Design of underground structures

Engineering from planning through construction to use

Andy Alder
Halcrow Group Ltd
MEng MSc CEng FICE MAPM

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Continuous Cycle of Infrastructure Development

Planning

Use Design

Construction
Planning

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Interaction between Project Participants:
Planning Stage

Project Definition

Construction Design

Geotechnical Information

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Planning Stage

For project success the following construction issues must be

addressed at the planning stage:
Construction methodology
Arrangements for spoil disposal
Working areas
Availability of skilled and capable resources

Why are they important?

Development of a realistic programme
Preparation of an appropriate cost estimate, including assessment of
risk, pre-requisite to securing project funding
Full assessment of environmental impacts during construction
Application for powers that balance conditions for project success
against societal and environmental protection

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Relationship between Design and Construction

Design Construction

Construction Methods, Worksites,

PLANNING FEASIBILITY Environmental Impacts,
Programme, Cost Estimate.

Constructability of Scheme Design,

SCHEME DESIGN SCHEME DESIGN Value Engineering, Approvals,
Programme, Cost Estimate.

Constructability of Design and

DETAILED DESIGN DETAILED DESIGN Detailing, Value Engineering,
outline Temporary Works.

Temporary works review, review of

ground conditions, design changes, CONSTRUCTION
CONSTRUCTION response to Instrumentation and TEMPORARY WORKS DESIGN
Monitoring etc

USE LEARNING AND FEED-FORWARD TO NEXT PROJECT

Design

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Characteristics of Design

Essential characteristics of the design process:

Creative: requiring imagination and analysis, often alternating between
them.
Holistic and integrative: addressing and bringing together all relevant
disciplines and considerations.
Interactive: direct communication between team members is essential.
Iterative: optimal solutions develop in iterative stages. In early stages
uncertainty exists about both the problem and solution: the problem is
solved by testing solutions, which in turn helps to broaden understanding
of the problem.
Cross-disciplinary: involving specialists from numerous disciplines, with
complex transfers of information and knowledge.
Systematic: proceeding in principle and detail to a well-conceived plan,
integrating contributions at the right time.
Ethically grounded.
Muir Wood and Duffy, 1996

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Iterative Nature of Design

Project Objectives

Assess Scheme Design

Assembly of Data
Options against Objectives

Develop Scheme Design

Options

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Components of the Design Process
VALUE
MANAGEMENT /
ENGINEERING
COST PLANNING STAKEHOLDERS
AND CONTROL AND
APPROVALS

INTERFACES REQUIREMENTS

ASSURANCE ENVIRONMENT /
OPERATION
AND QUALITY SUSTAINABILITY

DESIGN
RISK BUILDABILITY
MANAGEMENT AND PLANNING

HEALTH AND
SAFETY

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Characteristics of Design

Applicable to all complex major projects:

Both above-ground .

. and underground.

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Systems Engineering V-Lifecycle

USER REQUIREMENTS SYSTEM VALIDATION

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS SYSTEM VERIFICATION

SYSTEM DESIGN SYSTEM INTEGRATION

SUB-SYSTEM DESIGN SUB-SYSTEM VERIFICATION

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Interactions in Design Process

Number of Participants 3 4 5 6

Number of Interactions 3 6 10 15

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Typical Participants in Railway Tunnel Design

Permanent Way Engineer Operations

Tunnel Engineer
Civil / Structural Engineer
Geotechnical Engineer
Construction Planner
Planning Engineer
Noise and Vibration Specialist
Heritage Specialist
Asset Protection Engineer
Ventilation Engineer
Power System Engineer
Signalling Engineer
Communications Engineer
Architect
M&E Engineer
Cost Consultant

Theoretical Number of Interactions = 136

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Characteristics of Design
Essential pre-requisites for successful design:
Clearly stated objectives including functional requirements, resources and
timing
Performance criteria modified and refined as design proceeds
Planning for operation undertaken interactively with execution of the
project
Recognition that appreciation of risk is a necessary preliminary to the
control of risk
Professionals engaged in unified design team
Excellence in engineering leadership to:
Effectively blend the contributions from all of the team
Steer the design through the design process
Ensure that the engineering design solution is appropriate, balancing
function against efficiency across all disciplines

Sir Alan Muir Wood, Tunnelling Management by Design, 2000

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Documentation of Design Basis
Essential that state of knowledge at a particular time is clearly stated as the
basis of the design:
Assists review of the design as it develops
Allows optimisation of design if subsequent information changes knowledge
Provides evidence in the event of failure and litigation
Facilitates continuity where changes are made in project participants:
Avoids duplication of previous work
Highlights areas of concerns that are yet to be resolved
Use of Issues and Assumptions Logs:
Issues Log: to record current design issues and their close-out
Assumptions Log: to record assumptions that were made, their close-out or
current status

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Construction

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Interaction between Project Participants:
Detailed Design / Construction

Project Definition

Construction Method Design

Geotechnical Information

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Relationship between Design and Construction

Design Construction

Construction Methods, Worksites,

PLANNING FEASIBILITY Environmental Impacts,
Programme, Cost Estimate.

Constructability of Scheme Design,

SCHEME DESIGN SCHEME DESIGN Value Engineering, Approvals,
Programme, Cost Estimate.

Constructability of Design and

DETAILED DESIGN DETAILED DESIGN Detailing, Value Engineering,
outline Temporary Works.

Temporary works review, review of

ground conditions, design changes, CONSTRUCTION
CONSTRUCTION response to Instrumentation and TEMPORARY WORKS DESIGN
Monitoring etc

USE LEARNING AND FEED-FORWARD TO NEXT PROJECT

 Engineering through Construction
Quality Assurance and Quality Control

Inspection for Assess impact on

Inspection for quality
compliance performance

Ground and Groundwater Conditions

Observation for the Assess need for design

Observation for record
unexpected changes

Instrumentation and Monitoring

Capturing of monitoring Comparison with Determine required

results trigger values corrective action

Increasing requirements for design understanding

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Transition from Design to Construction

Design-Stage Construction Planning

Why and how is information included in Tender Documents?
Geotechnical Information
Provision of Factual Geotechnical Information
Provision and Status of Interpretative Geotechnical Reports
Use of Geotechnical Baseline
Permanent Works Performance
Design Basis and Assumptions: drawings and specifications to include
constraints and requirements that must be adhered to
Further survey and investigation requirements
Temporary Works performance requirements
Instrumentation and Monitoring Requirements
Designers Critical Issues Log: to record aspects of the design which
the Designer wishes to raise to the Contractor
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Sprayed Concrete Lining (SCL) Tunnelling
Design and construction [of NATM tunnels] are particularly
interdependent since the formed may depend upon quite specific
features of the latter for success.
Sir Alan Muir Wood, Will the newcomer stand up?, Tunnels and Tunnelling, 1994

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Running Tunnel Opening Set

Temporary works requirements:

Structural capacity of tunnel lining when segments are removed
Overall stability of main tunnel during cross-passage excavation

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Management of Risk

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Overall Strategy for Risk

Identification of potential risks

Investigation of nature and magnitude of potential risks
Development of design to avoid hazard or eliminate risk
Assessment of residual risk
Allocation of responsibility for accepted residual risk
Development of control measures to mitigate residual risk
Application of risk control measures
Assurance that control measures are implemented
Learn from experience:
Immediate feedback on performance of control measures
Long-term feedback

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A plan whatever it may be must be made for the bad ground, it must
be calculated to meet all exigencies, all disasters and to overcome
them after they have occurred
Remark by M I Brunel on the occasion of proposals for improvement after the flooding of the Thames Tunnel 1831

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Continuous Nature of Risk Management

Identify Risk

Develop and implement Eliminate / reduce risk

risk control measures and assess residual risk

Assign responsibility for

residual risk

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Risk Allocation

Appropriate and equitable risk allocation is pre-condition of co-operative

project success.
General principle. Risk assigned to the party best able to manage and
control it:
Technical capability
Availability of resources
Consequences of poor risk allocation:
High Tender Prices since the Contractor is pricing risk that he may not be able
to realistically assess or effectively control.
If risk is underestimated then opportunities to recover costs from the Client
need to be pursued.
The Client assumes that risk is carried by the Contractor, and so likelihood of
concerted efforts to assess and mitigate risk tend to reduce.
Relationship breakdown leading to adversarial approach.

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Vicious Cycle of Poor Risk Allocation

Inappropriate risk Less effective risk

allocation management

Relationship breakdown Higher probability of risk

materialising

Commercial disagreements
over costs

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Risk related to unforeseen Ground Conditions

Ground Reference Conditions or Geotechnical Baseline Conditions

prepared either by the Client or by a tenderer shall form part of the
Contract and shall provide the basis for comparison with ground
conditions encountered in relation to those assumed and allowed for
at the tender stage by the Contractor.
Joint Code of Practice for Risk Management of Tunnel Works in the UK, 2003

It is proposed that the Engineer, who will have had much greater
opportunity to direct the site investigation carried out and weigh the
results in relation to his design and the aims of the project, should
define, within limits and where appropriate, the ground deemed to
be foreseeable and so provide reference conditions for the ground.
These would then be accepted . as the range of conditions which .
would be used to judge if the physical conditions and artificial
obstructions encountered could not reasonably have been foreseen
by an experienced contractor.
CIRIA Report 79 Tunnelling Improved Contract Practices, 1978

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NEC Engineering and Construction Contract
Provisions of the Contract promote good project management, if used
carefully and appropriately:
Parties to work in a spirit of mutual trust and cooperation
Importance placed on the programme
Risk Register and Early Warning mechanism
Submissions to be made to the Project Manager / Supervisor for acceptance
Separation of the role of the Engineer:
Project Manager: Manage the Contract and meet the Clients objectives
Supervisor: Check that works are undertaken in accordance with the Contract
Adjudicator
Continuity of Engineering:
Designer can be available to the Project Manager for advice
Designer can be the Supervisor
Designer can form part of the Supervisor's team

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Operational Requirements

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Railway Tunnel Operational Requirements
Normal Operations
Demand volumes and patterns, including provision for future growth
Rolling stock type, headways and speeds, electrification and control systems
Environmental restrictions (e.g. control of noise and vibration)
Degraded and Emergency
Standards and regulations
Emergency access and egress
Fire protection
Emergency equipment provision: communication, fire-fighting, ventilation
Inspection and Maintenance
Access for inspections
Durability and detailing to reduce maintenance requirements
Provisions required to undertake maintenance activities

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Successful Relationships

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The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
7. Sharpen the saw

Interdependence
5. Seek first to 6. Synergise
understand
PUBLIC
VICTORY
4. Think
Win/Win

Independence

3. Put first
things first

PRIVATE
1. Be VICTORY 2. Begin with
proactive the end in mind

Dependence

Stephen R Covey,
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, 1989

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The 7 Habits of Successful Projects
Be Proactive.
Begin with the End in Mind. Activities should be undertaken with a
clear understanding of how they contribute to the overall successful
delivery of the project.
Put First Things First. Projects can be hectic focus on whats really
important.
Think Win / Win. Look to organise projects so that all participants
enjoy success.
Seek First to Understand . and then to be Understood.
Synergise. Projects are successfully developed through the
collaboration many disciplines and organisations. Successfully
integrating these is critical to project success.
Sharpen the Saw. Develop people the greatest asset. Enable
organisational learning from completed projects.
Partnering

Common
objectives

PARTNERING

Continuous Decision
improvement making

Bennett and Jayes, Trusting the Team, 1995

The Seven Pillars of Partnering

MEMBERSHIP

EQUITY

STRATEGY INTEGRATION FEEDBACK

PROJECT PROCESSES

BENCHMARKS

Bennett and Jayes, The Seven Pillars of Partnering, 1998

Seven Pillars of Partnering
Strategy. Overall strategy for the relationship.
Membership. Selection of firms to provide required skills and
capability.
Equity. Every organisation treated fairly: both on projects and in
development work / tendering.
Integration. Effectiveness requires agreed objectives and integrated
systems. Develop culture that fosters cooperative behaviour leading
to trust. Requires trust and empowerment throughout the
organisation.
Project processes. Main-stream projects that deliver efficiency by
applying best practice processes, procedures and standards. Task
Forces to undertake development and drive innovation.
Benchmarks. Measurement of performance. Setting challenging
targets and driving continuous improvement.
Feedback. Systematic learning and feedback to apply to future
projects.
Lean Thinking

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Toyota Production System: Lean Production
14 Principles of the Toyota Way:
1. Base management decisions on long-term philosophy
2. Create continuous process flow to bring problems to the surface
3. Use pull systems to avoid overproduction
4. Level out the workload
5. Build a culture of stopping to fix problems, to get quality right first time
6. Standardised tasks are the foundation for continuous improvement
7. Use visual control so no problems are hidden
8. Use only reliable, tested technology that serves your people and processes
9. Grow leaders who thoroughly understand the work
10. Develop exceptional people and teams
11. Respect your partners and suppliers by challenging them and helping them improve
12. Go and see for yourself to thoroughly understand the situation
13. Make decisions slowly by consensus, thoroughly considering options; implement decisions rapidly
14. Become a learning organisation through relentless reflection and continuous improvement
Jeffrey Liker, The Toyota Way, 2004

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Application of Lean Thinking to Major Projects
Continuous Process Flow to Bring Problems to the Surface
Checking of design calculations: errors are better identified early, before many
drawings are affected.
Defects in segment design or manufacture that only become apparent when
erected. Consider need for trials?
Periods of hiatus in projects increases the need for rework; for example due to
changing standards or requirements.
Pull not Push
Construction Planning prior to procurement of Contractor: understand why it is
being done and how it is incorporated into the Tender.
Advanced numerical analysis (Finite Element Analysis): consider carefully when
numerical modelling is appropriate.
Supply Chain
Establish procurement process to bring construction involvement into design.
Collaboration with key suppliers.

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Conclusion

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Critical Success Factors for Underground Projects

Clear, fixed (as far as possible in a changing world) project

performance criteria
Competent and capable resources with outstanding leadership
Adequate geological investigation and understanding that is made
available to the whole project team
Assurance of the feasibility of the scheme design
Adequate powers for construction, and transparent reliable
processes for obtaining detailed approvals
Suitable commercial and contractual arrangements, reinforced by
professional relationships and appropriate risk allocation
A realistic programme and sufficient funding
Continuity of Engineering throughout the Project Lifecycle

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