Chapter_5 Engineering Geology of Tunnels

 Tunnel is one of the underground engineering structures

that is constructed below cities, rivers and through
mountains for the purpose of transportation ( road and
railway), water supply, hydropower generation, irrigation
and etc
Tunnel Excavation
• Tunnels can be excavated by drilling and blasting method,
Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM), Cut and Cover
Tunnelling and Sequential Excavation Method

Excavation by drilling and blasting method

• It is the tunnelling method that involves the use of
explosives
• Drilling rigs are used to bore blast holes on the proposed
tunnel surface then explosives and timed detonators are
placed in the blast holes.
Advantages of drilling & blasting methods
• Almost any type and cross sectional shapes can be made.
• It can be applied to nearly any type of rock.
• It gives great flexibility in the performance of the
excavation.
• The rock support can be installed easily and quickly
Disadvantages of drilling & blasting methods
• Production of gases and smoke from the explosives, which
leads poor working conditions for the team
• Vibrations on nearby structures from the blasting
• The blasting creates new cracks in the rocks, which leads
to increased rock support
Excavation by Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM)
• It is a circular tunnel excavation machine consists of a
rotating cutter head and often used for excavating of long
tunnels .
• It was developed after World War II, first for the weaker
types and Later the method has been greatly improved to
be used also in harder rocks
• It use for tunnel with diameter been between 3 m and 10 m
• Its capacity can be depend on the strength of rock, degree
of jointing and other weakness planes of rock mass
Advantages using TBM excavation
• It requires less rock supporting
• It is more effective and economic for longer tunnel
excavation
• It has higher tunnelling capacity
• It gives better working conditions for the team
Disadvantages of TBM excavation
• More (better) geological information from the pre-
investigation stage is required
• It requires the selection of appropriate equipment for
different rock mass and geological conditions.
• It is a less flexible method than drill & blast method.
• Only longer tunnel sections can be bored more
economically (because of larger investment and rigging
costs) than drill and blast.
• The TBM may get stuck under squeezing rock conditions
• It is difficult to perform / install rock support at the tunnel
face.
• In extremely hard rock mass it is an inefficient and
uneconomical and may take longer time than the drill-
and-blast tunnelling method.
• Investigating the Stand-up time
 it is the amount of time a tunnel will support itself
without any added structures.
 Knowing this time allows the engineers to determine how
much can be excavated before support is needed.
 The longer the stand-up time is the faster the excavating
will go.
 Generally certain configurations of rock and clay will have
the greatest stand-up time, and sand and fine soils will
have a much lower stand-up time.
 It can be controlled by condition of geological material,
groundwater condition, tunnel shape and size (diameter)
Tunnel Supporting
• It is carried out to improve the stability of the tunnels
• Some examples of tunnel supporting methods are rock
bolting, shotcrete , concrete and steel lining
• Tunnel supporting works are carried out in two main
stages:
 Initial support stage: It is installed to secure safe working
conditions for the tunnelling team. It also use to ensure
tunnel stability until the secondary or permanent support
system, for example, a concrete lining, is installed.
 Permanent support: It is carried out to meet the
requirements for a satisfactory function of the tunnel
during its life
• A 150 mm thick Shotcrete around a tunnel with 10 m
diameter, can safely carry a load of 500 kPa, wich can be a
burden of approximately 23 m of rock. However with
combination of rock bolt and reinforcing wire mesh, it can
proved an excellent temporary support for all qualities of
rock
• The steel arches support can also used for reinforcement
of very weaker tunnel sections.
• In general to design the type of tunnel support the
concept of rock mass classification is very important.
• For this classification the Rock Mass Rating (RMR) system
which consider about six parameters is commonly used.
The six parameters used to classify a rock mass by using the
RMR system:
1. Uniaxial compressive strength of rock material.
2. Rock Quality Designation (RQD).
3. Spacing of discontinuities.
4. Condition of discontinuities.
5. Groundwater conditions.
6. Orientation of discontinuities.
Rock Mass Rating System (After Bieniawski 1989).
Guidelines for excavation and support of 10 m span rock
tunnels in accordance with the RMR system (After
Bieniawski 1989).
Exercise
• A tunnel is to be driven through slightly weathered granite
with a dominant joint set dipping at 60o against the
direction of the drive. Index testing and logging of
diamond drilled core give typical Point-load strength index
values of 8 MPa and average RQD values of 70%. The
slightly rough and slightly weathered joints with a
separation of < 1mm, are spaced at 300 mm. Tunnelling
conditions are anticipated to be wet. Determine the
Excavation and supporting systems for this tunnel
Tunnel Shaft
• It is the vertical openings to the horizontal tunnel and
used for supplying equipment, personnel and support
systems to the horizontal tunnel and as ventilation shafts
and as emergency exits
• It is the main entrance in and out of the tunnel until the
project is completed
• If a tunnel is going to be long, multiple shafts at various
locations will be bored so that entrance into the tunnel is
closer to the unexcavated area
Tunnel Shaft
 Geological problem on Tunnels
• Tunnels in the soft ground:
The soft ground can be unconsolidated materials
such as gravels, sand, silt, clays and soft shale
The tunnel excavation through such ground does
not require blasting, but always need high quality
arch support
It short standup time can affect time of tunneling
If the tunnel that constructed in soft ground is
shallow the roof load is high and it can be the full
weight of the overlying material, so it require a very
strong lining support.
• Tunnels in the hard rock strata
Relatively it is more stable than the tunnel that
constructed in the soft ground
It required the blasting
Based on the rock mass quality it required different
strength of lining support
• Swelling rocks: such as shale, unconsolidated tuff
and anhydrite rocks are affect the stability of tunnel
To stabilize them it need strong lining support and
also they must be protected from wetting
• Inclined rock strata: when the tunnel is driven
parallel to the strike of rock strata, the block of rock
fall into the tunnel and affect the stability of the
tunnel
But if it driven across the strike it can pass through
different strata and the ground water inflow
problem may occur
• Folded rocks: tunnel driven in synclinal fold has
high rock fall and ground water inflow problem than
that driven in the anticline fold

• Fault zone: the fault zone commonly associated

with highly crushed rocks which is highly permeable
and allows ground water inflow problems in tunnels
They also form unstable tunnel roof which need
strong lining supports
• Jointed rocks: if the rock is highly jointed it is easy for
excavation but it can cause rock fall and ground water
inflow problems
• Rock bursting: it is a suddenly breaking of rock from the
sides of tunnel excavation which can release hundreds of
tonnes of rock with explosive force. Most rock bursts
occur at depths in excess of 600 m and in rocks that have
unconfined compressive strengths and values of Young’s
modulus greater than 140 MPa and 34.5 GPa, respectively
The results of a rockburst in an underground mine in brittle rock
subjected to very high stresses.
Over-break: it is the rock excavated beyond the required
cross section of the tunnel
This over-break is occur due to:
Presence of hard and tough rocks
Presence of closely spaced joints and fractures
Delay in placing roof supports

Overbreak in thinly bedded horizontal strata with joints.