Tunnel
Tunnel
Tunnel
TUNNEL
• A tunnel is a horizontal way located underground. While erosion and
different forces of nature can form tunnels.
• They might be utilized to move cargo and voyagers, water, and disinfection,
individually and mainly used for transport purpose
• Tunnels enable rapid yet unhindered transport in large congested areas.
• Tunnels shield the system (rail line track, thruway, sewage line, oil line, respectively) under which it is
built from changing weather conditions including snow, haze, etc. Thus, tunnels limit device operating
costs.
• Tunnels forestall issues with surface life including traffic all through construction
• Tunnels safeguard the device from damage by bombs during the war.
• Sooner or later, tunnels have demonstrated less expensive to cross the mountain or river than open cut or
bridges
• A Metro Tunnel is an underground passage or tube designed for the purpose of
accommodating a rapid transit system, often called a metro or subway.
• These tunnels are a critical component of urban transportation infrastructure and provide
several benefits, including reducing traffic congestion, improving public transportation, and
enhancing the overall mobility of a city.
Purpose:
• Metro tunnels are built to facilitate the movement of trains, subways, or other forms of mass
transit beneath the surface of a city. They are a solution to the challenges of densely
populated urban areas where above-ground transportation options may be limited or
impractical.
Construction:
• Building a metro tunnel involves a complex engineering process.
• The tunnel is typically dug through the earth or rock beneath the
city using tunnel boring machines (TBM) or conventional drilling
and blasting methods.
• The choice of construction method depends on the geological conditions,
available technology, and environmental considerations.
Stations:
• Metro tunnels are connected to underground stations, which serve as points of entry and exit
for passengers. These stations are equipped with platforms, ticket counters, security measures,
and other amenities to facilitate efficient passenger flow.
• Metro tunnels are equipped with sophisticated signaling and control systems to manage the
safe and efficient operation of trains within the tunnel.
• These systems monitor train movements, maintain safe distances between trains, and facilitate
communication between train operators and control centers.
Electrification:
• A brick-lined pedestrian passage some 3,000 feet (900 metres) long was built about 2180 to
2160 BCE under the Euphrates River to connect the royal palace with the temple.
• Ventilation methods were primitive, often limited to waving a canvas at the mouth of the shaft, and
most tunnels claimed the lives of hundreds or even thousands of the slaves used as workers.
• The second most important raw material used in tunnel construction is steel.
Portland cement
• It provides ductility in tension and compression as well as high resistance against the spalling of
concrete.
• Micro silica or micro fine cement is being used in pre-grouting to effectively control water seepage.
• Earlier, rib and lagging were used as the principal tunnel liners to strengthen the material on the
external part of the tunnels.
• Today, primary or safety shotcreting is done, which requires no lagging. This is followed by rock bolting.
Rock Bolting
• Recently, tunnel contractors have started using a metakolin mineral admixture for high strength concrete and
grouting.
• Self-compacting concrete has also emerged as a cost-effective option for casting heavily reinforced elements and
complex geometrical shapes.
• Besides, retarder chemical is being used to increase the setting time of cement slurries.
• Geotextile membranes are also being used to make tunnels waterproof. Rib and lagging
Pre-grouting
Next, a drilling jumbo drills enough holes in the bedrock with varying lengths. The length of a so-called break is
0.5–6 metres.
Blasting and ventilation
Small amounts of explosive material placed inside the holes are blasted in a carefully planned order. The
duration of the blasts is 6–20 seconds depending on the number of holes blasted at a time. The tunnel is
ventilated after the blasts.
Loading and transport
A special vehicle removes any loose rocks from the walls so that the tunnel can be accessed again safely to
perform pre-grouting for the next drilling.
SHOTCRETE
• shotcrete, also called concrete applied by spraying.
• Shotcrete is a mixture of aggregate and portland cement, conveyed by
compressed air to the nozzle of a spray gun, where water is added.
• These large, plastic-covered structures modify the environmental conditions of the covered area.
• Temperature management is commonly the focus when growing in high tunnels as this may be the key factor limiting
• The consideration of compressed air emitted during drilling purpose is contaminated with oil and dust. So this
should not be taken as a source of air to play the role of ventilation.
• After each explosion, the face is completely covered with air that is full of fumes and dust, which is unfit for
breathing.
• Before he starts to remove the debris of the explosion, the foul air surrounding him must be removed out by
any source of exhaustion and get him fresh air.
• There exist 30 minutes between the explosion and mucking process, within which the ventilation system
installed should clear the tunnel contaminated with poisonous gas and dust and refill with fresh air.
• There are mainly three factors, based on which the form and capacity of the ventilation system are dependent:
2.The amount of explosives used for blasting and their respective frequencies
3.The condition and rate of temperature and humidity inside the tunnel.
TYPES OF VENTILATION
• Longitudinal Ventilation Airflow Systems in Tunnels
• The "roof" of the tunnel, or the top half of the tube, is the crown.
• Because tunnels must withstand tremendous pressure from all sides, the arch is an ideal shape.
Loads on tunnel
• Tunnel engineers, like bridge engineers, must be concerned with an area of physics known as statics.
• Statics describes how the following forces interact to produce equilibrium on structures such as tunnels and
bridges.
•Shearing, which causes parts of a material to slide past one another in opposite directions