Construction of double-tier Oume Tunnel in unconsolidated gravel (Part 2)

Haruyama, K. Japan Highway Public Corporation, Tokyo, Japan Taira, K. Japan Highway Public Corporation, Tokyo, Japan Yonezawa, M. Japan Highway Public Corporation, Tokyo, Japan Okumoto, G. Kajima Corporation, Tokyo, Japan ABSTRACT: In the construction of the 2095m long Oume Tunnel, which has a double -tier structure, the 1093m long central section was constructed by NATM, the first time that a tunnel of such structure was constructed by NATM in Japan. The tunnel is located at a shallow depth in a densely populated residential area that also has numerous buried lifeline facilities. Excavation of the large, egg-shaped cross section, which has an excavation area of 220m 2 to 260m2, was performed through gravel beds having numerous water paths, and the excavation of the third and fourth benches particularly was performed at a level that is beneath the groundwater level at normal times. This paper presents a report on the excavation of these third and fourth benches and the temporary support piles that were used to support the already placed middle slab and arch lining of the tunnel during this lower half excavation. 1 INTRODUCTION Oume Tunnel, which has an excavation crosssection of 220m2 to 260m2, is the first highway tunnel having an egg-shaped, double-tier structure to be excavated by NATM in Japan. (Photo 1) The ground is chiefly composed of gravel including a clay fraction in the order of 10%, and the groundwater level at normal times is located at the middle level of the tunnel. The operations of excavating the upper half of the tunnel and placing the middle slab and arch lining concrete were the subject of a report presented to the AITES-ITA 2001 World Tunnel Congress. Prior to placing the middle slab and arch lining concrete, foot piles and temporary support piles were placed in order to prevent tunnel wall collapse and to support the middle slab and arch lining structure to minimise surface settlement during excavation of the lower half of the tunnel. When this lower half excavation was performed, no tunnel wall collapse occurred and the increase in surface settlement due to excavation was extremely small, thus confirming the effectiveness of these piles. This paper presents a report on the method of excavating the lower half of the tunnel and the temporary support piles that were effective in controlling surface settlement.

Photograph 1.

Egg-shaped, double-tier Oume Tunnel.

2 CONSTRUCTION METHOD 2.1 Upper half excavation and lining Because Oume Tunnel is the first highway tunnel having a double-tier structure, to be excavated by NATM in Japan and this excavation was to be performed in unconsolidated ground at a shallow depth of cover. The work was performed by a method in which excavation and lining placement in the upper half were completed first and then the excavation and lining of the lower half were performed. (Fig. 1) The operations of excavation and lining placement in the upper half were described in detail in a report presented to the AITES-ITA 2001 World Tunnel Congress. 2.2 Lower half excavation and lining Because excavation of the lower half was to be performed using temporary support piles to minimise settlement of the already placed middle slab and arch lining, the work was performed according to the steps shown in Figure 2. First, excavation of the 6m high centre section was advanced 9m and then excavation of the side wall sections of the third bench was performed from the floor of this centre section. Following this, the fourth bench was excavated by dividing it into the sidewall sections and invert.

Almost all water inflow that occurred during this excavation came in from around the support piles , and because the excavation was performed during the dry winter season, the quantity of inflow was such that it could be handled satisfactorily by sump drainage. Due to the effectiveness of the temporary support piles, the amount of surface settlement was almost nil, in the order of 0 to 2mm. The amount of convergence was in the order of 10mm at the maximum and this stabilised following invert closure. Due to the effectiveness of the foot piles in preventing tunnel wall collapse, it was possible to perform the excavation with the walls remaining in a standing condition. However, if the excavation were to be performed during a period of high precipitation, collapse of the face is also imaginable and more careful study would be necessary. In the lining of the lower half, reinforcing steel was omitted in the invert to promote the construction schedule by simplifying operations, and steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) was placed instead. The upper surface of the invert concrete was initially planned to have the shape of an inverted arch, but this was changed to be flat so as to eliminate impediment to the passage of construction vehicles. Because the wall lining concrete, which was placed next, had to fill in under the middle slab already in place, high fluidity concrete, which will flow in to fill a space without vibration, was placed in the haunches to secure complete filling of the joint between the underside of the middle slab and the haunches. (Fig. 3)

Horizontal jet grouting Long pipe injection type forepoling

First bench excavation Steel rib erection Temporary invert closure

Foot piles

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Second bench excavation Temporary invert closure

Foot piles Temporary support piles

Middle slab and arch lining concrete

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Third bench excavation

Fourth bench excavation

Invert and wall lining concrete Temporary support pile removal

Center section excavation Third bench excavation Fourth bench excavation Invert excavation

Figure 1.

Sequence of construction.

Figure 2.

Lower half excavation pattern.

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Load (kN)

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Arch lining (Ordinary concrete)

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Wall lining (Ordinary concrete)

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Invert (SFRC)

Figure 4. load.

Relationship of deformation to imposed

Figure 3.

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Full lining cross section.

3.2 Test construction In order to place the temporary support piles in satisfaction of the above conditions, the following items had to be confirmed. (1) Because the pile placing operation would be performed simultaneously with the excavation of the first and second benches and a passageway had to be secured for the excavation o peration equipment, confirm that this pile placing operation could be performed on the floor of the second bench excavation while still leaving open a one-lane passag eway. (2) Confirm that sufficient bearing capacity could be secured to bear the dead load of the mid dle slab and arch lining. To confirm these items, test construction was performed under the same conditions as within the tunnel. This test construction was performed in identical ground and by the same method as would be employed in the actual construction, and bearing capacity, load and amount of settlement were measured. From this data, it was confirmed that the ultimate bearing capacity of a pile was in the order of 7000kN. Also, looking at the relationship between load and amount of settlement, practically linear behaviour was shown for loading in the order of 2200kN to 2500kN per pile, the loading that a pile would bear as the dead load of the middle slab and arch lining. (Fig. 4) Therefore, it was predicted that elastic deformation would occur in the order of 1mm/100kN.

3 TEMPORARY SUPPORT PILES 3.1 Basic plan The temporary support piles were designed on the basis of the following two conditions. (1) The overburden load from the ground above the tunnel is transferred to the ground surrounding the tunnel by the arch structure formed by the already placed forepoling, steel ribs horizontal jet grouting and foot piles . (2) The temporary support piles bear only the dead load of the middle slab and arch lining. In order to realise this design philosophy it was necessary to avoid a condition in which a loosened zone develops in the ground above the tunnel acco mpanying excavation of the ground beneath the middle slab. The load of this loosened zone acts on the support piles in addition to the dead load of the middle slab and arch lining. To this end, a plan was prepared to prevent the piles from bearing any load other than the assumed load by introducing into the piles , beforehand, a preload equivalent to the dead load of the middle slab and arch lining to control settlement of the middle slab and arch lining after excavation of the lower half and to control damage to the surrounding ground.

Through this test construction, the following items were confirmed. (1) Actual construction would be fully possible under the conditions within the tunnel. (2) The required bearing capacity could be secured. (3) Piles would show elastic deformation behaviour for the assumed loading. Thus, the plan for temporary support piles was judged to be fully feasible and effective as a method to be used in connection with the excavation of the lower half of the tunnel, and was adopted on that basis. (Photo 2) 3.3 Construction method Because the groundwater level was high, the holes for placing the temporary support piles were excavated using a 1000mm-diameter casing to prevent collapse of the walls. Steel H-500500 sections were placed in these holes and their feet were fixed by placing mortar up to the level of the floor of the fourth bench excavation. In this pile placing operation, a machine was used that had been built b y remodelling a backhoe crawler base and mounting a rotating hydraulic crane in such a way that the crane could be slid to the rear and the rotary drive casing machine could be lifted onto the front of the crawler base to facilitate movement within the tunnel. At the next pile location, the casing machine was set down in position for excavating and the crane was slid forward to the centre of the crawler base to suspend the hammer grab within the casing. (Photo 3) The piles were placed at a spacing of 4.5m in the axial direction of the tunnel and 7.0m in the transverse direction. Thus, the dead load of each 9m span of the middle slab and arch lining was borne by four piles. Because the tunnel was narrow and also restricted in height, the H-500500 piles were placed in the holes by successively bolting together four sections of 3.0m length.

bearing capacity and skin friction were adopted, and consideration was also given to buckling due to eccentricity of 1/200, the degree of vertical precision that was thought to occur as construction error. Also, to lower the groundwater level by wellpoint drainage ahead of the face during the lower half excavation, a screen pipe was placed in the space between the casing and the pile, and the hole was backfilled with crushed rock (40mm maximum size) as filter material. (Fig. 5) 3.4 Preload introduction From the results of the test construction, settlement in the order of 20mm was foreseen under the assumed loading of 2200kN to 2500kN per pile. Accordingly, control of settlement was attempted by introducing into the piles a preload equivalent to the dead load of the middle slab and arch lining before that load began to act. A 5000kN hydraulic jack was seated on the head of each pile and the system was designed so that the load introduced into each pile could be adjusted

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In design, the normal assumptions considering point

Temporary support pile H-5005002525

Section a -a Crushed rock backfill (40mm maximum size) Temporary support pile H-5005002525

Screen pipe (150mm diameter)

Figure 5. Temporary support piles.

Photograph 2. Temporary support piles.

Distance of measurement point from third bench face (m)

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Settlement (mm)

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Preload introduction Middle slab settlement control criteria amount

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Photograph 3. Machine used in placing temporary support piles

Convergence (mm)

individually. The preload was introduced into one span (9m) at a time in two consecutive steps, up to 1100kN to 1250kN (50%) and then up to 2200kN to 2500kN (100%), corresponding to the design loads of 2200kN to 2500kN to be borne by the piles. The following conditions were adhered to when introducing the preload. (1) The middle slab and arch lining concrete in the span to be preloaded shall have reached design strength. (2) When performing the centre section excavation, 100% of the preload shall have been introduced into the first span ahead of the excavation face and 50% of the preload into the second span ahead of the face. 4 MONITORING RESULTS 4.1 Surface settlement and middle slab settlement The results of monitoring show that the increase in surface settlement and middle slab settlement accompanying lower half excavation were 0mm to 1mm (Fig. 6), less than the 5mm amount of increase in settlement that was the control criteria amount assumed from the results of frame analysis in the planning stage. This indicates that the temporary support piles were only bearing the dead load of the middle slab and arch lining as assumed, or less than that load. This is thought to be the result of effective action by the foot piles, which were placed to a depth of 1m below the floor of the third bench excavation, in maintaining solid ground in the sections of the side walls at the ends of the middle slab. The accumulative amount of settlement, including that due to the upper half excavation, was 28mm maximum and 15mm average at the tunnel centre, less than the initially predicted amount of 34mm.

Figure 6. Example of increase in middle slab settlement and surface settlement.

Distance of measurement point from third bench face (m)

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Passa ge of fourth bench face

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Invert closure
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Figure 7.

Example of convergence.

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Figure 8.

Example of axial force in pile.

4.2 Convergence Convergence increased during the excavation of the third and fourth benches, but the rate of increase began to diminish simultaneously with closure of the invert and convergence stabilised at a maximum amount in the order of 10mm. (Fig.7) This indicates that closure of the invert is greatly effective in the control of convergence in a tunnel even though the tunnel configuration may be different. 4.3 Axial force in temporary support piles The loading that acted on the piles during the period between placing the middle slab and arch lining concrete and introducing the preload was in the order of 500kN to 1000kN, less than half of the dead load of this concrete. Following introduction of preload equivalent to 100% of the dead load, the load borne by a pile increased by a small amount accompanying lower half excavation, but increased hardly at all following invert closure. (Fig. 8) This conforms with the results of settlement monitoring and indicates that the overburden load was transferred to the bearing ground by the arch action of the forepoling, steel ribs, horizontal jet grouting and foot piles, and the temporary support piles were bearing only the dead load of the middle slab and arch lining. Also, the pattern of operations in the lower half excavation had been devised so as to keep the distance from the face to invert closure short, in the order of three spans (27m), to keep displacement of the surrounding ground to a minimum, and it is thought that this plan achieved its objective and contributed to the control of settlement. 5 CONCLUSION As described in this report, by introducing a preload equivalent to the dead load of the middle slab and arch lining into temporary support piles prior to performing the lower half excavation, it was possible to keep settlement of the middle slab and arch lining, and surface settlement, to a minimum. The fact that the overburden load from the ground above the tunnel had been supported by the arch action of the structure formed by the forepoling, steel ribs, horizontal jet grouting and foot piles was a major factor in preventing the large load of a loosened zone from acting on the temporary support piles, thus making control of surface settlement possible. It was confirmed that the operations that were performed to develop this arch structure and the temporary support piles had been greatly effective in controlling surface settlement during the excavation of the lower half of the tunnel.

The idea of using temporary support piles within a tunnel was a completely new idea in tunnel construction. In the construction of a tunnel of large cross section by NATM in unconsolidated ground at an urban site, as represented by Oume Tunnel, it becomes necessary to make full use of what could be c a l l e d a f u s ion of diverse civil engineering techniques to strengthen, support and consolidate the geological environment of the construction. Even further development of such techniques and the development of techniques for the selection of rational construction methods are required for the future. Oume Tunnel will be completed and opened to traffic at the end of March 2002. REFERENCES Fujimura, M. et al., 2000. Construction of special large section NATM tunnel in urban area: Metropolitan Inter-City Highway (Ken o-do) Oume Tunnel Project. In Road Development for 21st Century Proc. 10th REAAA Conference, Tokyo, 4-9 September 2000: (Compact disk) Haruyama, K. et al., 2000. Control of settlement using horizontal-jet-grouting in tunnel with large cross section. In Proceedings of Tunnel Engineering, Vol. 10: 95-100. Japan Society of Civil Engineers: Tokyo. (In Japanese) Haruyama, K. et al., 2001. Construction of Oume Tunnel having large cross section with double-tier structure in unconsolidated ground. In Progress in Tunnelling after 2000 AITES-ITA 2001 World Tunnel Congress, Milano, June 10-13, 2001, Vol. 3: 185-192. Bologna: Patron Editore.