Features Archive
Archive of features from the global tunnels industryFeatures By Date
August 2023
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Designing in Fire Safety Through Simulation
Florian Michelin, Ventsim Manager, Howden, discusses approaches to simulating the complex variables at play in fire incidents in tunnels, and so help to design effective ventilation systems as part of fire safety measures
Grouting Focus in Stockholm
The second half of the year’s tunnelling industry events commence with the latest Nordic Grouting Symposium to be held in Stockholm, over two days and packing in a course plus site visits
BTS James Clark Medal Award: Andy Alder
Andy Alder has been awarded the James Clark Medal by the British Tunnelling Society for his service and leadership in the industry.
Smoke control in road tunnels
To minimise smoke propagation in tunnels, ventilation design has seen the distributed extraction approach give way to local extraction systems for new tunnels. Ingo Riess, of Riess Ingenieur-GmbH, in Zurich, Switzerland, discusses the change, its effectiveness, but also the challenges that come in the complexity of the new approach.
Drives in tunnels
Variable speed drives (VSDs) offer benefits to control ventilation fans and drainage pumps in tunnels, explains Josh Paikada, Strategic Business Development Manager, ABB.
July 2023
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Grey cast iron linings – new structural insights
The Harding Prize Competition is named after the founder of the British Tunnelling Society, Sir Harold Harding, and is for entrants under the age of 33. Shortlisted papers were presented to the BTS evening meeting on 13 April, at the Institution of Civil Engineers, in London. Agustín Ruiz López, postdoctoral researcher with the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Imperial College, London, was a runner-up in this year’s Competition with a paper entitled ‘New insights into the structural behaviour of grey cast iron tunnel linings’. It is published here with the author’s permission
Geopolymer concrete in tunnelling
At the monthly BTS meeting at the Institution of Civil Engineers, in London, in March 2023, John Day, Chief Technical Officer of Wagners EFC Pty Ltd, Charles Allen, Director of OTB Concrete, and Richard Sutherden, Engineering Director with Murphy for the HMJV (Hochtief- Murphy Joint Venture) provided perspectives on the use and future potential of geopolymer concretes, and the Earth Friendly Concrete in particular, in underground applications
Waste disposal: engineering the key nuclear challenge
Scientists agree that geological disposal is the best solution when considering the very long-term storage of high activity nuclear waste materials but to develop such a massive engineering project requires community buy-in from the get go. By Steve Reece, Head of GDF Siting at Nuclear Waste Services
Formwork for Fehmarn
Peri has delivered 10,000 tonnes of special large steel formwork for the massive concreting operation needed to construct the world’s longest subsea immersed tube tunnel, as the core infrastructure of the Fehmarn Project, to link Denmark and Germany
Cross river truss lift challenge
Mammoet’s heavy lift work helped get concrete trusses in place for a below ground station on Cross River Rail project, in Brisbane, Australia
Carbon saving push boosts PSCL development
Carbon saving is a new boost to further development of Permanent Sprayed Concrete Lining (PSCL), says Benoit de Rivaz, technical director for Bekaert BP Underground Solutions
ITA guide on spoil handling
Key points on working with spoil from all types of tunnelling was issued as further guidance last year from ITA’s Working Group 14 (Mechanized Tunnelling – Task Group 4), building on earlier work. A summary review is presented
Looking very deep for disposal
Conventional thinking suggests nuclear waste should be disposed of in deep geological repositories not much more than a few hundred metres below ground. Deep directional drilling techniques pioneered and now mastered by the oil and gas industry offer are alternative solution. By Dr. Henry Crichlow, founder and CEO of NuclearSAFE Technology LLC
June 2023
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Packed schedule in Boston
TTNA previews the packed program for RETC 2023, in Boston, MA, in June
Breakthroughs on Broadway
Tunneling is well underway with multiple early TBM breakthroughs on the Broadway Extension to the Millennium Line, in Vancouver
How to develop your tunnelers
The BTS Design and Construction course has special flagship standing in tunneling education and the 1-week course runs this July again. Mike King, of MK Tunnelling, gives an insight and recommends ambitious tunnelers to attend
Headway at Hudson
The Hudson Tunnel Project, which will improve the rail link between New Jersey and New York, has moved from planning into procurement
Small bores, big impacts
Views shared with TTNA on the trends and advances in the trenchless and microtunneling markets
Latin drives
A variety of tunneling projects in Latin America are meeting key milestones in their progress, and TTNA takes a brief look at a few, in Peru and Brazil
Toronto spotlights
TTNA spotlights a recent few milestones and interesting project developments in Toronto that have among them presented a variety of engineering challenges
