nd

2 Eastern European Tunnelling Conference Athens, Greece

“Tunnelling in a Challenging Environment” 28 September - 01 October 2014
Making tunnelling business in difficult times Greek Tunnelling Society

Tunnelling in Greece: Past, Present, Future

C. Tsatsanifos1 and I. Michalis2

1
Managing Director, Pangaea Consulting Engineers Ltd, Athens, Greece
ctsatsanifos@pangaea.gr
2
Tunnels & Underground Structures Manager, Civil Works Department of Qatar Rail, Deutsche Bahn
International, Doha, Qatar
michalis@qr.com.qa

ABSTRACT: Tunnelling in Greece dates back at least to 2000 B.C. when many tunnels were excavated for the
exploitation of the minerals of Lavrion and Sifnos and Thassos Islands. Innovative methods of tunnelling were
applied for the construction of many other tunnels of the prehistoric, classical, hellinistic and roman era. Then,
after a gap of about seventeen hundred years, tunnelling was reinvented in Greece for railways and hydraulic
works. However, a remarkable development of tunnelling in Greece appeared during the last 20 years due to the
“cosmogony” of the construction of infrastructure projects. Indeed, since the early 1990’s a very large number of
motorway and railway projects (i.e. Egnatia and other motorway projects, Athens and Thessaloniki Metros, rail-
way lines, etc.), either were fully constructed or are in the stage of their completion. As a consequence, significant
design and construction experiences were gained. The future of tunnelling in Greece seems promising through
new financing models (i.e. concession agreements), since one of the obvious mid-term “antidote” to the economic
recession is the investment to the construction of new but necessary infrastructure projects.

Keywords: history of tunnelling, tunnelling, metros, micro-tunnelling, jet grouting, weak rock

1 Introduction
Despite the very significant developments in tunnel construction technologies in recent decades, no
one can ignore the remarkable achievements of the engineers in underground works since 3,000
years ago. Tunnels of hundreds and thousands years old stand up without a problem even today,
showing the skills and knowledge about tunnel construction technology that were developed in those
years. Sandstrom (1963) claims that tunnelling reflects the cultural development and, particularly, the
great technical and economic power of certain civilizations.
Tunnels had a significant contribution to the development of civilizations. Their importance was recog-
nized by prehistoric man, when, in his quest to expand his caves, where he lived, or to extend the un-
derground passages, that had formed from water, became aware that he needed to develop a kind of
technology.
The prehistoric civilizations understood very early the importance of tunnels to approach and to extract
minerals and natural materials. In the stone age mines of Grimes Graves of East Anglia in Britain
(from 15,000 BC to 10,000 BC), galleries were excavated in chalk using pickaxes from antlers. These
galleries, of length up to 10 m, were excavated from shafts of 10 m depth. It is obvious that the devel-
opment of mining had a direct relationship with the development of tunnelling technology. The con-
struction of more complex underground structures began around 4,000 to 3,000 BC, like the sloping
gallery in the Sinai copper mines (Bronze Age, around 3,000 BC) and in the gold mines in Egypt (the
same period). Then tunnels and underground structures in general have been used in numerous ap-
plications, from graves and water aqueducts to military purposes (it is believed that the fall the Jericho
walls during the battle, mentioned in the Bible, was the result of their undermining).

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2 Ancient Greek Tunnelling

Ancient Greek civilization has been thoroughly studied, focusing on mental and artistic achievements
like poetry, philosophy, science, politics, and sculpture. On the other hand, most of the technological
exploits are still relatively unknown. However, more recent research reveals that ancient Greeks es-
tablished critical foundations for many modern technological achievements, including tunnelling.
Tunnels appeared in ancient Greece for the first time as mining galleries. Lavrion, in Attica and Thas-
sos and Sifnos islands are riddled with such ancient underground galleries.
Close to the mining for supporting the development of tunnelling in ancient Greece were the under-
ground quarries: Quarrying stones from usually stratified rocks, often led to an underground exploita-
tion for acquiring better quality products.
An impressive example of underground quarry is the quarry-cave called "Labyrinth" near the ancient
town of Gortys on Crete (Figure 1), where, according to the myth, the Minotaur, the monster with bull
head and man’s body has lived until killed by Theseus from Athens. The quarry’s exploitation started
probably in the early Minoan period and its stones were used for the construction of the nearby cities
of Phaistos and Gortys.

Figure 1. The Gortys, Crete quarry-cave called "Labyrinth"

Another impressive example is the ancient Syracuse in Sicily, Magna Graecia. The needs for devel-
opment of the Greek and Hellenistic city required the excavation of five million cubic metres of lime-
stone. The three stone quarries of Syracuse are situated to the north of the city (Figure 2), on the

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mainland, at the foot of the limestone platform. Their current name, latomia, is a Greek loan word, de-
rived from lithos and temno, "cut stones". The first stone cutters appear to have been active in the
sixth century B.C., and work has continued for many centuries.

Figure 2. Syracuse quarry.

A third use of tunnels, less widespread, of course, was the burial of the dead. In Syracuse again, such
"Catacombs" appear from the 3rd century BC. The whole system of catacombs in Syracuse was exca-
vated through the aqueduct tunnel, which crosses the city from the southwest to the northeast. The
Milos Island catacombs (Figure 3), constructed around 200 A.D., have a total length of 190 m and a
section of the order of 5.00 m x 5.00 m.

Figure 3. Milos catacombs.

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Another great application of tunnels was in warfare, either for undermining the walls of the besieged
city or for escape.. Thucydides mentions (B ', 76) that the citizens of the besieged Plataies went
through the tunnel beneath the walls, cancelling the Spartans siege.
However, the most widespread use of tunnels in the ancient Greek world was water supply. Again in
Magna Graecia, the inhabitants of Akragas, the other huge Sicilian town, asked the engineer Phaeax
to construct a system of tunnels for collecting and transporting water (section 2 m x 1 m) to feed about
twenty fountains in the whole city. The total length of these tunnels beneath the ancient city surpasses
15 km (Tassios, 2004).
Before that, the so-called Peisistratean aqueduct was constructed in Athens: ten kilometres under-
ground aqueduct, bringing water from the springs of the Ilissos River and the foothills of Hymettus
mountain at a distance around 7.5 km, to the centre of the city near Acropolis and then distribution of
the water in the city, through another extensive interior (underground again) net. The aqueduct was
built in the time of the tyrant Peisistratos and his descendants (ca. 510 BC). The exact location and
route of the aqueduct in not well known to date. The greater part of it was carved as a tunnel at a
depth reaching 14 m. In other parts it was constructed as a channel, either carved in rock or made of
stone masonry, with depth 1.30-1.50 m and width 0.65 m. In the bottom of the tunnel or channel, a
pipe made of ceramic sections was placed (Angelakis and Koutsoyiannis, 2002).
At the same time, around 550 B.C., one of the greatest engineering achievements of ancient times the
Tunnel of Eupalinos or Eupalinian aqueduct (in Greek: Efpalinion orygma) was constructed in Samos
Island. It is a 1,036 m long tunnel with about 4 m2 cross section, built to serve as an aqueduct,
supplying fresh water from an inland spring to the ancient capital of Samos, which today is called
Pythagoreion. The excavation of the tunnel lasted for 10 years, while it remained in operation until the
5th century AD and then it was abandoned and forgotten.
The tunnel is crossing Mount Kastro, consisting of solid limestone, and was excavated from both ends
(amfistomon, “having two openings”, as Herodotus (History, Γ, 60) mentions). Today, it is very com-
mon that tunnels are constructed from two openings to reduce construction time; high-tech geodetic
means and techniques like global positioning systems and laser rays are used to ensure that the two
fronts will meet each other. The great achievement of Eupalinos is that it did this using the simple
means available at that time; apparently, however, he had good knowledge of geometry and geodesy
(Angelakis and Koutsoyiannis, 2002). The Eupalinos tunnel was also the longest tunnel of its time. A
visit to the tunnel today reveals its full magnificence. Except for some minor irregularities, the southern
half is remarkably straight. The craftsmanship is truly impressive, both for its precision and its high
quality.

Figure 4. a. Sketch of the Tunnel of Eupalinos (up: vertical section; down: horizontal plan). b. Photo with
the duct where the water pipes were laid to the left.

Around 500 B.C. the aqueduct at the Kharga Oasis in Egypt was constructed by Skylax, a Greek en-
gineer, after Darius I order.
It is worth to mention, also, the water collection system of tunnels for the great Peirinis fountain in Ac-
rocorith (Tassios, 2004).

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After a period of drought, around 125 AD, in Athens, the construction of the Adrian Aqueduct started
and concluded in 140 AD. It is a complex aqueduct, whose trunk consists of a 20 km long tunnel from
Mount Parnis foothill to the centre of Athens. The width of the tunnel ranges 0.8-0.9 m and the height
1.6-1.8 m and runs at about 25 m below the ground surface (Figure 5).

Figure 5. The Adrian Aqueduct.

Finally, the “qanat” system for collecting, transporting and depositing water was extensively developed
in ancient Athens. Shafts – water wells were joined, forming huge underground projects (Figure 6)
(Chiotis, 2011).

Figure 6. Qanat system in Athens (Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Athenische
Abteilung)

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Tunnels were also used for drainage. A great example of such use is the Akraifnio drainage tunnel,
about 2.2 km long, constructed by the Minyans in 1300 BC in order to drain the Kopais Lake and use
the land for agriculture (Figure 7). The tunnel had a height of 1.8, and a width of 1.5 m. Sixteen vertical
shafts were excavated along the axis of the tunnel and through those the tunnel was excavated (Tsat-
sanifos, 2007).

Figure 7. Longitudinal section of the Minyes Tunnel.

Finally, Strabo mentions (Geographica, C 246) the Posillypo road tunnel between Dikaiarchia / Puteo-
lis (Pozzuoli) and Neapolis (Napoli) again in Magna Graecia (Crypta Neapolitana – Grotta di Pozzuoli).
This tunnel, as well as the Grotta di Seiano (Grotta di Posillipo) and the Grotta di Cocceio (Grotta della
Pace), also in the Napoli area, were built by Cocceius Auctus, who was of Greek origin. Their width
varied between 4.0 m and 6.5 m and their height between 4.5 m and 8.0 m (Figure 8.)

Figure 8. Pozzuoli and Cocceio Tunnels.

Table 1 summarizes the main tunnels in the greater ancient Hellenic world.

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Table 1. Tunnels in the greater ancient Hellenic world

Period Type of Tunnel Length Reference
3,000 to
Mining tunnels Sandstrom (1963)
1,000 BC
2,000 BC Lavrion mines: about 2,000 shafts and numerous galleries Sandstrom (1963)
1,450 or Knauss et al.
Minyans tunnel for the drainage of Kopais Lake ∼2.2 km
1300 BC (1984)
Bobek (1962)
700 BC Water collection / transportation tunnels Goblot (1963)
Troll (1963)
Sauerwein (1988)
Angelakis and
528 BC Peisistratos aqueduct 7.5 km
Koutsoyiannis
(2002)
Sandstrom (1963)
520 BC Eupalinos tunnel for water transfer at Samos Island 1,036 m Pequignot (1963)
Kienast (1977)
500 BC Aqueduct at the Kharga Oasis in Egypt Troll (1963)
420-400 BC Aqueduct at Olynthos City, Chalkidiki Bakalakis (1967)
th
4 century
Aqueduct at Strymi City, Thrace Bakalakis (1967)
BC
300 BC Aqueduct at Perachora, Korinth area Lazos (1993)
rd
3 century
Aqueducts at Aegina and Skyros Islands and Kyrini Vavliakis (1997)
BC
3rd century
Syracuse catacombs Tassios (2004)
BC
0 Herod tunnel Biggart (1994)
Posillipo road tunnel, Napoli 711 m
Sandstrom (1963)
50 AD Seiano road tunnel, Napoli 780 m
Viggiani (2013)
Cocceio road tunnel, Napoli 970 m
140 AD Adrian aqueduct 20 km Chiotis (2011)
200 AD Milos Island catacombs 190 m Lazos (1993)

3 Recent Historical Background of Tunnelling in Greece

Modern tunnelling in Greece was used until the early 1980s mainly for hydraulic purposes and for the
railway. Very few road tunnels existed before that time. Since the early 1990s, numerous challenges in
designing and completing successfully the construction of a significant number of large scale infra-
structure projects have been faced in Greece. In these projects, tunnelling was a significant part,
mostly related to real challenging engineering problems. The solutions of these problems demanded
the combination of the detailed knowledge of the in-situ geological and geotechnical conditions, with
the implementation of innovative design ideas and construction techniques.
The major hydraulic tunnels were associated with the projects for the water supply of Athens. As has
been already mentioned, the inhabitants of Athens had to develop basic water collection and distribu-
tion systems for the water supply of the city. The Adrian Aqueduct continued to be the major means of
water supply for 17 centuries after its construction. At the time of Athens’ liberation from the Turkish
army in 1830, the city’s water supply problem was critical and demanded immediate attention. The
new city authorities commissioned a number of projects to rebuild and renovate existing local water
supply works, such as the Adrian Aqueduct system. It was cleaned of accumulated debris, repaired,
and put into operation again in 1840. However none of the above endeavours provided a real solution
to Athens’ water problem. The municipal taps, 55 in number, that existed in Athens contributed little to
no on daily water consumption needs and were totally inadequate. The men, who were carrying and
selling water in Athens from the neighbouring villages, such as Kifissia and Maroussi, were very popu-
lar and earned lots of money during that period.
In 1922, with the huge influx of refugees from Asia Minor, Athens underwent a sharp increase in popu-
lation that had a devastating effect on the city’s water supply. In 1925 a contract was signed between
the Greek Government, the Bank of Athens and the American firm ULEN for the financing and con-

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struction of the new water supply works. The first major project was the construction of the Marathon
Dam (1926-1929). Over 900 people were involved in the construction of the dam, with a total height
of 54 m and a length of 285 m, which is considered unique because it is entirely panelled externally
with Pentelikon white marble. The Boyati Tunnel (13.4 km long, 2.6 m wide and 2.1 m high) was con-
structed to transport water from the Marathon impounding reservoir to a new water treatment plant in
Athens. (Figure 9).

Figure 9. The water cycle in Athens in modern era (Skotsimara et al.).

Then, in 1956, the water from the Yliki Lake was added to the system and in 1981 the operation of the
Mornos dam and aqueduct officially began. The Mornos dam is one of the highest earth dams in
Europe with a height of 126 m. The Mornos aqueduct, which transports water from the Mornos reser-
voir to Athens, is the second longest aqueduct in Europe. It has a total length of 188 km, made up of
15 tunnels (71 km) of 3.2 m diameter, 12 siphons (7 km) and 15 canals (110 km). It was the first time
of a TBM use in Greece for the excavation of the Giona Tunnel (14.75 km). Finally, the last major pro-
ject, which has provided Athens with additional water in 2001, is the Evinos River diversion to the
Mornos Impounding Reservoir, consisting of the Evinos Dam and a diversion tunnel. Work began on
the Evinos project in 1992 and was completed in 2001. The major structures of the project are a 120
m high earthfill dam, with a dam volume of 12 million m3, a total barrage capacity of 120 million m3 and
the 29.4 km long Evinos - Mornos tunnel with a 4.2 m excavation diameter and an internal diameter of
3.50 m. The tunnel is one of the longest hydraulic tunnels in the world realised with the TBM method
(Figure 10). The adverse geological conditions, the high cover and the short construction schedule
were a great challenge for the successful construction of this tunnel (Grandori et al., 1995). The tunnel
was completed in just two years, which is considered to be a significant achievement given the project
scale.

Figure 10. Geological longitudinal section of Evinos - Mornos Tunnel (types of TBMs used).

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Another project with major hydraulic tunnels is that associated with the partial diversion of the Ach-
eloos River to the Thessaly plain for water supply, irrigation and power generation purposes (Figure
11). The project consists of the Sykia Dam (150 m) and the diversion tunnel, of 17.4 km length and 4.9
÷ 6 m internal diameter (6 m for 10.4 km and 4.9 m for 7 km), transporting water from the Sykia Dam
to the Pefkofyto Hydroelectric Station. To the diversion project have been also associated the Meso-
chora Dam (150 m) and the Mesochora – Glystra tunnel (7.5 km), as well as the Pyli Dam and the Pyli
– Mouzaki tunnel.

Figure 11. The major parts of the Acheloos River diversion project.

The Acheloos River diversion tunnel excavation was carried out by both sides (Drakotrypa and
Petroto), either with TBMs or with conventional means. An intermediate access was created from the
village of Prosperous. Tunnelling through limestone and chert advanced without any specific prob-
lems. Tunnelling through the flysch sequence slowed down the advancing rate (Sfeikos and Marinos,
2004).
The tunnel construction started in 1997, however, due to environmental reasons, its finalization has
been stopped many times and still there are about 12.5 km to be lined. The whole project is in a halt
based on a decision of the Greek High Court.
Finally, many hydraulic and road tunnels, associated with the construction of dams for power genera-
tion, were constructed by the Public Power Corporation of Greece since the mid 1950s.
A big boost in tunnelling construction in Greece was given in the last 25 years with the construction of
significant transportation infrastructure projects. These projects, which are either successfully com-
pleted or are at the stage of their completion, are:
• The Egnatia Motorway. It is a 670 km motorway, connecting the north western coastline of
Greece, at Igoumenitsa port, with the north-eastern borders with Turkey, at Alexandroupolis city
(Figure 12).
• The Attiki Odos. It is the northern peripheral motorway of the city of Athens, with a total length of
65 km, serving the scope of the main connection of Attika region with the international airport
Eleftherios Venizelos (Figure 13).
• The Athens Metro. The metro network is presently consisting of three main fully operating lines,
with a total length of 51 km. Significant network’s extensions are currently under design and con-
struction.

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• The Thessaloniki Metro. The project is under construction and is comprised of one line, having a
length of 9.6km, which connects the west and the east edges of the second largest city of
Greece.
• The Concession Highways. They are sections of already existing and new highways having 1,415
km of alignment’s total length, with 50% of their aforesaid length constructed and in full operation.
• The high speed railway axis. It consists of 500 km new alignment of the main south to north rail-
way axis Patras – Athens – Thessaloniki.

Figure 12. Egnatia Motorway axis.

Figure 13. Attiki Odos. Athens northern peripheral motorway.

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Table 2 summarises all the previously mentioned infrastructure projects, by presenting the total tun-
nels’ lengths, which correspond to each one of these projects. In conclusion, the total length of the
motorway and railway tunnels, which were constructed in the last 20 years in Greece, is 347.5km. This
indisputable engineering achievement classifies Greece as the fourth country (after Italy, Austria and
Germany), among all the countries of the European Union, on the basis of the existing motorway tun-
nels having length greater than 500m (European Commission, 2001).

Table 2. Tunnels of the recent major transportation infrastructure projects in Greece

Total Alignment Length Total Tunnels’
Name of Project
(km) Length (km)
Egnatia Motorway 670 100
Athens – Thessaloniki Motorway 515 35.4
Attiki Odos – Athens Peripheral Motorway 65 15.4
Elefsina – Korinth – Patras – Pyrgos – Tsakona Motorway 365 30.2
Korinth – Tripolis – Kalamata and Lefktro – Sparti Motorway 205 4.9
Antirrio – Ioannina Motorway 159 7
Lamia – Panagia Motorway 174 20
Athens METRO 38.4 38.4
Thessaloniki METRO 9.5 9.5
Railway Projects 500 95.7

4 Gained Tunnelling Experiences

The significant number of the recent tunnelling projects in Greece created the basis on which new
tunnel design methodologies were developed. These methodologies aimed to provide technically
sound solutions to numerous challenging engineering problems, which were related not only to the
better understanding of the adverse and complex geological and geotechnical conditions of Greece,
but also to the need of controlling sufficiently and economically the inherent geotechnical risk factor in
complicated underground projects.
Such design methodologies or tools are the Geological Strength Index (GSI) (Marinos and Hoek,
2000; Marinos et al., 2005) and the Tunnel Stability Factor (TSF) (Mihalis et al., 2001). The GSI is an
evolving rock mass rating system, aiming to the derivation of reliable rock mass strength and deform-
ability input parameters for the numerical analyses or closed form solutions of tunnelling problems.
The TSF is an engineering index for the qualitative and quantitative assessments of tunnel stability
problems, continuously being calibrated on the basis of reliable data from recorded tunnels’ behav-
iours.

5 Construction Challenges in Tunnelling

5.1 General
It is well recognised that the main reason for the successful tunnelling applications in Greece was the
good understanding of the existing relationship between the construction techniques chosen to be ap-
plied, which in most of the cases included advanced technological methodologies, and the encoun-
tered geotechnical conditions. More specifically, the gained experiences from a number of tunnelling
construction challenges in Greece are related to useful conclusions, which describe the successful
and economic application frameworks of innovative techniques, aiming to control the geotechnical risk
in adverse ground conditions.
In the following paragraphs two tunnelling cases from Athens Metro (Kavvadas et al., 1996; Mihalis et
al., 2004) and one tunnelling case from Egnatia Motorway (Koronakis & Kontothanassis, 2011) are
presented in more detail. All of them, among numerous others, are considered that they have provided
useful experiences of successful applications of innovative tunnelling construction technologies in real
challenging soft ground and weak rock conditions

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5.2 Microtunnelling Application for Athens Metro

A microtunneling application was attempted for the construction needs of the Monastiraki underground
station complex of Athens Metro.
Monastiraki is a very densely populated area at the historical centre of Athens, downhill of Acropolis
ancient monument.
The general dimensions of the station are: (a) length = 180 m, (b) underground cavern diameter =
16.20 m. The depth of the excavations from the ground surface was 18m approximately.
Except of the underground cavern, the complete station complex included a number of excavations
related to an access shaft, a cross – over and the stairway galleries.
The geotechnical conditions in the area of Monastiraki station were evaluated as very adverse, where
highly weathered graphitic and chloritic phyllites, alternating with meta-sedimentary shales dominate.
These geo - materials have usually a dark grey to green-grey color ("black Athenian schist") and are
characterized by very low shear strength and deformability parameters.
The criticality of the situation became very obvious immediately after the completion of the excava-
tions of the vertical access shaft, as the surface settlements exceeded 80mm, thus creating a great
deal of skepticism about the safe supporting methodology to be applied in the next construction steps.
The microtunnelling, aiming to the construction of 22 steel pipes of 1.2 m diameter, along the outer
periphery of the main cavern, was decided as the proper method, which could create the necessary
stiff crown support, prior to the continuation of the underground excavations (Figure 14a). The design
of the microtunnelling was made by using very sophisticated 3-D finite element software (Figure 14b).
The whole application was successful and the scope of controlling the ground movements, during the
excavations, to acceptable serviceability limits for the existing superstructures was finally achieved.

Figure 14. a. Microtunnelling application in Monastiraki, for the pre-support of the main station cavern.
b. 3-D finite element model for the numerical simulation of the microtunnelling in Monastiraki

5.3 Jet Grouting Application in Weak Rock Conditions for Athens Metro
Jet grouting techniques were extensively applied in one location of the Athens Metro project with poor
sub-ground conditions: the tunnel stretch along the alignment of Aghiou Konstantinou street in the his-
toric centre of Athens. This case has been extensively presented by Mihalis et al. (2004). At this par-
ticular site, TBM was operating with an extremely poor performance, resulting to an overall advance
rate less than 2.0m/day. This was due to the occurring large, occasionally uncontrolled, over-break
failures (Figure 15), which caused major delays, for freeing the machine and grouting the cavities.

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Figure 15. Significant over-break failure at Aghiou Konstantinou street. Athens Metro project.

The main reasons for the observed ravelling tendency of the ground strata (above the TBM cutter-
head), were attributed mainly to the insufficient cohesion, along the locally existing highly weathered
and intensely tectonised zones, in conjunction with the large muck openings of the TBM cutter head,
which could not control the muck-flow. According to the findings of the performed geotechnical investi-
gation, the existing ground conditions at Aghiou Konstantinou area are summarized as follows:
• The overburden layer, which varies between 2 and 6m in thickness, mainly consists of alluvial de-
posits and backfill materials of brownish sandy silty clay with fragments of limestone and siltstone.
• The first layer of the substratum, with thickness between 4 to 8m approximately, consists of
greenish - greyish fractured weak metasiltstone with medium to high degree of weathering.
• The second layer of the substratum consists of greyish - black highly weathered, very weak phyl-
lite and fractured very weak metasiltstone.
Figure 16 presents the results of Menard type pressuremeter tests, performed in the jet grouting area
for the purposes of the ground investigation. According to Figure 16 there is a clear tendency of the
Menard modulus EM (in MPa) to increase with depth. The average values of the Menard modulus in
the zone of influence above the tunnel crown is EM = 40MPa, while those at the tunnel’s excavation
limits are somewhat higher, with average value EM = 70MPa.

Figure 16. Athens Metro. Distributon of measured Menard moduli EM with depth

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Considering the fact that only minor alignment changes of the running tunnel could be implemented
and future TBM tunnelling operations had to proceed for a length of 180m approximately, in close
proximity and below buildings at very shallow depths (13m approximately), the implementation of cer-
tain ground improvement measures for the efficient control of the existing high risk of the over-break
failure incidents was of crucial importance for the safety of the existing superstructures. Under these
circumstances, the construction of a dense pattern (~ 1.10m x 2.0m) of jet grout columns, in producing
a 3.0m thick, relatively stiff arch of grouted soil (with grout to soil fraction 25% - 40%), above the top
heading of the tunnel (Figure 17), was considered as the most efficient solution for: (i) controlling the
risk of the over - break failures, (ii) minimizing the ground losses at the surface and (iii) accelerating
the TBM advance rates.

Figure 17. Athens Metro. Jet grouting application

The applicability of the various jet grouting techniques in the geotechnical conditions of the previously
mentioned tunnel stretch was decided upon the evaluation of results from extended full-scale trial test-
ing programs, including:
• Vertical and horizontal single jet grouting tests
• Vertical and horizontal double (water-cut) jet grouting tests with and without water pre-cutting,
• Vertical triple jet grouting tests with water pre-cutting.
The evaluation of the performed trial test results was made by correlating the applied specific jet grout-
ing energy values Es with the achieved grouted columns diameter D. It is explained that for a unit
length of a column, the specific jet grouting energy Es (MJ/m) depends mainly on the: (i) grout pres-
sure P (MPa), (ii) grout flow rate Q (m3/hr), and (iii) withdrawal speed Vt (m/hr) and is mathematically
expressed by the equation (1):

E s = PQ
Vt (1)

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The derived relationship between the achieved grouted columns diameter, D (cm) and the specific jet
grouting energy, Es (MJ/m) is remarkably fitted with the curve of Figure 18. This curve is mathemati-
cally expressed by equation (2) (Mihalis et al., 2004):
E s = 0.0101 × D 2.02
(2)

Figure 18. Athens Metro. Specific Jet grouting energy Es versus grouted column diameter D

According to Figure 18, the successful execution of the various jet grouting techniques can be related
to the different ranges of the applied specific jet grouting energy, but always it is related to the encoun-
tered geotechnical conditions. More specifically, for the aforesaid weak rock conditions of the jet grout-
ing application area of the Athens Metro project, the following conclusions can be safely drawn:
• Single jet grouting can be executed with specific energy levels between 17 MJ/m – 30 MJ/m.
Grouted columns with diameter of 40cm approximately can be successfully achieved.
• The successful application of double jet grouting needs specific energy levels ranging between 40
MJ/m to 80 MJ/m. Especially, if the specific jet grouting energy of double jet grouting system (wa-
ter-cut) without water pre-cutting is at 40 MJ/m – 45 MJ/m, grouted columns with diameter of 60
cm can be successfully produced.
• Triple jet grouting can be executed with energy not in exceed of 130 MJ/m approximately. In this
type of jet grouting application, grouted columns with diameter of 100 cm are expected to be fi-
nally achieved.
The finally adopted jet grouting system for the needs of ground pre-treatment program along the
Aghiou Konstantinou TBM tunnel section was the one of the double water-cut system without water
pre-cutting. It is noted, that this technique was proved that can produce faster and more economically
grouted columns of satisfactory dimensions (approximate diameter D = 0.6 m).
After the completion of the ground pre-treatment program, TBM restarted its operations and achieved
an average advance rate of approximately 12 m/day, with a maximum of 28 m in a single day. The
effect of ground treatment on controlling the occurrence of over-breaks was obvious, since large scale
failure incidents were eliminated.
A clear overall picture of the distribution of the maximum surface settlements and the relative ground
losses along the aforesaid jet grouting zone is given in Figure 19 (Mihalis & Kavvadas, 1999). The
maximum observed settlement did not exceed 43mm and the corresponding relative ground loss was
equal to 1% approximately. The appreciable increase of the settlements and the corresponding
amounts of relative ground loss, towards the end of the jet grouting pre-treated area, is attributed
mainly to the decrease of the grout-to-soil replacement ratio from 40% to 25%.

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C. Tsatsanifos & I. Mihalis

Figure 19. Surface settlement and ground loss distributions along jet grouting zone.

Figure 20 presents the evaluated shapes of the normalized surface settlement troughs obtained from
measurement points offset with respect to the axis of Aghiou Konstantinou tunnel, in the areas where
the grout – to – soil replacement ratio was 40% and 25% respectively. The decrease of the distance i
from 8.0m (in the area with replacement ratio 40%) to 6.5m (in the area with replacement ratio of 25%)
could be directly related to the emerged reductions of relative ground losses (as these are shown in
Figure 15) since the depth of TBM operations was unaltered. In addition, the application of the follow-
ing approximate linear expression (3) between the best fit values i and the depth of the tunnel axis H
for both pre-treated areas:
i = kH (3)
estimates k values equal to 0.37 (for soil replacement ratio 25%) and 0.45 (for soil replacement ratio
40%).

Figure 20. a. Normalized surface settlement trough in jet grouting. b. Normalized surface settlement
trough in jet grouting area with ground improvement ration 25%.

5.4 Tunnelling Construction through a Landslide Zone – Tunnel S3 of Egnatia Mo-

torway
Tunnel S3 is located at the central section of Egnatia Motorway (Figure 21), west of Thessaloniki,
close to Veroia city.

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C. Tsatsanifos & I. Mihalis

Figure 21. Location of tunnel S3 along Egnatia motorway axis.

The major characteristics of tunnel S3 are summarized as follows:

• It is a relatively shallow twin bored hill slope tunnel. The hill slope has a mild inclination of 20 de-
grees parallel to the tunnel axis (Figure 22).
• The tunnel total length is 230m.
• The tunnel excavated width is 12m.
• The axial average distance between the two tunnel bores is 30m.
• The maximum overburden height is 30m approximately.

Figure 22. A view of the tunnel S3 entrance portal.

The encountered geological and geotechnical conditions can be summarised as follows:

• Highly tectonised alterations of thin-bedded to mid-bedded limestones and argillaceous phyllites
are the dominating geotechnical units along the tunnel axis.
• Highly weathered phyllites are the main type of geomaterial at the tunnel entrance portal area.
Locally they are converted to soil-like material. Small to medium size fragments of strong rock are
present. The overall mass has been extensively relaxed with open structural discontinuities in
places.
• In the tunnel exit portal, the existing phyllites are of better quality, but still with open structure.
However, the layered structure of the phyllites materials is mostly retained.
• No groundwater was found at the underground excavation level.
Overall, it is very difficult to adopt a strictly confirmed geotechnical model, in terms of detecting the
specific generative causes for the situation of the geological formations in the tunnel’s area. It must be
emphasized that the geologic surface formation in the vicinity of the tunnel are in limit post – equilib-

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C. Tsatsanifos & I. Mihalis

rium situation, characterised also by a significant slope relaxation process in the geologic history and
meta – stability marginal conditions
The critical stability conditions were recognised immediately after the initiation of the underground ex-
cavations, as: (a) significant damage of the tunnel’s temporary invert (Figure 23a) and (b) extended
tensional cracking on the ground surface upstream of the hill (Figure 23b), were evolved even during
the stoppage of all the construction activities. It became obvious, from the evaluation of the results of
the installed instrumentation, that an instability mechanism was triggered with the characteristics of a
cross slope downhill circular failure.

Figure 23. a. Significant cracking of temporary invert. b. Extended tensional cracking of the ground
surface upstream on the hill.

Figure 24 presents the recorded ground surface displacements along the tunnel’s complete length,
immediately over the two tunnel bores. The major conclusion, which can be derived from Figure 24, is
that the directional hill movement, towards its toe, was characterised by large total displacements, at
the range between 200 mm to 600 mm. The instability phenomenon was developed with less degree
of severity in the tunnel exit, something which has to be attributed to the better quality of the phyllites
formation in this area.

Figure 24. Recorded ground surface movements over the two bores of S3 tunnel.

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C. Tsatsanifos & I. Mihalis

The need for the long-term stability of the already activated sliding mechanism, without considering
any beneficial effect from the tunnel’s final lining, was considered as the only solution for the restart of
the underground works and the completion of the tunnel’s construction. The applied stabilisation solu-
tion (Figure 25) was comprised of:
• The construction of 30 m long concrete retaining pile wall of 1.0 m in diameter, anchored every
2.0 m (in the longitudinal direction) in the sound bed rock. This pile wall aimed to function as an
upstream “barrier” of the occurred ground movements at the top of the failure mechanism.
• The stabilisation cement grouting from inside of the tunnel bores. This practice aimed to the im-
provement of strength and deformability characteristics of the surrounding destabilised ground
masses.
The simultaneous construction of permanent 30 m long pre-stressed anchorages, with pre-stressed
forces of 600 kN, from the right bottom peripheral sides of the two bores. These anchorages and more
specifically their forces were considered necessary for providing the beneficial stabilising moments,
against the occurred instability mechanism.

Figure 25. Applied stabilisation solution for tunnel S3.

The available measurements, covering a period of almost 6 years after the completion of tunnel S3,
provide enough confidence that the applied solution has achieved its scope of stabilising the occurred
failure mechanism.

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