Case Study of Concreting for Tunnel Lining in J&K

Hydroelectric and Railway Projects

INTRODUCTION

The Case study involves technical and the practical executional aspects in the construction of the longest
Railway Tunnel in India, with special emphasis on the concrete lining works which is done to achieve the
finished structure of the tunnel. The tunnel under discussion is the T-80 tunnel, which is an integral part of
the Kashmir Railway Project which intends to connect the district of Udhampur to the farther north district of
Baramulla in Jammu & Kashmir. One of the most rigorous challenges in the project was to run the railway
through the steep mountain ranges of the Pirpanjal Pass. The said challenges were met through the
construction of the Pirpanjal Tunnel connecting the towns of Banihal & Quazigund through the Pirpanjal
pass. The tunnel construction contract was divided into three phases.
i) Construction of Adit & Shaft
ii) Construction of soft tunnel from Ch. 162.975 to 163.560 in the north
iii) Construction of the Pirpanjal Tunnel from Ch. 152.600 to 162.975 along with complete concrete lining
works from Ch. 152.600 to 163.560
Apart from the phase (ii) works the complete tunnel under construction is bestowed to Hindustan
Construction Company Limited. The contract work included excavation work with full support system for
10.350 Km & permanent concrete lining works of 10.960 works.

Keywords: concrete, FRP, seismic design

LOCATION:

The project is located in the rugged terrains of Pirpanjal Pass in the state of Jammu & Kashmir, India. The
nearest towns are Banihal in the south side and Quazigund in the north side.

PROJECT PATTERN:

The total length of the T- 80 tunnel is of 10.96 Kms and is a part of the series of tunnels in the Laole-
Quazigund section of the Udhampur- Srinagar-Baramulla railway alignment. The construction of the tunnel
was planned to be executed from three faces as under ( Please refer Figure 1 below ).
(i) Drive from the south portal towards North ( 2750m)
(ii) Drive through Adit towards North (3380m)
(iii) Drive from North Portal towards South (4830m)

Drive from North Portal

towards South
South North
Portal Portal
Drive from the Drive through Adit
south portal towards North Shaft
towards North
 .
Fig. 1 Project layout of the T -80 tunnel

STRUCTURE DETAILS:

.
Fig. 2 Finished profile of the T-80 tunnel

The Fig. 2. illustrates the dimension of the T-80 tunnel. The finished profile is of 7.393m height and 8.405m
width with the upper crown radius of 4140m. The tunnel structure was divided into three parts (a ) Overt, (b)
Kicker & (c ) Invert. The parts are distinctly recognizable and hatched separately through the figure 2 given
below. The upper curvature of the tunnel is the overt, the side corners are the kicker and the bottom flat is
the invert.

CONSTRUCTION METHODOLOGY:

New Austrian tunneling method was adopted for the construction of T-80 tunnel. The construction
methodology thus adopted could be divided broadly into six parts.
i) Excavation of Heading along with the support installations
ii) Excavation of Benching & Invert along with the support installations
ill) RCC concrete Invert casting
iv ) RCC concrete Kicker casting
v) Installation of waterproofing membrane and geotextile

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vi) RCC concrete Overt casting

Excavation of Heading & Benching:

The excavation work executed in the Pirpanjal tunnel employed three modes of excavation methodology as
per geological requirement
a) Excavation by excavator
b) Roadheader Excavation
c) Drill & Blast method of excavation

(a) Excavation by excavator :

In soft soil the excavator is used for excavation. For the excavation purpose SAMBO STE 280 tunnel
excavator was deployed. Mucking was carried out with the help of side tilting wheel loader and 20 T Wagnor
dumpers.

(b) Roadheader Excavation:

In soft rock the excavation is been carried out by Roadheader which uses the transverse cutter head for
excavation. The muck herein is accumulated in the apron in the equipment from where the same is loaded to
the dumpers via the conveyor installed therein.

(c ) Drill <§ Blast method of excavation:

In hard rock strata both of the above mentioned cutter excavation techniques were not at all effective. The
drill & blast method is adopted there for excavation. The blast holes were drilled in the face as per the drill
pattern with a 2-boom hydraulic jumbo ( L2C). The explosives are loaded in the drilled holes and the blast
was taken for breaking the face rock . The mucking work is done as before with the help of side tilting wheel
loader and the 20T wagnors.

Support Installations:
After every round of excavation, complete support system as per specific rock class requirement is installed.
The primary support measures in line with the NATM concept consisted of the following as detailed
hereunder.
a) Face sealing shotcrete
b) Wiremesh
c) Primary inner lining shotcrete
d) Lattice girder
e) Rock bolts
f) Forepoles

( a) Face Sealing Shotcrete:

The face sealing shotcrete of 50-100mm is installed after every round of excavation to protect fall of any
loose material from face.

( b) Wiremesh:
The wiremesh of 150 x 150 x 6 is installed along with the shotcrete to provide tensile strength in the support
system. It also imparts flexibility in the supports that is very much required as per the NATM concept

(c) Primary Inner lining shotcrete:

The primary inner lining shotcrete is the primary support measures that is been implemented in the
excavation profile. The thickness of shotcrete lining varies from 150mm to 450mm depending on the
rockclass requirement. The shotcreting work is been carried out with a Cifa wet shotcrete machine with
roboarm.

(d) Lattice Girder

The lattice girder is a steel support manufactured with tor steel reinforcements of 25mm, 16mm & 10mm dia.
It is a support element which enables the lateral triaxial loads to uniformly distribute across the cross- section.

(e) Rock bolts

Assessing the rock conditions the rock bolts are installed both radially and in the faces with subsequent
grouting to strengthen the strata. Various types of rock bolts like self drilling type, soil nail type, swellex bolt
type & fibre glass type are used as per suitability of the strata.

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(f) Forepoles
Before advancing for the next round forepoles are used as per site requirement. There are 3 types of
forepoles like forepoling with sd bolts, forepoling with 40mm pipes & forepoles with rebars are been
implemented in the T-80 tunnel considering the site requirements.

RCC concrete Invert casting

The concrete lining works of the tunnel section is taken up separately in parallel to the other activities. The
lining work designed for the tunnel work is of RCC M30 concrete casted separately in three distinct parts.
The invert structure is casted at first, followed by the kicker and the overt. These parts are casted in blocks of
12.5m separately, leaving construction joints behind which are all been blocked by water stoppers. The
invert concreting works can be divided into 4 distinct sub activities as below.
a) Invert cleaning
b) Invert Bridge shifting
c) Reinforcement and shuttering installation
d) Concrete casting

(a) Invert Cleaning:

Before starting the reinforcement works & the preparatory works for the invert concreting activity, the block,
for which the invert concreting is to be done is cleaned making it clear of any loose material in the zone. The
muck filled to enable the traffic movement for the face work is excavated and removed from the invert curve,
firstly through excavator and finally by manual cleaning. Final touch in the cleaning work is done by air/water
jetting the surface to make it devoid of any loose materials.

(b) Inver Bridge Shifting:

Invert forms the lower most part of the structure and working on the invert leaves no space for the traffic and
equipment movement required for carrying out the face activities. To enable the works of invert concreting
and the face activities to continue in parallel invert bridge is been used. The photograph (Photo 1) as under
shows the invert bridge shifted for an invert block casting.

The invert bridge is of 25m length. One end of the bridge rests on the casted invert block and the other end
of the bridge is placed on the cleaned invert surface. The bridge provides space underneath for
reinforcement binding and concrete casting work . It also enables vehicular movement over the invert block
under construction. The photo as Photo 2 shows the movement of traffic going with the invert Bridge.

(c) Reinforcement & Shuttering Inst * lation:

The concrete casted in the invert is a RCC concrete of M 30 grade. The reinforcement used in the invert is of
Fe 500 grade 10mm dia. The mesh is prepared and bound under the bridge manually over the longitudinal
and the transverse water stoppers which fills up each concrete block joints. The invert focused and
magnified from Fig. 2 and is given as Fig 3.

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 -
Photo 1: Invert Bridge positioned in the north end of the T 80 tunnel

Photo 2 : Equipments engaged in the face activities running over the Invert Bridge

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Fig. 3. Inver Concreting section

Shuttering plates are placed longitudinally as per the above section on both sides of the invert. Shuttering is
also placed on the walls of the drain channel to make space for the drain in the left side. The drain runs
longitudinally and is meant to channelize construction water over the invert through gravity.

(d) Concrete Casting:

The invert concrete in the invert is casted through concrete pump. Transit mixers are used to convey
concrete from the batching plant to the invert under construction, from where the concrete is casted in layers
in the invert over the renforcements. Compaction and vibration of the concrete is done by needle vibrators
manually. The conveying pipe is added or removed as per the requirement. The drain thus left behind is later
been closed from the top by precast concrete slabs (780 x 600 x 150mm) separately casted in the casting
yard.

RCC concrete Kicker casting

The Kicker casting work is similar as the invert casting work and is taken up in subsequence to the invert
casting. As the kickers are placed in then side corners on both the side of the tunnel, the same do not affect
any traffic movement. And the other works could be executed smoothly in parallel. The kicker casting activity
can again be divided into 3 distinct acivities as below:
a) Kicker cleaning
b) Reinforcement Binding & shuttering
c) Concrete Casting

(a) Kicker Cleaning:

The kicker area is cleaned of the muck leftovers manually which is henceforth treated with air/water jet
cleaning to make the space suitable for concrete casting. The photograph as Photo 3 shows the kicker
cleaning in progress in the South end of the tunnel.

(b) Reinforcement Binding & shuttering

The reinforcement for the kicker blocks are bent in the steel yard located outside, which are subsequently
taken up after kicker cleaning for reinforcing the structure as per the drawings. Reinforcement bars of 10mm
dia are being used for the purpose.
The shuttering plates used for the concrete casting in the kicker are specially fabricated to achieve the
dimensions as in the drawing. The are placed with due precision as per the alignment scale of the tunnel.

(c ) Concrete Casting
The concrete casting work is carried out as before with a concrete pump transported from the batching plant
vide the transit mixers. The grade of concrete used for the purpose is of M30.

The Fig. 4 as under focused on the kicker extracted from the Fig. 2 may be referred for better understanding.

6
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Photo 3: Kicker Cleaning

Photo 4: Kicker Shuttering installed

Installation of waterproofing membrane and geotextile

This is a very specialized work wherein the installation of geotextile and the waterproofing membrane is
carried out simultaneously across the block. The waterproofing membrane and the geotextiles are installed
in the walls of the tunnel inorder to enable the ground water to get channelized through the water proofing
membrane to the perforated PVC pipes. The perforated PVC pipes placed in the corner of the kicker,
embedded in the no fine porous concrete drains out the water collected through the diversion of the
waterproofing membrane to the main drainage gutters. The installation of waterproofing membrane can also
be divided into 5 sub activities. The same is detailed as under.
a) Installation of 200mm PVC perforated pipe and embed it in no fines concrete
b) Application of smoothening shotcrete to form the surface for membrane installation
c) Installation of geotextile and waterproofing membrane

(a) Installation of 200mm PVC perforated pipe and embed it in no fines concrete

The PVC pipe is laid at the corner of the kicker and the overt and runs longitudinally to the tunnel length.
After every 50 m the pipe is connected with the manholes through Y connections. The PVC pipe is
embedded in porous concrete layer of no fines concrete to protect it from external pressure. The pipe is
designed to collect the water from the back of the waterproofing membrane through the perforations and
drain out the same to the manholes.

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(b) Application of smoothening shotcrete to form the surface for membrane installation

A layer of smoothening shotcrete of 20 mm thickness is laid over the previously installed primary inner
shotcrete lining. The same is intended to cover all the protruding rock bolts and any shotcrete undulations
present in the primary inner lining layer to make it suitable for the installation of the geotextile and the water
proofing membrane.
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(c) Installation ofgeotextiie and waterproofing membrane

The installation work of the geotextile and the water proofing membrane is carried out simultaneously. For
the purpose towards application gantry jumbo is used to facilitate the handling of the material. The material
laid round the section is fixed by the roundels and the pins which are fixed to hold the geotextile with the
shotcrete. The water proofing membrane is welded with the roundels. The application work is carried out
from the crown to the bottom to maintain a uniform placement. The spacing of Roundel nails is
approximately 1.5 mtr c /c vertically and horizontally to ensure no sagging of geotextile sheet. An overlap of
100mm between adjacent sheets was left to allow double seam welding. The membrane is hot air welded
first with the roundels then with the adjacent sheets. Fig. 6. illustrates the welding methodology executed
toward the membranes. Photo 5 shows the gantry jumbo in place to start with the welding operation.

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 Heat welding of membranes by hot air welding machine
Automatic welding, i.e. with Leister Twinny welding machine (110/220V

overlap <80mm

seam width >30mm

continuous welding rooe must be v sible
(visual test with screw driver)
welding-temperature and -speed

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adjusted to climate conditions on
site

* welding lesl wtlh specimen almost required

Fig. 6. Welding of waterproofing membrane

Photo 5: Gantry Jumbo in place for the installation of the geotextile and waterproofing membrane

Checking of the welded seams is an important part of the process. The welded seams are first visually inspected for any
kind of damage. In case of any damage the same is immediately remedied by welding a piece of the same material over
the damaged area. Welding check carried out for the waterproofing membrane is of two types as below:
i) Mechanical Test
ii) Pneumatic Test

i) Mechanical test (Weld made by manual hot air gun)

This is carried out by passing the rounded tip of a seam probe along with welding seam, exerting an adequate pressure
to identify any weak or insufficiently adhered spots.

ii) Pneumatic test { Weld made by automatic equipement)

This is to check the double seam welding. A needle connected with pressure gauge is to be inserted into the groove
between the two welding seam. Pressurised air is to be introduced by means of foot pump. Pressure gauge is to be
observed for 10 minutes.

Leakages if any in the welding shall be identified and patched at the location of the leakages and shall be tested again
with pressure. Photo 6 shows the tunnel with the installed geotextile and waterproofing membrane.

9
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Photo 6: The tunnel periphery with applied geotextile and waterproofing membrane

Reinforcement Binding & shuttering

Reinforcement bars dia 10mm & 16mm are used for preparing the mesh for the RCC overt structure. A
separate gantry jumbo is used to manually placing, binding and aligning the steel mesh in the overt. The
mesh of 10mm and 16mm steels are further reinforced by pantex lattice Girders placed at equal interval of
1m c /c. Thereafter, the Cifa gantry shutter is shifted from the previous block to the block to be casted. The
gantry shutters are specifically manufactured to fulfill the requirement and consists of collapsible shutters.
The shutters are required to be re-aligned as per the alignment required after placing it into newly reinforced
block. The gantry is a hydraulic formwork and is operable from a single control unit. It rests on rails which are
required to be shifted with progress. The gantry is also equipped with windows at various positions for easy
concrete conveyance.

Photo 7: Lining Gantry , Reinforcement Gantry & Membrane Gantry lined up in the south side of the tunnel

Concrete Casting

M30 grade concrete is batched in the 30cum batching plant as per the mixed design and is transported via
the transit mixer to the concrete pump. The concrete pump is used to transport the concrete from the miller
to the gantry pipe network for casting of the inner lining. The gantry formwork comes with form vibrators that
are operated from the central control of the gantry.

INNOVATION

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The T-80 tunnel project is the only tunneling project where as may as 11 different activities as detailed
hereunder run in parallel to each other.
a) Face excavation in Heading with support installation
b) Benching/Invert excavation with support installation
c) Invert concreting works
d) Kicker cleaning and reinforcement works
e) Kicker casting
f) Watreproofing membrane and geotextile installation
g) Overt reinforcement works
h) Overt concreting works

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*