Technical - Page 4
Stay up to date with the latest technical features from the global tunnelling industryNeed for fire protection Wilf Butcher, chief executive of the UK Association for Specialist Fire Protection, explains the benefits of passive fire protection
Predicting the abrasivity of in-situ like soils Jakobsen, Langmaack, Dahl and Breivik report on further work undertaken at the Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU – Trondheim) and SINTEF on better ways to study tool-soil interaction on abrasivity, particularly relevant to soft ground abrasion
Power up the future UK gas and electric power network operator National Grid is engaged in a major renewal programme to ensure power supplies for the future. One aspect is to install high-voltage cables underground to renew the grid in major urban areas, starting with London. Maurice Jones visited one of the current tunnel drives in a 32km-long network that started recently in north London
Wall lining and luminance tests Rick Morrison, principal lighting designer for Aecom in Australia gives this insight on the reflective requirements of a tunnel lining
LED lighting: pitfalls, problems and common sense A call to arms for lighting designers. Rick Morrison, principle engineer in specialist lighting for Aecom Australia, based in Queensland, comments on the explosion in LED popularity and lays out some common sense rules to follow when considering LEDs – for tunnels or otherwise
Many ideas make light work cheaply The lighting industry as a whole, including small specialist sectors such as tunnels, has been undergoing great changes in the last decade. Changes in light source technology, more product suppliers, low energy and maintenance requirements, and even the design of longer and wider tunnels are the leading factors in a sometimes confusing array of procurement considerations. Maurice Jones tries to unravel some of the major trends
Rock cavern design on the West Island Line In 2011 two new underground stations on the West Island Line were under construction beneath dense urban areas. Only one MTR station rock cavern, Taikoo, had been constructed before, and in a much less challenging area. This paper by Eric Chui and Paul Lee of Atkins China, and Robert Mackean of Geo-Design Consulting Engineers, presents in outline the design concepts for Sai Ying Pun and Hong Kong University station caverns with site constraints, ground conditions and concept selection
Getting to the core of the matter Since there still seems to be a marked reluctance in many quarters to spend much on site investigative work before main tunnel construction commences, it is fortunate that drilling, probing, sampling and testing methods are gradually becoming more efficient in terms of speed, accuracy and, hopefully, cost. However this demands a much higher level of sophistication in the technology employed. Maurice Jones checks on what is available
TBMs in squeezing ground conditions In Part I of their contribution, Marco Ramoni of Basler & Hofmann and Georgios Anagnostou of ETH Zurich described the specific problems of and discussed possible countermeasures for dealing with squeezing ground during TBM tunnelling. Part II introduces practical design aids for the planning engineer that allow for a quick and easy evaluation of the feasibility of TBM drives in squeezing ground
Primary risk reduction It is notable that many treatises on the subject of project risk management do not pay much attention to the subject of site investigation (SI), even though the gathering of accurate information before a tunneling project commences is bound to decrease risk to a project. Today there is a wide array of techniques available to collect such information and costs that can be balanced favourably against overall project expenditure. Maurice Jones reviews some of these
Toronto starts digging the line Last year the Eglinton-Scarborough Crosstown LRT project in Toronto expanded, adding 8km of tunnelling. Nicole Robinson discusses the design changes and progress on the city’s major east-to-west link with Jack Collins, vice president of rapid transit implementation for Metrolinx
ESP filtration use and developments Mountainous Japan was the first country to use electrostatic precipitators to filter tunnel air. Arnold Dix of the University of Western Sydney and Atsushi Katatani of Panasonic Ecology Systems give a history of the improvements and use of ESPs in Japanese tunnels
Ventilation and climate – part two on a 53km Andean base tunnel Concluding the edited paper by Andrea Krpo from the December 2011 issue, this article describes ventilation concepts, including fire control, for the proposed Corredor Bioceanico Aconcagua (CBA) rail base-tunnel through the Andes. The paper is co-authored by Mattia Ferrazzini, Michael Flueckiger and Peter Reinke, all of HBI Haerter of Berne, Switzerland.
Fixing La Fontaine Since commissioning in March 1967 the La Fontaine highway tunnel that links Montreal Island with the South Shore of the St Lawrence River in Montreal, Canada, has had to accommodate rapidly increasing traffic flows (now up to 130,000 vehicles a day), as well as criticism of the adequacy of its ventilation system. Plans for refurbishment to better airflow and emergency provisions are underway, and seem likely to feature a new type of jet fan reports Maurice Jones
Pipe roof development: the switch to slurry Pipe roofs are gaining increased importance in Japanese jacking philosophy. Toru Sato, general manager at Iseki Polytech, explores the development of the technology
Jacked box and structure techniques Box jacking in its various forms provides a safe, reliable means of excavating beneath sensitive infrastructure. James Thomson, chairman of Jacked Structures, explores the options available
Forward thrust The team behind the Herrenknecht direct pipe method takes a look at the achievements of the system since its launch some four years ago
Ventilation and climate for a 53km trans-Andean base tunnel This paper, adapted from that presented at the Underground Construction conference in London, UK, inApril by Andrea Krpo, describes ventilation concepts, including fire control, for a proposed rail basetunnel through the Andes to improve transport between Argentina and Chile. Co-authors are Mattia Ferrazzini, Michael Flueckiger and Peter Reinke, all of HBI Haerter of Berne, Switzerland
World’s longest structure jack The world’s longest jacked structure forms a highway underpass beneath a road-rail crossing that sits on unreliable Thanet Sands. Alex Conacher reports from site
Corrosion proofing to protect sewers In 2006, the EPA reported on emerging technologies in gravity sewer conveyance liners. Since that time some of the technologies in corrosion proofing of segmented liners have emerged. In the first of a two-part series Jon Kaneshiro, David Yankovich and Kenneth Kuhr of Parsons Corporation review available one- and two-pass corrosion proof liner systems
