4th Stage Geotechnical Engineering Department Tunnelling Engineering 2017-2018

Sheet No.1
Example No. 1: Design the cross section (mouth profile) for the tunnel shown in Fig.1 . Use r1, r2 and
r3 as 5, 4 and 6 m, respectively.

Fig.1

Example No. 2: Design the cross section (mouth profile) for a tunnel. Use r1 = 4 m.
4th Stage Geotechnical Engineering Department Tunnelling Engineering 2017-2018

Example No.3: Consider a case of a piston (train) entering with velocity of 200 km/hr into a tube
(tunnel). Neglect the gap between the piston and the tube. Find the propagation speed (c) with the
known values for atmospheric pressure and density 0 = 1, 293 g/cm3 and po = 105 N/m2. Use k =
2.13.
4th Stage Geotechnical Engineering Department Tunnelling Engineering 2017-2018

Example No.4: Consider a ducting with a diameter of 0.5 m and length of 20 m. Use air density 0 =
0.98 kg/cm3,  = 0.0018 and v = 36 km/hr. Determine the difference in pressure in the duct.
4th Stage Geotechnical Engineering Department Tunnelling Engineering 2017-2018

Example No.5: Determine the average air velocity in a tunnel if the height of the tunnel is 5 m and
the horizontal distance between point A and point B is 50 m (see Fig below). Use the propagation
velocity of sound 343 m/sec.

Example No.6: Determine length of the entrance section for a tunnel if the design speed of a train is
200 km/hr. Use slope equal to zero.
4th Stage Geotechnical Engineering Department Tunnelling Engineering 2017-2018

Example No 7: For the rock sample shown in Fig. below, determine rock recovery ratio and rock
quality designation (RQD)? Classify the rock according to its RQD.
4th Stage Geotechnical Engineering Department Tunnelling Engineering 2017-2018

Example No.8: A rock stratum was cored for a length of 1 m (length of core advance). Total length of
the recovered core was 0.75m. Total length of the recovered pieces which are 100 mm or larger was
0.6m. Determine:

1. The rock recovery ratio and the rock quality.

2. RQD and the rock quality.

Example No. 9:

A 15 m span crusher chamber for an underground mine is to be excavated in a Norite at a depth of

2,100 m below surface. The rock mass contains two sets of joints controlling stability. These joints are
undulating, rough and unweathered with very minor surface staining. RQD values range from 85% to
95% and laboratory tests on core samples of intact rock give an average uniaxial compressive strength
of 170 MPa and use major principal stress = 85 MPa. The principal stress directions are
approximately vertical and horizontal and the magnitude of the horizontal principal stress is
approximately 1.5 times that of the vertical principal stress. The rock mass is locally damp but there is
no evidence of flowing water.
4th Stage Geotechnical Engineering Department Tunnelling Engineering 2017-2018

Example 10: Consider a water tunnel of 9 m span in a phyllite rock mass. The following is known:

Joint set 1: smooth, planar Jr = 1.0,

Ja = 4.0,

15 joints per meter

Joint set 2: smooth, undulating Jr = 2

slightly altered walls Ja = 2

5 joints per meter

Use Jw = 1, unconfined compressive strength of the rock  c = 40 MPa, major principal stress  1 = 3,
MPa and  3 = 1 MPa. Determine:

1. Q value
2. Equivalent dimension De
3. Support category of the tunnel, space and length of the bolts (if it is required).

Solution:

1. RQD = 115- 3.3 

  15  5  20

RQD = 115- 3.3 × 20 = 49 %

According to the RQD, quality of the rock is ………….

RQD J r J w
Q . .
J n J a SRF

1 3
  3 and
3 1

 c 40
  13.33
1 3
4th Stage Geotechnical Engineering Department Tunnelling Engineering 2017-2018

c
Use Table 4.6.6 in Page 57, and according to  13.33 which is in between 200 and 10, so stress is
1
classified as medium and SRF = 1.0.

49 1 1
Q . . = 3.06
4 4 1

Span 9
2. Equivalent dimension De    5.6 , for water tunnel ESR = 1.6.
ESR 1.6
3. From Figure 4.3, a value of De of 5.6 and a value of Q of 3.06 places this in category
(4) which requires a pattern of rock bolts (spaced at 2.1 m) and 40 to 50 mm of
unreinforced shotcrete.

Løset (1992) suggests that, for rocks with 4 < Q < 30, blasting damage will result in the
creation of new ‘joints’ with a consequent local reduction in the value of Q for the rock
surrounding the excavation. He suggests that this can be accounted for by reducing the
RQD value for the blast damaged zone.
Assuming that the RQD value for the destressed rock around the crusher chamber
drops to 50 %, the resulting value of Q = 1.53. From Figure 4.3, this value of Q, for an
equivalent dimension, De of 5.6, places the excavation just inside category (5) which
requires rock bolts, at approximately 1.7 m spacing, and 50-90 mm thick layer of steel
fibre reinforced shotcrete.

The length L of rock bolts can be estimated from the excavation width B and the
Excavation Support Ratio ESR:

Maximum span (unsupported) = 2 ×ESR×Q0.4

= 2×1.6 × 1.530.4 = 3.8

2  0.15B 2  0.15  3.8

L  = 1.6 m
ESR 1.6