Volume Loss in Shallow Tunnelling
Volume Loss in Shallow Tunnelling
Volume Loss in Shallow Tunnelling
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: Although volume loss has an important effect in estimating the ground movements due to tunnelling in
Received 14 July 2015 the design stage, this parameter is often determined by experience. This makes it difficult to estimate the
Received in revised form 28 March 2016 impact on volume loss when changing project parameters like soil conditions, depth of the tunnel or sen-
Accepted 16 June 2016
sitivity of the surroundings. This paper investigates the relationship between volume loss and cover-to-
diameter C=D ratio in shallow tunnelling. Based on a number of (empirical) relations from literature, such
as the stability number method and an analysis of the bentonite and grout flows, volume loss at the face,
Keywords:
along the shield and at the tail is determined. Long-term volume loss behind the shield is also estimated
Cover-to-diameter ratio
Volume loss
by means of consolidation. In this way a band width of achievable volume loss for future projects is
TBM derived.
Tail void Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Shallow bored tunnel
1. Introduction applied analytical methods for predicting the ground loss around
the tunnel. Loganathan (2011) proposed volume loss calculations
Tunnelling often leads to settlements of the soil surface due to but only approximated volume loss along the shield with the worst
over-excavation, soil relaxation and inefficient tail void filling. The case, and does not take the consolidation into account. Meanwhile,
magnitude of volume loss is influenced by tunnelling management, Bezuijen and Talmon (2008) showed the effect of grouting pressure
characteristics of the tunnel boring machines (TBM), and the on the volume loss around the TBM but none of these includes a
geotechnical conditions. In predictions of surface settlement detailed method to estimate volume loss along the TBM. This paper
(Peck, 1969) and subsurface settlement (Mair et al., 1993), the vol- aims to estimate the volume loss when tunnelling with limited
ume loss is often determined by engineering experience and data C=D ratios (i.e. less than 1) in various soils with a focus on slurry
from previous cases. This makes it difficult to correctly assess the shield tunnelling.
volume loss for a future project under radically different conditions On the basis of the studies by Attewell and Farmer (1974),
like a shallow depth of the tunnel and/or very different soil param- Cording and Hansmire (1975) and Mair and Taylor (1999), the vol-
eters. A ground movement analysis in Vu et al. (2015a) shows the ume loss in the tunnelling progress can be estimated by the sum of
important role of volume loss for settlement calculations and in the following components as shown in Fig. 1:
predicting the effects on existing buildings induced by tunnelling.
Especially for (very) shallow tunnels near building foundations, the – Volume loss at the tunnelling face: soil movement towards the
impact of changes in volume loss is large. Most previous studies on excavation chamber as a result of movement and relaxation
volume loss start from a given volume loss and establish deforma- ahead of the face, depending on the applied support pressures
tion patterns from that or correlate surface observations to volume at the tunnelling face;
loss at the tunnel for specific projects. Mair et al. (1982), Attewell – Volume loss along the shield: the radial ground loss around the
et al. (1986), Macklin (1999) and Dimmock and Mair (2007) stud- tunnel shield due to the moving soil into the gap between the
ied the volume loss with a summary of projects in overconsoli- shield and surrounding soil, which can be caused by overcutting
dated clay relating to the volume loss at the tunnelling face. and shield shape. The bentonite used in the tunnelling face
Verruijt and Booker (1996), Verruijt (1997), and Strack (2002) flows into the gap, while the grout used in the shield tail also
flows in the opposite direction. Due to the drop of bentonite
and grout flow pressures in a constrained gap, soil can still
⇑ Corresponding author at: Delft University of Technology, Geo-Engineering
Section, Stevinweg 1, 2628 CN Delft, The Netherlands.
move into the cavity when the soil pressure is larger than the
E-mail addresses: N.Vuminh@tudelft.nl, vuminhngan@gmail.com (M.N. Vu). bentonite pressure or grout pressure;
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tust.2016.06.011
0886-7798/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
78 M.N. Vu et al. / Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 59 (2016) 77–90
– Volume loss at the tail: when precast segments are placed, the 2. Volume loss at the tunnelling face
advance of the shield results an annular cavity between the seg-
ments and surrounding soil. Grout is used in order to prevent When tunnelling, the soil ahead of the excavation chamber gen-
surrounding soil moving into the gap. Volume loss at the tail erally has the trend to move into the cavity which is created by the
depends on applied grouting pressure at the tail and proper vol- tunnelling machine. The soil volume moving towards the face
ume control, where high grout volume and pressure may lead to depends on applied support pressures and can be controlled by
local heave and low volume to increase settlements as indicated adjusting the support pressures. In stability analysis for tunnelling,
in Fig. 1; the stability number N proposed by Broms and Bennermark (1967)
– Volume loss behind the shield tail due to consolidation: in this is widely used. By studying the relationship between this stability
void along the tunnel lining, grout consolidates and forms a number and volume loss at tunnelling face, Attewell et al. (1986),
grout cake, and the stress changes induced in the soil may lead Mair et al. (1982), Mair (1989), Macklin (1999) and Dimmock and
to long-term consolidation settlements in soil volume above the Mair (2007) presented a method to determine the expected vol-
tunnel. Other causes of volume loss are shrinkage of grout and ume loss based on observed data.
long-term lining deformations. However, their contributions The stability number N is given by:
to the total volume loss are small comparing to the above
cðC þ D=2Þ s
factors. N¼ ð2Þ
cu
The total volume loss V L in tunnelling progress can be given as: where s is the support pressure at the tunnelling face and cu is
undrained shear strength of the soil.
V L ¼ V L;f þ V L;s þ V L;t þ V L;c ð1Þ In shallow tunnelling, the support pressure at the tunnelling
face should be high enough to avoid the collapse to the excavation
where V L;f is volume loss at the tunnelling face, V L;s is volume loss chamber but also limited to prevent blow-out and fracturing.
along the shield, V L;t is volume loss at the tail, and V L;c is volume loss Firstly, the required support pressure must be higher than or at
due to consolidation. least equal to the total of water pressure and horizontal effective
To illustrate the impact of the different contributions in differ- soil pressure taking into account three dimensional arching effects.
ent soil conditions, estimates are made for a number of ideal soil The wedge model, which was studied by Anagnostou and Kovári
profiles which are derived from Amsterdam North-South metro (1994), Jancsecz and Steiner (1994) and Broere (2001), is com-
line project (Gemeente-Amsterdam, 2009), consisting of a single monly applied to determine the minimum support pressure smin .
soil type with most important properties as defined in Table 1, In the case of shallow tunnelling, the minimum support pressure
where c is volumetric weight, u is the friction angle, K is the initial smin can be derived from the wedge model, as follows:
coefficient of lateral earth pressure, c is cohesion, C s is compression
constant, C swel is swelling constant, m is Poisson’s ratio and Es is the smin ¼ r0h þ p ¼ r0v K A3 þ p ¼ c0 zK A3 þ p ð3Þ
stiffness modulus of the ground. where p is pore pressure and K A3 is the three dimensional earth
pressure coefficient determined in Jancsecz and Steiner (1994).
Secondly, the maximum support pressures are often estimated
Table 1
Soil parameters used in design of Amsterdam North-South metro line project (Bosch as to avoid blow-out and fracturing. According to Vu et al. (2015b),
and Broere, 2009; Gemeente-Amsterdam, 2009). the maximum support pressures in the case of blow-out are given
by:
Soil type c u K c Cs C swel m Es
(kN/m3) (°) (–) (kN/m2) (–) (–) (–) (kN/m2) p H 1 aD
s0;t;max ¼ c H D þ 2 c þ HK y c0 tan u ð4Þ
Sand 20 35 0.5 – – – 0.2 20,000 8 D 2 4
Clayey sand 17.9 35 0.4 2 – – 0.2 12,000
Clay 16.5 33 0.5 7 100 1000 0.15 10,000
p H 1 aD
Organic clay 15.5 20 0.65 5 80 800 0.15 5000 s0;b;max ¼ c H D þ 2 c þ HK y c0 tan u þ cT pd þ ð5Þ
Peat 10.5 20 0.65 5 25 250 0.15 2000 8 D 2 4
M.N. Vu et al. / Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 59 (2016) 77–90 79
where s0;t;max and s0;b;max are the maximum support pressures at the 2
top and bottom of the tunnel. with smin
1.8
In normally consolidated soil, according to Mori et al. (1991), with s0,t,max
with s
the maximum pressure in the case of fracturing is presented as: 1.6 fracturing
sf ¼ rv K þ p þ c u 0
ð6Þ 1.4
However, field data show that the higher allowable support 1.2
pressures are often applied in the tunnelling face, according to
N
1
NEN-3650 (2012) and reports by BTL (Boren van Tunnels en
Leidingen), in the Netherlands. Therefore, the support pressures 0.8
boundaries are determined with the minimum support pressure
and the maximum support pressure in the case of blow-out as 0.6
0.6
450
s with smin
min
400 s0,t,max with s0,t,max
0.5 with sfracturing
s0,b,max
350
sfracturing
support pressure(kN/m )
2
0.4
300
250
LF
0.3
200
150 0.2
100
0.1
50
0 0
0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
C/D C/D
Fig. 2. The range of support pressures at the tunnelling face of a tunnel with a Fig. 4. Relationship between load factor LF and C=D ratio for a tunnel with diameter
diameter D ¼ 6 m in clay. D = 6 m in clay.
80 M.N. Vu et al. / Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 59 (2016) 77–90
Fig. 7. Bentonite and grout flows along the shield and lining segments.
when tunnelling (Fig. 7). Also, the TBM is often tapered, which cre-
ates a gap between the shield skin and the surrounding soil. Addi-
tional gapping can also occur when the TBM moves in curves as
indicated in Festa et al. (2015). In this study, the effect of curves
is not included. This gap is often filled by bentonite, which flows
from the tunnelling face and/or grout which comes from the shield
tail. In practice, the grout and bentonite pressures are often larger
than the vertical soil pressure at the tunnelling face and tail. From
the observation of Bezuijen (2007), there are three possible ben-
tonite and grout flows that can occur along the shield when tun-
nelling. Firstly, the bentonite flows from the tunnelling face to
Fig. 5. Volume loss V L;f and load factor LF (Macklin, 1999).
the tail and pushes the grout at the joint between the tail and
the TBM. Secondly, the grout flows from the tail to the tunnelling
3.5 face and pushes the bentonite away. Thirdly, the grout flows from
with smin the tail to the tunnelling face and the bentonite also flows in the
with s opposite direction. The flows of bentonite and grout were also sim-
3 0,t,max
with s0,b,max ulated in Nagel and Meschke (2011). In shallow tunnelling, due to
with sfracturing the possibility of blow-out and fracturing, there is a limitation of
2.5
applied grout and bentonite pressures at the tunnelling face and
the tail.
2 According to Bezuijen (2007), both liquids, the grout in the
Vl (%)
shield tail and the bentonite applied at the tunnelling face are
1.5 assumed to behave as the Bingham liquids, such that the yield
stress is governing in the flow behaviour. The flow pressures in
1 grout and bentonite reduce along the shield as in Fig. 7. The reduc-
tion of grout pressure along the shield is given by:
0.5
Dx
Dp ¼ sy ð9Þ
wj
0
0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
C/D where Dp is the change of the pressure due to flow, Dx is a length
increment along the TBM, wj is the joint width between the tunnel
Fig. 6. Volume loss at tunnelling face for a tunnel with diameter D ¼ 6 m in clay.
and the surrounding soil and sy is a shear strength of the grout
around the TBM.
significantly. Meanwhile, the volume loss V L;f in the case of In this study, the volume loss along the shield is calculated with
1 6 C=D 6 2 ranges from 0:27% to 1:05%. The difference in volume input parameters as indicated in Table 2 with the following
loss V L;f between the minimum pressure and maximum pressures approach.
due to blow-out and fracturing is clearly reduced. Therefore, in
the case of very shallow tunnels ðC=D 6 1Þ the support pressures Table 2
applied at the tunnelling face should be kept near to the maximum Input parameters of tunnel boring machine.
pressure in order to avoid increasing the volume loss.
Diameters of shield D 6; 8 and 10 m
Length-to-diameter P=D ratio of the shield 1
Reduction of shield diameter a 0:2%
3. Volume loss along the shield
Overcutting hov ercut 0.015 m
Shear strength of grout sgrout
y
1.6 kPa
The diameter of the cutting wheel in front of the TBM is often Shear strength of bentonite sbentonite 0.8 kPa
y
larger than the diameter of the shield. This leads to an overcut
M.N. Vu et al. / Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 59 (2016) 77–90 81
140 When tunnelling with 0:6 6 C=D 6 1, the upper boundary is given
by tunnelling in organic clay and when tunnelling with the C=D ratio
120 s0,t,max larger than 1, the upper boundary becomes constant and depends on
the tunnel diameter D. The maximum volume loss along the shield
100
V L;s is about 0.7% for D ¼ 6 m;V L;s;max ¼ 0:57% for D ¼ 8 m and
grout pressure (kN/m2 )
0.7 0.7
0.6
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.4
0.3
0.3
0.2
D=6 D=6
D=8 0.2
0.1 D=8
D=10 D=10
0 0.1
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
C/D C/D
0.65
0.6
0.6
0.5 0.55
volume loss (%)
0.5
0.4
0.45
0.3 0.4
C/D C/D
0.7
0.65
0.6
volume loss (%)
0.55
0.5
D=6
0.45
D=8
D=10
0.4
0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
C/D
(e) in peat
Fig. 9. Volume loss along the shield in various soils.
The soil displacement us in the elastic zone is given by: The soil displacement us in the plastic zone is given by:
1þk
Yr Rp k
us ¼ ð12Þ Y D D ð1 þ kÞðp0 sÞ
2ðk þ 1ÞG r us ¼ exp 1 ð13Þ
2ðk þ 1ÞG 2r 2 kY
where r is the distance from the calculated point to the tunnel cen-
tre and G ¼ E=2ð1 þ mÞ is the shear modulus of soil.
M.N. Vu et al. / Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 59 (2016) 77–90 83
0.7
upper boundary
0.65
0.6
0.55
volume loss(%)
0.5
0.45
0.35
0.3 in sand
in clay
0.25
in peat
0.2
0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
C/D Fig. 11. Deformations around a shallow tunnel at the tail.
(a) D =6 m
0.6 surface. In order to identify the contribution of soil deformation at
upper boundary the tail on the total volume loss, the displacement of the ground
0.55
surface is estimated. According to assumptions in Yu (2013), the
0.5 tunnel will collapse when the plastic zone expands to the ground
surface. It means that when the tunnel is stable, the radial dis-
0.45
placement of ground us at the surface is in the elastic zone and
volume loss(%)
0.25 where h is the angle between the calculated point to the tunnel cen-
tre and the horizontal axis (see Fig. 11).
0.2 in sand
The volume loss at the tail V L;t can be estimated as:
in clay
0.15
V s;t
in peat
V L;t ¼ ð15Þ
0.1
0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
pðD=2Þ2
C/D
where V s;t is the volume of the surface settlement due to grouting
(b) D =8 m pressures at the tail (see Fig. 11).
Fig. 12 shows the boundaries of the volume loss at the tail V L;t in
0.5
various soils for tunnels with D ¼ 6; 8 and 10 m with the range of
0.45 upper boundary the support pressures from the vertical soil stress to the maximum
support pressure at the top of the tunnel derived from Eq. (4). The
0.4 figure shows that the larger the tunnel diameter is, the larger the
range of volume loss V L;t is. When the support pressure equals
0.35
volume loss(%)
the vertical soil stress at the top of the tunnel lining, there is a con-
0.3 traction in the cavity and this leads to positive values of the lower
boundary of volume loss at the tail. When a high support pressure
0.25 is used, the cavity will expand. The negative volume loss V L;t values
lower boundary
indicate that the soil above the tunnel lining is pushed upward and
0.2
there might be heave at the ground surface. In practice, this heave
0.15 in sand might not be observed because the settlement due to volume loss
in clay at the tunnelling face and along the shield could be larger. When a
0.1
in peat high support pressure is applied at the tail, a heave can occur in
0.05
order to compensate the volume loss at the tunnelling face and
0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 along the TBM as can be seen in Fig. 12a–d. However, in the case
C/D of very shallow tunnelling, there is no heave due to the small mar-
(c) D =10 m gin in the range of allowable support pressures as indicated in Vu
et al. (2015b). In Fig. 12e, when tunnelling in peat, the volume loss
Fig. 10. Volume loss along the shield with different tunnel diameters.
at the tail is positive with a high value, especially in the case of a
tunnel diameter D ¼ 10 m. It means that shallow tunnelling with
a large diameter in peat might be difficult due to the large expected
In this case, the effect of grouting pressures at the tail is analyzed volume loss. This conclusion coincides with the conclusion indi-
with a cylindrical cavity model and is calculated with the minimum cated in Vu et al. (2015b) for the range of support pressure for shal-
and maximum support pressures. Thus, in Eq. (10), k equals 1. low tunnelling in peat with low C=D ratios.
It can be assumed that the volume loss around the tunnel due to Fig. 13 shows the dependence of V L;t values on soils in various
grouting at the tail equals the volume of ground settlement at the tunnel diameters. When tunnelling in peat, the range of V L;t values
84 M.N. Vu et al. / Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 59 (2016) 77–90
0.4 0.5
lower boundary for D=10m lower boundary for D=10m
0.2
0
upper boundary for D=6m
-0.2
upper boundary for D=6m
-0.4
upper boundary for D=8m
upper boundary for D=8m
-0.6
-0.5
-1
-1.2 -1
0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
C/D C/D
(a) in sand (b) in clayey sand
1 4
-2 -2
0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
C/D C/D
(c) in clay (d) in organic clay
180
160
lower boundary for D=10m
volume loss at the tail V L,t (%)
140
upper boundary for D=10m
120
lower boundary for D=8m
100
upper boundary for D=8m
80
lower boundary for D=6m
40
20
0
0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
C/D
(e) in peat
Fig. 12. Volume loss at the tail with different tunnel diameters in various soils.
is significantly large compared to tunnelling in sand, clay and consolidated grout cake in the cavity along the tunnel lining
organic clay, especially in the case of tunnels with large diameters (Talmon and Bezuijen, 2009). In the case of tunnelling in clay,
as indicated above. the consolidation in grout might not occur (Bezuijen and Talmon,
2013) and the length of liquid grout on the lining is much longer.
4.2. Volume loss due to consolidation Although the grout pressure decreases along the lining, the
injected grout may flow along 2–3 following segments and the
For the volume loss due to consolidation, in the cavity behind appearance of the grout cake will prevent the movement of the soil
the tail, two consolidation processes occur along the tunnel lining. above. It is often assumed that there is no volume loss in the grout
Firstly, the newly injected grout is consolidating and forms a consolidating. The other volume loss is due to the subsequent
M.N. Vu et al. / Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 59 (2016) 77–90 85
10 in peat
to consolidation V L;c is derived from the consolidation settlement
of the soil volume above tunnel lining. In the case of tunnelling
8
in sand, consolidation of soil will probably not occur or be minimal.
6 For tunnels in clay or peat, this may be a notable contribution.
The consolidation settlement of the soil can be estimated from
4 Terzaghi’s formula, as follows:
1 rsoil
2 uc ¼ ln ð16Þ
Cs r0
0
where C s is the compression constant depending on soil type (as can
-2 be seen in Table 1), rsoil is the vertical stress in the soil and r0 is the
0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 initial vertical stress in the soil.
C/D In case the vertical stress is lower than the initial vertical stress,
(a) D = 6m unloading occurs and Eq. (16) would be modified to:
1 rsoil
60 uc ¼ ln ð17Þ
C swel r0
in sand
50
in clay where C swel is the swelling constant depending on soil type (as can
volume loss at the tail VL,t (%)
ð1þkÞ
0 Y Rp
rh ¼ p0 ð19Þ
1þk r
-10
0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 where rr and rh are the radial and tangential stresses as shown in
C/D Fig. 14.
(b) D = 8m In the plastic zone, the stresses are given by:
kY Rp
180
rr ¼ p0 þ þ kY ln ð20Þ
in sand
1þk r
160
in clay
Y Rp
140
rh ¼ p0 þ kY ln ð21Þ
volume loss at the tail VL,t (%)
in peat
1þk r
120
In order to estimate the consolidation settlement, the soil
100
volume above the tunnel lining is divided into n layers. The final
80
60
40
20
-20
0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
C/D
(c) D = 10m
Fig. 13. Volume loss at the tail with different tunnel diameters.
X
m C/D
V cons ¼ uðjÞ
c Dx ð23Þ (a) in clay
j¼1
2.5
where Dx is a length increment along the surface consolidation set-
tlement and m is the increment number.
The volume loss due to consolidation settlement is then esti-
2
V cons
V L;c ¼ ð24Þ
pðD=2Þ2 1.5
lower boundary for D=8m
Fig. 16 shows the relationship between the consolidation vol- upper boundary for D=8m
ume loss V L;c and the C=D ratio for tunnels with different diameters 1 lower boundary for D=6m
upper boundary for D=6m
in clay, organic clay and peat. With 0:4 6 C=D 1:3 in the case of
tunnelling in clay and 0:4 6 C=D 1:7 in the case of tunnelling in
organic clay, it can be seen that the maximum support pressure 0.5
applied at the tail can lead to a heave on the surface. The volume
loss due to consolidation V L;c when maximum support pressure is upper boundary for D=10m
applied becomes smaller than when minimum support pressure 0
0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
is applied. An example shown in Fig. 15 shows that the volume C/D
of consolidation settlement V cons when applying lower boundary
of support pressure is smaller than the value of V cons when applying (b) in organic clay
the maximum support pressure. When the tunnel is located at a
35
deeper level, the volume loss V L;c when applying the maximum
support pressure is higher than the volume loss V L;c in the case lower boundary for D=10m
30
of applying minimum support pressure.
The dependence of the volume loss due to consolidation V L;c on lower boundary for D=8m
volume loss at the tail VL,c(%)
25
soil type is shown in Fig. 17 for tunnels with diameters D ¼ 6; 8,
20
0.005 15
lower boundary for D=6m
16 5
in clay 4.5
14
in organic clay
4
volume loss at the tail VL,c (%)
12 in peat
3.5
10 in clay
3
in organic clay
8 2.5
in peat
2
6
1.5
4
1
2
0.5
0 0
0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
C/D
25 5
in clay in clay
4.5
in organic clay in organic clay
volume loss at the tail VL,c (%)
20 4
in peat in peat
3.5
15 3
2.5
10 2
1.5
5 1
0.5
0 0
0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
C/D
35 5
in clay in clay
4.5
30 in organic clay in organic clay
4
volume loss at the tail VL,c (%)
in peat in peat
25 3.5
3
20
2.5
15
2
10 1.5
1
5
0.5
0 0
0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
C/D
5. Total volume loss and case studies in the case of shallow tunnelling in sand and clayey sand. It can
be seen that the range of the total volume loss decreases with
5.1. Total volume loss the increase of the C=D ratio and the tunnel diameter D. In the case
of a C=D ratio from 0.4 to 1, a volume loss in shallow tunnelling of
From Eq. (1), the total volume loss is derived by summing the less than 0:5% can be achieved with the condition of careful mon-
volume loss of tunnelling face, along the shield, at the tail and itoring. The highest expected volume loss in this range of the C=D
due to consolidation. Figs. 18 and 19 show the total volume loss ratio is about 3:7% for tunnelling in sand and 5% for tunnelling in
88 M.N. Vu et al. / Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 59 (2016) 77–90
4 5.5
5
3.5
4.5
3
4
1.5 2
1.5
1 upper boundary for D=6m
upper boundary for D=6m
upper boundary for D=8m 1 upper boundary for D=8m
0.5 upper boundary for D=10m upper boundary for D=10m
0.5
0 0
0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2
C/D C/D
Fig. 18. Total volume loss for tunnelling in sand with various diameter D.
(a) not including consolidation of soil layers above the tunnel
5.5 6
5
lower boundary for D=10m
5
4.5
lower boundary for D=10m total volume loss (%) lower boundary for D=8m
4
4
total volume loss (%)
2.5
2
2
Fig. 19. Total volume loss for tunnelling in clayey sand with various diameter D. Fig. 20. Total volume loss for tunnelling in clay with various diameter D.
Table 3
Volume loss of tunnelling in sand projects.
Table 4
Volume loss of tunnelling in clay projects.
clayey sand when less optimal but still stable support and grout Fig. 21b shows the validation of the calculated volume loss to
pressures are applied. When the C=D ratio larger than 1, the max- the field data in Table 4 in the case of shallow tunnelling in clay.
imum volume loss is less than 1:5% with the range of support pres- It also shows that all the field data is in agreement with the bound-
sures in this study. These figures also show that a result of no aries of volume loss derived in this study. Only the Madrid Metro
volume loss can be achieved when tunnelling with C=D P 2. Extension which is known as a successful tunnelling project has
Fig. 20 shows the relationship between the total volume loss V L one data point below the lower boundary of volume loss for a
and C=D ratios when tunnelling in clay. The total volume loss V L low C=D ratio.
when tunnelling has just finished (not taking into account the con-
solidation) is shown in Fig. 20a. It can be seen that a total volume 4
loss V L less than 0:5% after tunnelling is feasible even with Ayrshire Joint Drainage Scheme
WNTDC Lumb Brook Sewer
C=D 6 1. This figure also shows that for very shallow tunnelling 3.5
Second Heinenoord Tunnel
with C=D 6 0:6, a tunnel with a large diameter has a larger range Botlek Railway Tunnel
3 Sophia Railway Tunnel
of expected volume loss. With deeper tunnelling when
total volume loss (%)
The agreement between derived boundaries of volume loss in on Geotechnical Aspects of Underground Construction in Soft Ground, London,
pp. 557–562.
sand and clay and field data shows that the approach of estimating
Broere, W., 2001. Tunnel Face Stability & New CPT Applications Ph.D. Thesis. Delft
volume loss in this study can successfully predict volume loss in University of Technology.
shallow tunnelling. Broms, B.B., Bennermark, H., 1967. Stability of clay at vertical openings. J. Soil Mech.
Found. Div.
Cording, E.J., Hansmire, W., 1975. Displacements around soft ground tunnels. 5th
Pan American Congress on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering. Buenos
6. Conclusion
Aires, vol. 4, pp. 571–633.
Dimmock, P.S., Mair, R.J., 2007. Estimating volume loss for open-face tunnels in
Volume loss is a major parameter in the calculation of ground London clay. Proc. ICE-Geotech. Eng. 160 (1), 13–22.
movement by tunnelling. The range of attainable volume loss can Festa, D., Broere, W., Bosch, J., 2015. Kinematic behaviour of a tunnel boring
machine in soft soil: theory and observations. Tunn. Undergr. Space Technol. 49,
be estimated by combining stability analysis at tunnelling face, 208–217.
along and behind the shield. In this theoretical study, it is found Gemeente-Amsterdam, 2009. Geotechnical Base Report Alternative Design Deep
that in the case of tunnelling with C=D 6 1, the volume loss at Stations and Risk Assessment Bored Tunnel. Tech. Rep., Projectbureau Noord/
Zuidlijn.
the tunnelling face has a major impact in total volume loss. Harris, D., Mair, R., Love, J., Taylor, R., Henderson, T., 1994. Observations of ground
The volume loss along the shield can be optimized by selecting and structure movements for compensation grouting during tunnel
optimal bentonite and grout pressures applied at tunnelling face construction at waterloo station. Geotechnique 44 (4), 691–713.
Jancsecz, S., Steiner, W., 1994. Face support for a large mix-shield in heterogeneous
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This paper also presents methods to identify the volume loss
Society for Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, vol. 3. AA BALKEMA,
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peat has a large impact, especially in the case of shallow tunnels Loganathan, N., 2011. An Innovative Method for Assessing Tunnelling-Induced Risks
to Adjacent Structures. Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc., One Penn Plaza New York,
(C=D 6 1). The volume loss behind the tail was estimated by the
New York, 2011.
volume loss due to shrinkage of grout and consolidation of above Macklin, S., 1999. The prediction of volume loss due to tunnelling in
soil volume. The volume loss due to consolidation depends on overconsolidated clay based on heading geometry and stability number.
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Mair, R., 1989. Discussion leader’s report on session 9: selection of design
The total volume losses for tunnelling in sand, clayey sand and parameters for underground construction. Proceedings of the 12th
clay are derived and have a good agreement with case studies. International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Rio
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