Beruflich Dokumente
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Tunnel
S.C. Teo, T.G. Ng, I. Yogarajah, K.X. Woon & H.P. Dang
Golder Associates (Singapore) Pte Ltd
ABSTRACT: A 1.3km long vehicular tunnel, Sentosa Gateway Tunnel, was proposed to connect outbound
traffic from Sentosa Island directly to major roads to cope with growing traffic in the area. Due to the presence
of existing buildings in close proximity and carriageways that could not be diverted, a trenchless construction
method known as pipe roof method is adopted for the construction of parts of the Sentosa Gateway Tunnel
instead of the conventional cut and cover method. This paper presents the design considerations made and the
challenges encountered during the construction of the two-lane piped box tunnel. Finite element analysis is
conducted prior to the construction of the vehicular tunnel. The settlement of the pipe roof measured during the
mined excavation is discussed and compared with the predicted settlements obtained from finite element anal-
ysis.
Figure 2. Layout plan of Sentosa Gateway Tunnel. North-East Line (NEL) tunnels and Circle Line
(CCL) overrun tunnel of the existing MRT, are lo-
cated about 2m underneath the center of the PBT
2.2 Pipe Roof Method while existing viaduct columns are present about 10m
A multitude of construction proposals were studied away, with the distance of the nearest pile to the edge
and reviewed to produce a feasible and efficient ex- of the PBT being 2.3m. Existing natural slopes higher
cavation design while maintaining the robustness of than 10m are located approximately 10m away to the
the system and keeping the resulting movements to a West of the tunnel location.
minimum. Diaphragm wall supported by multiple
layers of steel strutting or concrete slabs was pro- 3.2 General geology and subsurface condition
posed for a great part of the tunnel construction,
adopting a conventional cut-and-cover method. In general, the site consists of ~3m layer of sandy silt
Diaphragm wall could not be installed for two fill followed by residual soils with increasing SPT N
stretches of the tunnel, due to the presence of several value from N=12 to N>100. Then Jurong Formation
existing structures, namely the Mass Rapid Transit sandstone and siltstone of varying weathering grade
(MRT) tunnels underneath, 10m high natural slope to are encountered below the residual soil from 10m to
the West, buildings to the East and a network of roads 20m below ground level. Traces of estuarine clay (E),
and flyovers with high traffic volume that inhibits the fluvial clay (F2) and fluvial sand (F1) were recorded
possibility of traffic diversions. These two stretches, at locations South of the tunnel, near the Retrieval
one a single-lane underpass and the other, a two-lane Shaft. The total thickness of the Kallang Formation
underpass, were proposed to be constructed using ranges from 3m to 5m. The soil condition can be
trenchless construction approach instead. The pipe broadly categorized into stiff soil at the launching
roof method was selected as the most suitable trench- shaft end and relatively weaker soil at the retrieval
less construction approach due to the relatively short shaft end.
length required for tunneling and the shallow over-
burden pressure. The lengths of these tunnels are ap- 3.3 Construction Sequence
proximately 95m, the longest to be constructed in Sin-
gapore, to date. Pipe roofing requires launching and receiving shafts
The topic of discussion for this paper will be lim- for the operation of the micro tunnel boring machine
ited to wider of the two piped box tunnel, the two-lane (TBM) used to install the interlocking steel pipes
piped box tunnel. forming the rectangular tunnel box and as the access
for the subsequent excavation and casting processes.
The launching shaft (LS) is proposed at the northern The whole operation ideally minimizes the impact
end of the tunnel and pipe installation will commence to surrounding structures and the existing condition at
from this shaft. The retrieval shaft (RS) for the com- ground level. Each excavation cycle takes about six
pleted pipes is located at the southern end of the tun- days.
nel.
Once the rectangular box is formed, stepped-exca-
3.4 Instrumentation monitoring
vation is then carried out from both shafts. A
3(V):1(H) slope is formed for each excavation step, Real-time inclinometer was proposed to be installed
immediately protected by 100mm thick of shotcrete. in the roof pipe at the center of the tunnel to monitor
Steel frame set is then installed to support the piped and assess the settlement that will occur during the
box. Typically, excavation is carried out from a single construction works, for both the PBTs.
direction. In order to reduce the construction duration, During the one-lane PBT excavation, it was ob-
a two-directional excavation (excavation advancing served that, as the horizontal inclinometer exhibits a
from both the shafts) was adopted. cumulative settlement based on one fixed datum
It was observed from the excavation carried out point, it does not represent the actual behavior of a
earlier for the one-lane PBT that, apart from time- two-way excavation. Therefore, in the latter excava-
consuming, the removal of the steel frames also tion of the two-lane PBT, a series of prisms spaced at
caused additional movement to the stabilized system. 10m apart was installed in an adjacent pipe to monitor
Therefore, the steel frames are improvised to be em- the excavation movement. Figure 6 shows the layout
bedded in the concrete lining of the permanent struc- of the prisms along the pipe.
ture. Steel beam depth is reduced from the originally-
proposed 900mm series to 600mm series for encase-
ment inside the permanent structure. The spacing of
the steel frame is reduced correspondingly from 5m
apart to 3.5m apart.
Figures 4 and 5 shows the typical sequence and sec-
tion of the PBT excavation.
Figure 6. Prisms installed within the pipe to monitor excavation
movement.
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4.3 Comparison of measured and predicted pipe
SETTLEMENT (MM)
0
Excavation roof settlement
-20
The comparison of predicted against measured settle-
-40 ment at the completion of excavation stage is pre-
sented in Figure 10.
-60
EXCAVATION TIME
Prism #10 Prism #9 Prism #1 Prism #8 Prism #2 Prism #7 Prism #3 Prism #6 Prism #4 Prism #5
5 CONCLUSION
6 REFERENCES