Blasting in Twin Tunnels with Small Spacing and Its Vibration Control

C.S. Wu 1, J.X. Li 2, X. Chen 1, Z.P. Xu 1

1 2

Changsha Communications University, Changsha, Hunan, P.R. China Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, P.R. China

ABSTRACT The paper introduces the practice of blasting operation in closely spaced twin tunnels and its safety control on blast vibration in Shenzhen, China. The twin tunnels, separated by 13.5 meters, run eastward in parallel. The excavation of the south tunnel started after the north tunnel had been completed for eight years and opened to traffic onwards. To determine the influence of the construction of the south tunnel on the traffic safety of the north one, 2D numerical simulation of the blast vibration field in north tunnel was conducted by ADINA software and finite element program in advance and during the excavation. The field measurement and numerical analysis prove that stability of the north tunnel can be maintained if the Peak Particle Velocity (PPV) is limited within 8 cm/s. In the initial excavating stage a series of trial blasts and vibration monitoring throughout the whole excavation were carried out to obtain the data and timely feedback to modify the blast design accordingly. The results of monitoring indicated that the PPV at the concrete lining close to the blasting site were successfully kept below 6 cm/s by taking a series of effective measures. In this way both the traffic safety of the existed tunnel and the on schedule completion of construction of the south tunnel are ensured.

1. INTRODUCTION There are some parallel twin tunnels with spacing less than the recommended value of the handbook of design specifications to meet the need of urban development recently in China. These twin tunnels are so closely spaced that the blast vibration in one tunnel may cause damage to the other. Therefore close attention must be paid to the operation safety in tunneling by drill and blast method, especially the twin tunnels are excavated in different stages. This paper presents an excavation project of urban highway twin tunnels completed in Shenzhen city, China. The project was divided into two stages. In the former stage, the north tunnel of the twins was constructed eight years earlier and opened to traffic onwards. In the latter stage, the south tunnel,

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exhaust duct ceiling

4 5.3m 5 6 11.66m 3 2 1 11.28m 25.5m

survey point

north tunnel

south tunnel

Figure 1. Relative position of twin tunnels which ran parallel to the north one and was 2437.5 m long, would be constructed with a cross section of 11.28m (width) by 8.34m (height). The two parallel tunnels were driven in weathered lava with a 25.5m distance between centers. The thickness of rock wall was about 13.5m. There was a 14cm thick reinforced concrete ceiling 5.3m above the road surface (see Fig.1). An exhaust duct had been installed in the segment above the ceiling. Before the construction of the south tunnel, field investigations had already found cracks on the concrete lining and the ceiling of the north tunnel. So the blast vibration in tunneling had to be strictly controlled to keep the existing tunnel open to traffic and to ensure its safety in operation.

2. CALCULATIONS OF STABILITY The outcropped bedrock in the south tunnel is volcanic rock, consisting chiefly of lava with embedded thin seams of tuff. The lava is feebly weathered in the form of trough or belt. The most surrounding rocks are hard and competent except the weathered part and are classified as category V or IV according to the Chinese rock classification for railway tunnels. While the rocks at the entry, which are severely weathered and have fully developed cracks, are labeled category III. An excavation damage assessment had been carried out using 8-node finite element analysis in the rock zone of category III (Zhao Shanglin, 1999). The calculation results showed that the deformation of rock wall was still of elasticity and the support parameters adopted earlier could meet the stability demands under the static loading condition except some tensile stress appeared in the toe and waist of the concrete arch at the initial stage. Further theoretic analysis of dynamic stress state by equilibrium equation had reached the following conclusion: the main stress in the concrete lining was less than 0.2MPa even as PPV reached 5.5cm/s, therefore the concrete lining tested was structurally safe. The numerical simulation in two dimensions of the blast vibration field in north tunnel was conducted with ADINA software. In general, the cut holes would produce higher ground vibration than other holes in tunneling blast, therefore the cut-hole explosion loading was used as the dynamic source in the simulation, which had a simplified triangular pressure history. The elastic modulus of the surround rock in simulation was 25 GPa, the specific density was 2650kg/m3 and Poissons ratio, 0.25. The distribution

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of the Peak Particle Velocity (PPV) at the perimeter of the north tunnel demonstrated that the maximum value occurred at the wall of concrete lining near the blasting source, the minimum value occurred at the opposite wall. The radial quantity of PPV was larger than the tangential one (Wu Congshi and Liu Houxiang, 2001). The results of simulation proved that the blast vibration would not affect the stability of the north tunnel as long as PPV value is controlled within the limit of 8cm/s. But it was difficult to estimate the behavior of concrete lining and the ceiling in the northern tunnel owing to the close-by blasting. In the initial 50m of the excavating tunnel, a series of trial blasts were carried out. At the moment of blasts, vibration monitoring in the existing tunnel was taken, by positioning a few geophones and accelerometers at the surface of concrete lining and ceiling (see Fig. 1). The sensors would be placed side by side along the advancing face of the driving tunnel. The microscopic observation at the concrete lining and ceiling was conducted before and after the blasting to determine whether new cracks formed due to the blast vibration. The results of monitoring indicated that the PPV at the concrete lining near the blasting site varied from 1.82cm/s to 7.61cm/s (radial quantity) and from 1.05 to 4.26cm/s (tangential quantity). The maximum value of PPV occurred at the survey point 4 of the concrete ceiling (see Fig. 1), and the second biggest value was at the survey point 3 of concrete lining. The minimum value was at the survey point 6. The acceleration had a similar pattern to that of PPV. The value of PPV and acceleration at the arch top was also measured due to the installation of the reinforced concrete ceiling, but it didnt exceed the value of the concrete ceiling. No new ceiling cracks were found at the concrete lining and the ceiling after the blasting. All of these survey results were in agreement of the numerical simulation. No problems were experienced in north tunnel while the south tunnel was being blasted.

3. BLASTING OPERATION IN TUNNELING The south tunnel was excavated by full-face driving in rocks of category V and by split section driving in severely weathered lava of category III. In the latter case, the cross-section was split into a top heading and a horizontal bench in unstable area. The heading was driven 2.5-3.0m ahead of the bottom bench. In actual excavation, the heading was drilled and blasted alone or together with the bottom bench. A single wedge cut was utilized in the first case owing to the fact that there was only one free face available. The bottom bench was excavated by the downward sequential blasting (row by row) for there were two available free faces. The footage per round was about 2.0m. Steel cages were used in the tunnel excavation in the region of category III rocks. Special sills (about 1.0m in height) were left in the toe of the sidewall to support the steel cages. The layout of the blast holes in the top-heading and horizontal bench is shown in Fig.2. Either the parallel-holes cut or a compound wedge cut was employed in the full-face driving. The compound wedge cut holes were arranged in the lower central part of the tunnels section, two rows of

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II
70
12

5 3

3 5

I
80

10

11

10

850

II
210

80

80

80

10

20

20
200 200

II - II
200

250

200

61.3 50 70 70 70 70 70 30 130 130 30 70 70 70 70 70 50

Unit: cm

I-I

Figure 2. The layout of the blast holes in split section driving cut holes and one row of slotting holes on each side, symmetrical to the vertical median of the tunnel. The maximum hole-depth was 2.8m for the cut holes and 2.7m for the slotting holes. The footage of the round was about 2.5m. The high-precision millisecond-delayed detonators that had 50ms time interval between successive detonations were used. In the early days of excavation, the common delayed detonators were adopted and the time interval had a variation of 15ms to 150ms. The maximum charge per delay was 6.5 kg for the cut holes and 9.0 kg for other holes. Parallel cut holes were arranged in the southern part of the tunnels cross-section with a view to reducing the vibration effect to the servicing tunnel. The layout of the blast holes in full-face driving is shown in Fig.3.

23 25 24 22

21

19

20

cut holes
6 5 12 13 14 15

5 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 6

7 16 17 18

11.28m

Figure 3. The layout of the blast holes in full-face driving

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70 70 70

90

90

14

13

15

4. VIBRATION MONITORING AND THE LIMIT OF BLAST VIBRATION Vibration monitoring throughout the whole excavation was carried out by blasting seismograph to obtain the data and timely feedback to modify the blast design accordingly. After a certain number of trial blasts, it had been ascertained that no new cracks formed and the old cracks did not expand, and thus a vibration velocity limit of 6cm/s was drawn up for the concrete lining of the existing tunnel. The limit seemed to be conservative, but the risk of the lining damage always existed during excavation. In drawing up the limit, the following factors had to be considered: The north tunnel had worked for eight years and the concrete lining and ceiling were corroded by exhaust gases from motor vehicles and by underground water to some extent. There were some micro-cracks in the concrete lining, and underground water had drained through the lining cracks. During the blast operation, the traffic in the existing tunnel could not be stopped. The insufficient number of delay ranges of the available detonators would increase the chance of raising charge mass per delay and thus raising the vibration level.

5. THE MEASURES TAKEN TO REDUCE THE GROUND VIBRATION With a view to reducing the harmful effect of vibration in excavation, a series of trial blasts were carried out to obtain the ground vibration data. By analyzing these recorded data, the following measures had been taken in the excavating practice and proven to be successful: 5.1 Appropriate cut type In tunneling, wedge cut and parallel cut were employed. Single wedge cut were used in excavation of the bottom bench in weaker zones. A row of slant holes (61 degrees to the end face) was lined on each side of the tunnel median(shown in Fig.4 (a)). The maximum charge per delay was 6.0kg for the cut holes. The PPV in the concrete lining of the northern tunnel was recorded within 4cm/s in blasting.
20 20
255

10

30

4 3 2 1 8

relief holes 5 central hole 6 holes in cut 7

280
74. 5

200

210

250

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61.3 70 30 130 130 30 70

.4 63 55.5

60 50 40 40

110

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315

110

40 40 50 60 (c) Paralle-hole cut

(a) single wedge cut (Unit: cm)

(b) compound wedge cut (Unit: cm)

Figure 4. Types of cut holes

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So-called compound wedge cut was utilized in full-face driving in competent rocks. As shown in Fig.4 (b), 2-3 rows of slant holes were arranged on each side of the tunnel median. This kind of cut proven to be effective with a hole-efficiency of 90% or above. The PPV recorded in the concrete lining of the northern tunnel was less than 6cm/s in blasting. The improved delay allocation for parallel cut was shown in Fig.4 (c). Two to four relief holes were drilled in the cut, which could reduce the tightness of the cut. When the radial expanding strain wave reached a relief hole, wave reflection promoted fragmentation of the rock between the charge and relief hole, causing decrease in ground vibration.

5.2 Optimized delay interval The recordings of vibration indicated that there were no obvious differences of vibration intensity between the wedge cut and the cylinder cut. But the delay times in cut holes caused considerable change in vibration intensity. The vibration recordings showed that, in great majority of the blasts, the values of vibration in cut holes were much higher than those of other holes. In cut, the earlier firing blasts had insufficient free faces and therefore produced high vibration for a given amount of liberated energy. In trial blasts, using common detonators with a 15-25ms time interval fired the cut blast holes. The vibration velocity often exceeded the 6cm/s because of the superposition effect. Furthermore the blasting efficiency was not so good that the average footage for each round was 2m or less. Afterwards high-precision detonators were adopted, which had 50ms time interval between successive delay numbers with a small scatter. 157 holes (divided in 30-35 intervals) were drilled in full-face driving. The maximum charge per delay was kept within a range of 4-6.4kg and the PPV was kept below the limit. 5.3 Appropriate initiation sequence There were three forms of initiation sequence for the cut holes (see Table 1). The form A was that central hole initiated first, after 50ms, the holes 1-4 and the 5-8 were fired with the No. 2 and the No. 3 millisecond-period delay, respectively, with 50ms delay interval between the two delay numbers. The form B was that, after initiating the central hole, the holes 1-8 were initiated with the same delay number. The time interval between the central hole and the holes 1-8 was 50ms. The form C was that the all holes in cut were fired simultaneously with the No. 1 delay number detonator. Table 1. Three forms of initiation sequence for the cut holes Number of delay Holes per Amount of charge per PPV Initiation Sequence form detonator delay delay (kg) (cm/s) Form Central hole No.1 1 3.2 1.58 A Other hole in cut No.2 and No.3 4 12.8 1.97 Form Central hole No.1 1 2.6 2.29 B Other hole in cut No.2 8 19.2 3.03 Form C No.1 9 21.6 4.15 The distance between the geophone and the central hole was 19m. The results indicated that the

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vibration induced by form A was lower than that by form B and C. In form A the first initiated central hole would have the beneficial effect of reducing the degree of choking of the faces to which later firing holes shot. But in form C, the blast holes on the same delay would compete for a void volume sufficient for only one of the hole and prevent progressive relief of burden and, therefore, would produce high ground vibrations. 5.4 Control of the maximum charge per delay The original design for the full-face driving was: footage per round, 3.1m, hole-depth, 3.4m, unit consumption of explosives, 1.23kg/m3, total explosives volume, 299kg, number of intervals, 30, and maximum charge per delay, 16.8kg. However the monitoring results indicated that PPV in the concrete lining exceeded 6cm/s occasionally. Hence the design was modified as follows: driving footage, 2.2m/round, hole-depth, 2.5m, unit consumption of explosives, 1.08kg/m3, total explosives volume, 186kg, number of intervals, 35, and maximum charge per delay, 9kg. Assisted by the so-called compound wedge cut, the PPV in the concrete lining was successfully kept within 6cm/s.

6. CONCLUSIONS Tunneling practices indicated that cut type, hole-depth, initiation sequence and delay time played a great role in control of the blasting vibration. The compound wedge cut was effective with a hole-efficiency of 90% or above and the PPV recorded in the concrete lining of the northern tunnel was less than 6cm/s in blasting. In the parallel cut holes, the initiation sequence and delay time needed to be allocated to ensure a successful pull of face round and a low peak ground vibration level. Parallel cut holes should be fired in delayed intervals to reduce the vibration and to improve the blast efficiency. The time interval between the successive detonations should be about 50ms or greater to avoid the superposition effect. It was also an effective way to cut down the vibration level by decreasing the driving footage and the maximum charge per delay. The key to the success of driving the south tunnel was the vibration monitoring which tracked the advancing face in the parallel tunnel. The monitoring data helped to timely modify the blast design, especially the amount of charge per delay. The limit of 6cm/s for the concrete lining was reasonable as no visible crack-expansion or abnormal water seepage had been found in the concrete wall and the ceiling of the north tunnel after a full years blasting operation in the south one. Except the values of trial blasts, the PPV was kept under a value of 6cm/s and no damage occurred at the surface of concrete lining during the excavation, which proved the measures of reducing blasting vibration was effective

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT It is a project supported by Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China and by the Key Science Foundation of Hunan Provincial Education Department. The authors would like to thank Prof. Gao Xiaochu, Dr. Yang Shengquan and Mr. Xi Qingtao for their cooperation in experiment and monitoring work.

REFERENCES Berta.G. 1990, Explosives: An engineering Tool, Italesplosivi Milano. Dowding. C.H. 1985, Blast Monitoring and Control, Englewood Cliffs, N.J: prentice-Hall. Wu Congshi, Liu Houxiang, 2001, Blast Vibration Monitoring and Control of Twin Tunnels with Small Spacing, Proceedings of the International Symposium on Modern Tunneling Science and Technology, Kyoto, Japan, A.A.Blakema Publishers, p303-306. Wu Congshi and Wu Qisu, 1990, A Preliminary Approach to Simulating Blast Vibration. In: proceedings 3rd International Rock Fragmentation by Blasting, Brisbane, Australia, p163-166. Zhao Shanglin, 1999, Determination of twin tunnels spacing in Wutongshan, Shijie Suidao, Vol.3, pp39-40 (in Chinese).

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