Tunneling in Soft Rock

Method of Tunneling

Needle
Forepoling Army American Belgian English
Beam
Method Method Method Method Method
Method
Forepoling Method
 For running ground
 For laying sewer and gas pipe
 Spiles inclined @upward inclination of 170mm
per metre
 18 ̎ breast board used to extend grade level
 Horse head is used as temporary support
Needle Beam Method
 For firm ground in which roof stand for few minutes
without support
 Monkey drift of 3 ̍ is provided beyond daywork
 Compressed air is provided for roof support @ pressure
of 12lbs/sq or 8.4N/cm²
 It required large no. of trench jack
 Most suitable for brick lining
Army Method or Case Method
 For constructing small c/s tunnel @fairly shallow depth
 For laying underground sewers
 Economical as only few jacks and planks reqd
American method
 For large size railway and highway tunnel
 16 ft plate provided at springing
 Heavy timber not reqd
 For large size tunnel
 Unsuitable for tunnel having flat bottom
English method
 Load on roof support by underpinning
 Central top heading of 16 ft is provided
 Cavity danger in unstable soil is main disadvantage
 Large use of timber and frequent shifting of timber is
not economical
Belgian method
 Used for moderately firm or hard soil
 For light section of timber
 Due to underpinning cause settlement is main
disadvantage
 Method not adopted for depth greater than 1700m
 German method

 For supporting roof and side

 3 drift are used one along crown and two along wall
 Heavy strut not required
 Austrian method

 For long tunnel@ greater depth

 Centre cut is taken and then widened to whole section
 NATM (New Austrian tunneling Method) is widely used ,this
method used for subways construction and abnormal geological
construction
 NATM is also called Observational or Shotcrete method
 Italian Method

 For emergency system for penetrating short stretch of heavy

ground
 Used in treacherous soil