sure that
everything worked. Once you stop operating
for a few days the rails start rusting and can
lose the conductivity that allows it to connect
to the signal system, says Prendergast. So
the trains arent just testing the signals, theyre
also polishing the rails.
Scenes of devastation
As if having your signals flooded with
saltwater wasnt enough, on the J/Z line to
Broad Street a fire broke out on the southern
section of the line, melting all the electrical
equipment. This led to the line still being
suspended south of Chambers Street as NATJ
went to press. Leader says it is thought the
fire started in an un-flooded area where
nonetheless some water managed to find its
way to meet with third rail cables coming out
of a circuit breaker house. The fire at Broad
Street melted a couple of hundred cables,
18 NORTH AMERICAN TUNNELING JOURNAL
18:06 Page 18
every individual circuit, he adds.
Like Broad Street, another station that
remains closed is South Ferry station. South
Ferry, located on the southernmost tip of
Manhattan, only opened in 2009. However, it
is now in need of a full overhaul after it, along
with the neighboring Whitehall station on the
R line, bore the brunt of Sandys storm surge
as it slammed into Manhattan.
At South Ferry the entire track was
flooded, and the flood continued up to 4 feet
in the mezzanine level, says Bianco.
We lost a number of escalators among a
lot of other equipment, and we are probably Pump train activity in the L Train
looking at couple of months at least to tunnel on Monday, November 5
understand just how bad the damage is.
The MTA has put the total combined cost
of restoring South Ferry and Whitehall to pre- ceiling, but continued 65ft (20m) up the
Sandy conditions at $600 million. tunnels mid-pont ventilation shaft at
Governors Island. Unfortunately the tunnels
Roads to recovery entire pumping system is also at this location.
While it looks set to be a slow road to The pumping system in the tunnels were
recovery for South Ferry and Whitehall all destroyed, submerged, says Facility
stations, both of Manhattans key road Engineer at the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel, Romolo
tunnels that were heavily flooded have fully DeSantis. Portable pumps with a capacity of
reopened. This is all the more remarkable 4,000 gallons per minute were deployed at
when you consider that engineers pumped the Brooklyn end of the tunnel, followed by
out 66 million gallons of water from the more pumps being delivered to Governors
Brooklyn Battery (now known as Hugh L. Island and dropped down the ventilation
Carey tunnel) alone six million more than shaft. However, this makeshift solution was
the entire amount of water drained from relatively successful: Pumping began the day
subway tunnels. after the storm, and eight days later it was
The Brooklyn Battery is a 9,118ft (2,779m) empty, if not dry.
long twin tube tunnel, each tube with a Our major concern is the ceiling panels,
diameter of 31ft (9.5m). Linking Brooklyn with says DeSantis. They are aluminum frame
the southern tip of Manhattan, the tunnel, with sheet metal with porcelain veneer, and
like the South Ferry and Whitehall subway water is trapped inside the panes. We had to
stations, was overwhelmed by Sandys storm drill some of the panels to create weep holes,
surge. Water not only filled the tunnel floor to and we are now monitoring them.
Table 1: Hurricane Sandy underground infrastructure related damages
Description Cost ($ mil)
Subways
South Ferry / Whitehall restoration 600
Track restoration 300
Signals restoration 770
East River Tunnels - Systems restoration of damages due to flooding 100
Other infrastructure restoration, such as tunnel lighting, vents, pumps, structures, 450
communications, and power
Subway Subtotal 2,220
Road tunnels
Hugh L. Carey Tunnel (Brooklyn Battery): Emergency Restoration Work 10
Queens Midtown Tunnel: Emergency Restoration Work 8
Hugh L. Carey Tunnel: Replacement of tunnel interior, ceilings, walls, roadway, 400
lighting, conduit
Queens Midtown Tunnel: Replacement of tunnel interior, ceilings, walls, roadway, 350
lighting, conduit
Queens Midtown Tunnel (North and South tubes, vent buildings etc.) security 1
infrastructure (power, fiber optic, CCTV cameras and Access Control) replacement and
relocation (Does not include Engineering Design Cost)
Hugh L. Carey Tunnel (East &West tube and vent buildings) Security infrastructure (power,
fiber optic, CCTV) replacement and relocation (Does not include Engineering Design Cost) 0.5
Road Tunnels Subtotal 769.5
Total cost of restoring New York tunnels hit by Sandy 2,989.5
NATJ_1212_SANDY_016_019.qxd:Feature 15/12/12 18:06 Page 19

Romolo describes the state of the tunnel

from the panels to electrical systems as
running on temporary, short-term fixes and
replacements of components where needed to
get the tunnel open as soon as possible. And
given the deluge it suffered, it was open
impressively fast: One lane in the east tube
was opened to buses on November 12,
followed by cars allowed into one tube on
November 17, and fully reopened November
19, three weeks after the storm.
The Queens Midtown tunnel was also
flooded floor to ceiling, but opened much MTA New York City Transit
sooner than the Brooklyn Battery, thanks in crews work to restore the South
part to its shorter length (at 6545ft long), but Ferry subway station
also the fact that its pumping systems are
located at either end of the tunnel, rather than
in the middle as for the Brooklyn Battery. This Future proof MTA is considering an innovative solution for
meant the pumps were not inundated and Despite its unprecedented scale, Bianco is protecting its tunnels tunnel plugs.
were able to begin pumping with hours of the under no illusions that Sandy will not be the The Resilient Tunnel Plug (RTP), developed
storm hitting. last super storm he sees in his lifetime. We by the Department of Homeland Security
Facility engineer John Pfister says that by dont know why thats not for us guys to (DHS) along with Pacific Northwest National
Sunday 4, just six days after the storm, he was get into - but these major storms are Laboratory, West Virginia University and ILC
able to walk through the tunnel to assess the becoming more frequent and we need to be Dover, is a 16.2ft diameter, 32ft long inflatable
damage. We assessed what we thought the prepared, he says. So we are talking about structure. The RTP has been developed for
minimum functionality that could allow the hardening the system. Looking at where we isolating sections of transit or rail tunnels in
public in the tunnel, he says. were vulnerable, such as different signal response to an event such as flooding, release
Again, many of the tunnels electrical systems that will stop weather infiltration. of chemical/biological agents, or other threats.
components had to be replaced, and again the In addition to relatively small scale While the DHS claims it is a long way from
tunnel is far from being fixed for the long improvements such as building more pump being commercially viable, Bianco insists that
term. But Pfisters team was able to reopen the trains, the City of New York is also looking at the MTA will look at the product at that the
tunnel to the public by Friday 9 November. grander plans such as floodgates, while the door is open

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NORTH AMERICAN TUNNELING JOURNAL 19
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NATJ_1212_Ballard_021_023.qxd:Feature 18/12/12 20:49 Page 21

AT THE FACE

Under pressure:
informed interventions
High-pressure compressed air work is a daily business for Ballard
Diving & Hyperbaric Services. However, there are many variables that
must be considered when setting out to develop a hyperbaric program.
Having planned and undertaken thousands of manned interventions,
Joe Olsen and Jesse Hutton share some cautionary tales, and good
examples of early action, to illustrate how pre-planning can make all the
difference to your tunneling project. Amanda Foley reports
Top left: Confined space
conditions in a DART WE KNOW WHAT KEEPS YOU AWAKE
chamber AT NIGHT, says Jesse Hutton, Ballard Diving
& Hyperbaric Services Chief Estimator. Your
Top right: A 7 bar man- TBM sitting idle underground for months
lock is inspected prior to while some bureaucrat sits on a variance
installation on a TBM request for you to put a compressed air
worker at the face, or while you wait for a
Above right: A diver part because your man-lock doesnt have local
decompresses following compliance. One of the most important
an intervention lessons Ballard Diving & Hyperbaric Services
has learnt from its unparalleled experience in
Left: Confined space the North American tunneling industry is the
cutting during a TBM importance of getting involved early on in a
intervention project to ensure just such issues dont occur.

NORTH AMERICAN TUNNELING JOURNAL 21

NATJ_1212_Ballard_021_023.qxd:Feature 18/12/12 20:49 Page 22

AT THE FACE

Following 40 years of heavy civil marine

construction, Ballard Diving & Salvage began
offering manned compressed air intervention
services to the tunneling industry a number of
years ago when the company was employed
to provide hyperbaric services on the
Brightwater Central contract, north of Seattle,
Washington. As it turned out, excessive
secondary wear to the cutterheads of the
contracts two Herrenknecht slurry TBMs
brought the project to a standstill. Ultimately,
attempts to repair the machines resulted in
more than 1000 compressed air interventions,
at pressures of up to 6.2 bar, which effectively
provided Ballards specialized hard hat divers
with the most comprehensive induction to the
tunneling industry imaginable.
As a company we usually we have some
pretty exciting projects going on around the
world on any given day, from ship salvages to
deep water pipelines, says Hutton. Weve
actually just finished building an underwater
submarine moorage at a depth of about
1,500ft (460m) and were currently involved in
deep sea treasure salvage with a Remote
Operated Vehicle. So, theres a lot of cool stuff initial work on Brightwater, but the company
going on. But we also have the good fortune Its actually more has found that its role in the tunneling industry
of providing hyperbaric services on a number
of high profile tunnel projects. And more and
common to find is very different to its role in the maritime
industry. In marine construction projects,
more, when people ask us what do you have ourselves jumping Ballard is often the prime contractor. So we
going on right now thats exciting and new certainly had to take a bit of a mind shift
were talking about our tunnel projects. through hoops at coming into the tunneling industry, where we
Its an industry thats extremely important to are taking the role of a service provider, not a
Ballard, who now has a dedicated tunneling
the last minute main contractor. But we aim to take that
division, named Ballard Diving & Hyperbaric
Services. It definitely conjures up as much
and performing experience and apply it to setting up our
hyperbaric intervention programs.
excitement within our team as our maritime on an emergency Ballard is currently working on some of the
activities, and were pretty proud of our track most high profile pressurized TBM tunneling
record and history in that regard. Its the basis, rather projects in North America, including the Lake
people, and the complexities of the projects,
that makes tunneling such a rewarding task for
than helping a Mead Intake No 3 project, in Nevada, where
manned TBM interventions have been planned
us, says Hutton.
Ballard has certainly been exposed to some
contractor really for potential pressures of up to 17 bar. We
were integrated into the project very early on,
pretty challenging tunneling projects since its prepare upfront for says Joe Olsen, Ballards Hyperbaric Services
Manager. We developed the project specific
an intervention. hyperbaric saturation operations manual,
Above: Equipment safety inspections Jesse Hutton assisted in the necessary OSHA variances and
Below: Preparing a saturation shuttle weve been heavily involved throughout the
evaluation, integration, set up and testing of all
the hyperbaric equipment.
This involvement has allowed Ballard to
carefully develop the equipment and
procedures it needs to safely and confidently
conduct what could potentially be some of the
highest-pressure tri-mix gas and saturation
TBM interventions ever attempted within the
tunneling industry.
Ballard also had early involvement in the
planning of the 9ft (2.8m) diameter Port Mann
Tunnel, in British Columbia, Canada.
Contractor McNally/Aecon JV remains hopeful
that TBM interventions will not be necessary on
its 0.6-mile (1km) long EPBM drive under the
Fraser River, but with pressures of up to 6 bar
expected throughout the drive, no chances
have been taken. Due to the small size of the
EPBM being used on the project, it had to be
NATJ_1212_Ballard_021_023.qxd:Feature 18/12/12 20:49 Page 23

AT THE FACE

designed without onboard man-locks, says
Olsen. So facilitating hyperbaric interventions
required a pretty innovative approach.
Consulted during the conceptual design
phase, Ballard ended up working with both
the contractor and the TBM manufacturer to
come up with a solution. We drew on the
traditional concept of pressurizing the tunnel
and developed a moveable bulkhead that will
allow us to pressurize the tunnel directly
behind the machine, should we need it.
With pressures of up to 6 bar tri-mix gas
would be required for any interventions,
therefore Ballard also developed a project
specific saturation system to enable hyperbaric
operations in the narrow confines of the
tunnel. Equipment manufacturing of such
specific and specialized equipment can have a
lead time of up to a year, says Olsen. Which
is a perfect example of why pre-planning and
early action is so important.
Importance of pre-planning
All the planning and operational concepts
that apply to getting a good start on a tunnel
construction project, equally apply to getting a
comprehensive hyperbaric program, says
Hutton. There are so many variables that
have to be considered when planning a
manned intervention. Regulatory hyperbaric
variance requests can often take up to a year
to be approved, and pressure vessels such as
medical locks, materials locks and special
decompression chambers usually take up to
10 months for fabrication and delivery.
People really need to contact us at the
time they order the TBM, that way we can
make sure the right equipment has been
selected says Olsen. There is more than one
project where weve been called in to do an
emergency intervention, only to find that the
TBM is fitted with the wrong type of man-lock
and doesnt meet the required codes. And
then you have to be the one to break the
news that it means their project is now going
to be months behind schedule.
Unfortunately, such situations are not that
few and far between. Its actually far more
common for Joe and myself to find ourselves
jumping through hoops at the last minute and
performing on an emergency basis, rather
than helping a contractor really prepare up-
front for an intervention, says Hutton.
owner while they were developing the project
specifications, says Olsen. And when it in a comprehensive hyperbaric program that
came to the bid process STP brought us in
virtually from the beginning. We met with
them several times during bid preparation to
ensure they had accurate information and
since then theyve involved us in every aspect
of the project related to hyperbarics.
Ballard conducted an extensive analysis of
hyperbaric options for the project to provide a
performance cost report that would enable
STP to make informed decisions about the
planning of its hyperbaric operations. This
analysis actually revealed the potential for a
reduction in intervention times that equates to
30 days over the course of the project.
The scope of preparations for this project
includes operations through a full range of
pressures in every hyperbaric mode, from low-
pressure air to high-pressure saturation, says
Olsen. The extensive pre-planning has also
led to the development of a first-of-its-kind
saturation habitat designed specifically for
tunnel work. It will be capable of supporting
16 workers, with a surge capacity of up to
24. To maximize hyperbaric productivity, the
TBM is also equipped with three man-locks,
each capable of moving six workers to and
from the pressurized work areas of the
Above: A shaft diver prepares for work
Below: A support team checks equipment
machine. This pro-active pre-planning results
will enable us to very rapidly deploy, and
effectively utilize, a very large team of workers
to perform rapid maintenance and repairs to
an extremely high-profile TBM, says Olsen.
Experienced personnel
With thousands of successful interventions
under his belt, and currently supervising the
majority of tunnels utilizing hyperbaric services
in North America, Olsen is the first to
acknowledge the importance of employing
hyperbaric workers that are trained specifically
to work in tunnels. We have about 150
divers that work for the company as a whole,
but only 60 of those are specialized in
tunneling. We have a high initial turnover on
the tunneling side; a lot of divers decide its
just not for them, so we take training very
seriously. You have to have workers that
understand the machines and know how to
change out tools and make repairs quickly
and efficiently. Most importantly, you have to
have workers that are very experienced at
recognizing degrading face conditions. You
always have to be concerned about the
stability of the face and its something we are
constantly assessing while we work.
There is more
than one project
where we have
been called in
only to find that
the TBM is fitted
with the wrong
type of man-lock.
Joe Olsen

Benefits of early involvement

Thankfully, this is not the case on Seattles
Alaskan Way Viaduct SR-99 Bored Tunnel,
where design-build consortium Seattle
Tunneling Partners (STP) is currently preparing
to launch the largest TBM in the world. The
57.5ft (17.5m) diameter Hitachi Zosen EPBM
Bertha will commence her 1.7-mile (2.7km)
long drive in June 2013, excavating at depths
of up to 200ft (60m), which could require
interventions at pressures of up to 6 bar.
We were brought in extremely early on
this project. We actually met with the project

NORTH AMERICAN TUNNELING JOURNAL 23

NATJ_1212_GroundStabilisation_024_026.qxd:Feature 15/12/12 19:36 Page 24

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24 NORTH AMERICAN TUNNELING JOURNAL

NATJ_1212_GroundStabilisation_024_026.qxd:Feature
Complex ground
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15/12/12 19:36 Page 25
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lowest total operational cost. Due to the removing the air bubbles. Pumpac, a variable
compact design, Unigrout Flex can be hydraulic piston pump, feeds the grout pump
used for many different types of for independent control, allowing the operator
applications, including confined to set grout flow and pressure.
areas such as underground For larger applications, Atlas Copco
operations. The grouting units are engineered the Unigrout Flex E. This unit
mounted on a small steel features PUG 22 power unit with an electric
platform. Slots for a forklift, along with motor. A high capacity, Cemag 402 H agitator
lifting eyes, provide easier mobilization and and a Cemix 203 H mixer have been included,
reduced transportation costs. allowing more volume. The Flex E is most
The Unigrout Flex concept features the Atlas commonly used for drilled foundations, tie-
Copco Cemix. A high speed, high sheer mixer back anchors, water ingress control, cut-off
able to separate and wet each cement particle walls, pre-grouting, and many others.
with a three step shearing action. Atlas Copco www.atlascopco.us
Saving lives with quick-cure shotcrete
The University of Kentucky particularly effective when it
has teamed up with Minova comes to stabilizing buildings
North America to develop a damaged by earthquakes,
spray-on concrete that sets hurricanes, or terrorist
and can sustain loads in less incidents within minutes. It
than 15 minutes. The has also been approved for
patented Tekcrete Fast was use in mining and tunnel
developed as part of a project construction, where it can be
by the US Department of used to minimize the risk of
Homeland Security to provide loose rocks injuring workers.
a quick-acting solution for Fifteen minutes after
stabilizing buildings, bridges, application, Tekcrete Fast is
or tunnels at risk of collapse. fully cured and can sustain
Secured in this manner, pressures of up to 2,000 (CAER) and Minova North
emergency services have safe pounds per square inch. This America. The successful
access to the disaster site and compressive strength is due cooperation was made
can begin to extract survivors to a unique combination of possible by combining the
and casualties. A second type polyfiber and cement. expertise of the University of
of the new shotcrete, After three years in Kentuckys labs with Minovas
Tekcrete Fast M, guarantees development, the patent for production facilities and years
even stronger bonds and less the innovative material will of experience with
dust during processing. be held jointly by the developing innovative rock
The newly developed University of Kentucky Center reinforcement systems.
Tekcrete Fast shotcrete is for Applied Energy Research www.minovaint.com
Integrated support solutions With six geotechnical labs
globally, CDM Smith can
CDM Smith provides lasting includes a team of provide geotechnical
and solutions in water, geotechnical, structural, and laboratory testing services for
environment, transportation, civil engineers and geologists the most complex projects
energy and facilities to clients located worldwide. Staff including index, strength, and
worldwide. As a full-service have extensive experience in compressibility testing along
engineering, construction the design and construction with frozen soil and geo-
and operations firm, CDM of all types of ground synthetic testing. Field
Smith aims to deliver modifications including equipment includes
exceptional client service, ground freezing, grouting, geotechnical instrumentation
quality results and enduring soil mixing, reinforcement, and construction data
value across the entire project and dewatering, as well as acquisition equipment. Field
life-cycle. design of tunnel support personnel are NICET, OSHA
CDM Smiths underground systems, deep shafts and and NRC certified.
construction expertise retaining structures. www.cdmsmith.com
NORTH AMERICAN TUNNELING JOURNAL 25
NATJ_1212_GroundStabilisation_024_026.qxd:Feature 15/12/12 19:36 Page 26

GROUND SUPPORT PRODUCT NEWS

Rapid set shotcrete solution Challenging ground conditions

CTS Cement Crux Subsurface has been through the rock mass. Low
Manufacturing providing pre-excavation viscosity grout is injected into
Corp has been ground stabilization services to the rock or soil to decrease
manufacturing the tunneling industry for over permeability and increase the
specialty 10 years. Its custom-designed, solidity of granular soils
cements for the componentized equipment through the hardening of the
tunneling and allows for access to the most grout.
mining industry, confined spaces, and an Crux has extensive
including grout extensive background in the experience in spile installation,
for rock bolts geotechnical industry enables used to improve tunnel-
and cable bolts, the company to be successful enveloping ground conditions.
rapid setting in the most challenging ground Cased horizontal holes with
shotcrete; it is conditions. one-way grout valves are drilled
presently Services include: Dewatering to desired depths in an arch
working on to improve ground stability, formation above the tunnel
several new products for the industry. using slotted PVC screen and alignment. Pressurized grouting
Its rapid setting shotcrete allows for reduced cycle times in riser inserted into drilled shafts, is then performed to complete
mining, requires no additional shotcrete accelerators and is creating a conduit to allow the stabilization process,
stronger and more durable than most Portland cement based water to be pumped out or decreasing the risk for possible
shotcretes. Rapid Set shotcrete is a perfect choice to line drained. Through various cave-ins.
shafts and underground work stations. Since it is resistant to successful projects, Crux has Crux also provides cased
sulfate attack, it is an excellent choice for lining sewer and gained extensive experience in horizontal boreholes to support
storm tunnels. angle- and horizontal-drilled peripheral freezing prior to
www.ctscement.com dewatering techniques. tunnel excavation. Peripheral
Grouting services to stabilize freezing involves installing
terrain, preventing cave-ins and closed-loop freeze lines to
obstructing groundwater from temporarily freeze the ground
Cable bolts for better rock control infiltrating excavation.
Permeation grouting is used in
surrounding tunnel alignments
and create more stable drilling
Minovas patented Tensionable exceptional rock control in the cases involving fine fractures to conditions.
Cable Bolt (TCB) system offers a most critical applications in stabilize groundwater and flow www.cruxsub.com
reliable anchoring solution for the mining. The TCB system is
most challenging geologies. With bolted into boreholes before
the cylinders nut and matching tensioning the cable. Placing
bearing plate, the system allows this anchorage at a higher point
the cables to be tensioned during in the roof helps avoid the com-
on-going bolting operations. mon risk of anchorage shock
Compared to traditional bolting when loads are applied. The
technology, this innovative powder coated nut and cylinder
feature guarantees improved reveals the setting of the bolt
even after anchoring
and helps protect the
steel system from wear
and corrosion.
The Tensionable
Cable bolt system is
suited as primary and
secondary support for
traditional cable bolts
in applications that
need stronger holds.
The new TBC system
does not require any
new equipment and is
a perfect choice for all
applications that call
support for sidewalls and roof for a durable solution with ad-
structures. ditional support, including tun-
Anchoring multiple rock nel intersections. The innovative
strata stops individual strata product was developed at Mi-
from separating and loose rock novas dedicated Innovation &
falling into the excavated area. Technology Center in Bower-
Minovas new Tensionable ston, Ohio.
Cable Bolt system guarantees www.minovaint.com

26 NORTH AMERICAN TUNNELING JOURNAL

 Tunneling Solutions That Hold Their Ground

Minova is a leading world-wide supplier of ground support solutions to the tunneling and civil engineering
industries. In addition to being the leading manufacturer of resin cartridges for more than 40 years, we
offer a range of products from chemical-based consumables to associated equipment and services for rock
bolting, ground consolidation, fiberglass reinforcement, ventilation and water control. Minovas expe-
rienced sales and engineering staff are conveniently located throughout North America and with nine
manufacturing sites in the region, customers are assured of short lead times.

These are just a few of the many products in the Minova family of innovative solutions:

Ultrafine cementitious grouts for strata consolidation

Fiberglass products for temporary support or corrosion protection
Polyester resin cartridges for primary ground support
Continuous threadbar systems
Injection resins for water stop and cavity filling

The Ground Support Company

Minova North America | 150 Carley Court | Georgetown, KY USA

502-863-6800 Matt Leeming | www.minovausa.com A member of the Orica Group

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