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Proceedings of the World Tunnel Congress 2014 – Tunnels for a better Life. Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil.

Key Aspects of Tunneling in Tropical Residual Soil.


I. F. Teixeira
Consórcio Andrade Gutierrez – Camargo Corrêa, São Paulo, Brasil.
M. A. A. P. Silva, G. Aguiar, Di Bruno. F
Consórcio Andrade Gutierrez – Camargo Corrêa, São Paulo, Brasil.
H. C. Rocha, D. Soares Junior
Companhia do Metropolitano de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brasil.

ABSTRACT: Tropical residual soils present a real challenge regarding conventional tunneling.
These soils are heterogeneous, with ever-changing face conditions, non horizontal stratification and a
high sensibility to water content and transient conditions. At each excavation step the face conditions
change, demanding a careful approach in terms of ground treatments and dewatering systems. The
observational method is fundamental in this type of soil since the right solution has to be developed
and applied specifically for each excavation step. This paper will focus on the practical knowledge
acquired during the excavation of a large tunnel in tropical residual soil in a urban environment.

1 INTRODUCTION However, in tropical regions, higher values


of temperature and precipitation induce a more
São Paulo is the largest city in Brasil and the intense physical and chemical-biological
world seventh largest city by population of the weathering (Futai et al., 2012).
whole world. The city infrastructure is under a As the weathering process occur, the soil-
constant pressure by the 20 Million people strength evolution is mainly governed by the
living in the area. The general population increasing material porosity, the weakening of
demand a better and wider public mass traffic mineral grains and the reducing of the bounding
service. strengths between grains (Cruz, 2010).
The Line 5 Extension of São Paulo Metro The last phase in the weathering process is
system is the major government response to this achieved when the relict macro-fabric of the
problem. rock mass is no longer present. This process is
Integrated in this expansion a 235 m long followed by a mechanical degradation that leads
conventional tunnel with variable section is to substantial reduction of strength and stiffness
under construction in a tropical residual soil. (Viana da Fonseca et al., 2002/2012).
According to Schnaid (2004), when
macrofabric is no longer represented, a general
2 GEOLOGIC AND GEOTECHNICAL cohesive-frictional behavior of soil takes place
ASPECTS with the overall mechanical behavior governed
by a wide range of factors such as micro
structure, non linear stiffness, small and large
2.1 Introduction strain anisotropy, weathering and
Soil Mechanics was classically conceived based destructuration of soil.
on the knowledge about sedimentary soils of
temperate climate countries, mainly in Europe
and North America.

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Proceedings of the World Tunnel Congress 2014 – Tunnels for a better Life. Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil.

2.2 Soil Parameters and Stratiografy they were evaluated from the scarce available
information.
In this project the adopted soil stratiografy was
based on the “age” of the soil formation, the Table 2 shows the parameters adopted in the
weathering level and soil granulometry. design of the tunnel and in all numerical
calculations, where γ is the saturated volumetric
Table 1 show the soil nomenclature and the
weight, c` is the cohesion in drained conditions,
geologic classification of the soils presented in
Φ’ is the friction angle, Es is the elasticity
the tunnel profile.
modulus, and k the permeability coefficient.
Table 1.Geologic Classification
Table 2.Geotechnical Parameters
Layer Geologic Classification Designation γ c’ Φ' Es N-SPT k
Layer
S1 Clayey Sand Sedimentar Soil kN/m3 kPa ° MPa Blows cm/s
C1 Sandy Clay Sedimentar Soil S1 19 40 22 30 5-20 5,00E-06
C2 Clay Sedimentar Soil C1 19 10 31 27 5-18 1,00E-04
R1 Clayey Silt with Sand Mature Residual Soil C2 20 50 24 50 25-50 1,00E-07
R2 Sandy Silt Young Residual Soil R1 18 5 26 30 2-25 1,00E-06
SP Clayey Silt with Sand Saprolite R2 19 7 28 45 10-40 1,00E-06
BR Gneiss Gneiss SP 20 15 31 75 30-R 1,00E-06
BR 26 500 45 2000 R 1,00E-06
For the development of this project the main
geotechnical in situ test used was the SPT. Two factors are clear in the table 2:
Some rotary drilling were additionally made,
collecting samples of gneiss in the tunnel  Good geomechanical parameters leading to
section. a “expected” medium stand up time of the
In terms of geomechanical parameters they excavated face,
were estimated based on historical values of the  Low permeability of the three types of
São Paulo Region, since no single tri-axial test Residual soil, R1, R2 and SP.
were made.
According with Futai (2012) a striking In Figure 1 is represented the geotechnical
feature of residual soils is their heterogeneity, profile. The upper layer is mostly composed by
noted in test results with significant amount of Paleogenic sandy clay or clayed sand
samples. (S1,C1,C2,), Tunnel excavation was considered
Futai (2012) also states that is strongly almost all in Saprolite (SP), although with some
advised to take a cautious approach when using localized bedrock (BR) and the presence of
the parameters and their correlations, because Young Residual Soil (R2) in the last 60 meters
of the tunnel.

Figure 1.Geotechnical profile


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Proceedings of the World Tunnel Congress 2014 – Tunnels for a better Life. Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil.

3 PROJECT PRESENTATION

3.1 Geometrical Characteristics


The main tunnel starts from a connection tunnel
excavated previously. It extends 26,40 m to the
South and 204,75m to the North prefacing a
total of 231,15 meters of length.
The tunnel is divided in 5 stretches with 4
types of transversal sections. As showed in
Figure 2 the biggest excavation section has a
total surface area of 174,90 m2 (Type A), while
the smallest one has 115,27 m2 (Type D). Figure 4.Excavation Sequence
Since the main tunnel “starts” from an
executed tunnel, a concrete reinforcement was As showed in Figure 4 the general sequence
applied, as showed in Figure 3. goes as it follows:

1. Excavation of Side Drift 01 (SD-01);


2. Excavation and installation of a provisory
invert (AIP-01);
3. The maximum distance of the AIP-01 to
excavation face is 7.20 m;
4. Excavation of Side Drift 02 (SD-02);
5. Excavation and installation of a provisory
invert (AIP-02);
6. The maximum distance of the AIP-02 to
excavation face is 7.20 m;
7. The distance between SD-01 and SD-02
should at least be 15.00 meters;
8. Excavation of the Top Heading (TH);
9. The distance between TH and SD-02
should at least be 15.00 meters;
Figure 2.Excavation Areas
10. Demolition of the intern wall of the Side-
Drifts.
3.2 Excavation Sequence 11. Excavation of the Bench (BH);
The basic principle of NATM is applied on this 12. The distance between TH and BH should be
tunnel. A sequential excavation was developed at least 25.00 meters.
dividing the tunnel in 4 main areas, namely –
Side Drift 1&2, Top Heading, Bench. The excavation step for the Side Drift 01&02
and Top Heading is 0,80 meters. The excavation
step for the Bench is 1,60 meters.

The tunnel excavation is divided in two phases:

 First phase - The tunnel is excavated


sequentially until the first 20.00 meters are
completed. The main propose of this phase
is to adjust the ground treatments and
evaluate the dewatering system and the
ground response;
 Second phase – The tunnel is excavated
until the end, maintaining a minimum
Figure 3.Reinforced Concrete “Pré-Ring” distance between different excavation faces.

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Proceedings of the World Tunnel Congress 2014 – Tunnels for a better Life. Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil.

3.3 Ground Improvement According to the piezometric data, the tunnel


excavation would occur under a significant
In tunneling, a variety of ground improvement
techniques are used in order to improve the water pressure. Water control measures had to
“quality” of the soil, enabling safer excavation be taken in order to control the water influx and
conditions. increase the excavation condition.
Figure 5 presents the concept of ground Figure 6 presents the dewatering system
improvement at the start of this project. Overall applied in this project. Overall it was predicted
it was predicted the use of: the use of:

 Gravitational deep wells installed at each


 Roof pipe umbrella (Φ6.25 cm) injected
5,00 m at both sides of the tunnel.
with grout (5 bar pressure). The spacing of
the pipes ranged from 20 cm to 35 cm;  Sub-Horizontal gravity drains installed
from the inside of the tunnel at each 14,40
 Fiber glass dowels (Four bars of Φ1,50 cm
m with 20,00 m length.
for each dowel).The grouting would be
 Sub-Vertical wellpoints at the base of the
made under high pressure (25 bar) using
Side-Drifts;
“manchette” injection tubes. In total, it was
predicted a total of 5 dowels per Side Drift
In the execution of the deep wells there was
and 8 dowels in the Top Heading.
the need of doing the drilling with down the
hole hammer, acknowledging the hardness of
All the soil improvement treatments had
the Saprolite to normal penetration.
12.00 meters of length and were to be repeated
at each 7.20 m of tunnel excavation.
Some horizontal Jet Grouting columns were
made, prior to the start of the tunnel, in order to
evaluate the behavior of this type of ground
improvement.
The executed Jet Grouting columns were of
poor quality, as showed by the bad quality and
heterogeneity of the “reflux” obtained during
the drill and injection process.
The high heterogeneity of the soil in
conjunction with the large percentage of silt is
the main factor of this behavior.

Figure 6.Dewatering System

4 FIELD EVALUATION

This chapter will describe the field data


Figure 5.Ground Improvements obtained since the beginning of the project until
the excavation of 50 % of the Side Drift 01.
3.4 Groundwater control
According to the initial data taken from the in- 4.1 Excavation – First Phase
situ tests and the shaft excavation the water As said in chapter 3.2 the excavation would start
level was high, almost at surface level. The from the Side Drift 01. The predicted work
water level was variable from the height 733.00 cycle was of 24 hour per day per 6 days a week.
m to the height 731.00 m.

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Proceedings of the World Tunnel Congress 2014 – Tunnels for a better Life. Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil.

All the excavation would be done by


mechanical means with no expected drill and R2
blast works.
A geologic face mapping would be done
systematically with the objective of SP
understanding the geotechnical behavior of the
tunnel.
In Figure 7 we can see the excavation face of
chainage 4 (3,20m). It’s clear, that the
heterogeneity of the Saprolite (SP) and vertical
inclusions of Young Residual Soil were present
since the beginning.

SP R2

Figure 8.Side Drift 02 – Chainage 20 North (16.00m)

The original design conception, considered


the contribution of the frontal core to the face
stability. As it can be seen in Figure 8 the
frontal core was shaped by the intersection of
the Saprolite (SP) with the Young Residual Soil
(R2).
The need of face reinforcement soon became
evident. The solution found was to reinforce the
number of Fiber Glass Dowels, increasing from
5 to 13 per Side Drift. After this moment the
face stability was not dependent on the frontal
SP core contribution.
Figure 7.Side Drift 01 – Chainage 4 North (3.20m)
The Top Heading excavation was overall less
problematic. The local face problem persisted so
The first 20 meters of tunnel advancement eventually, another reinforcement of Fiber Glass
showed the following data: Dowels was made at this place.
The Bench excavation was ruled by the
 Excavation mainly in Saprolite (SP); presence of rock (BR) with different weathering
 Presence of Young Residual Soil (R2); levels intercalated by both Saprolite (SP) and
 High levels of heterogeneity and Young Residual Soil (R2).
anisotropy; Figure 9 shows a full face mapping where
 Presence of discontinuities and foliations of it´s possible to see the difference between the
the “mother rock” in the Saprolite (SP); predicted stratification and the real one.
 High water sensitivity of the SP and R2,
 No apparent cohesion of R2 and SP even 4.2 Groundwater Control – First Phase
with low levels of humidity ;
 Non sustentation of the frontal core; As it seen in Figure 6 the natural water level
 Progressive face collapse – detachment of was approximately at 2 meters below the
stratums of Saprolite (SP); surface.
 Large excavation overbreak; The dewatering process started with the
activation of the external deep wells. The
The geometry of the Side Drift was also ground response to the activation of the external
problematic, since it was difficult to adapt the dewatering system was quite fast, decreasing the
roof pipe umbrella to “protect” the upper vertex water and the piezometric level in average 20.00
in the last advancements before another set of meters in 3 days.
ground treatments.

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Proceedings of the World Tunnel Congress 2014 – Tunnels for a better Life. Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil.

major concern. The drainage was still affected


by the local characteristics of the soil but with
much better efficiency.
As the excavation continued the presence of
residual soil was decreasing. At the chainage 70
(56.00 meters) the excavation of the Top
Heading and Side Drifts was fully made on
Saprolite (SP) with small rock blocks (BR) at
the Bench.
Nevertheless the Saprolite didn’t achieve a
homogeneous block. Three different weathering
sections conditioned the mechanical behavior of
the ground.
The Saprolite was sub-divided in accordance
with the visual aspect, the apparent cohesion
Figure 9.Full face mapping Chainage 18 North (14,40m)
and abrasion resistance. Table 3 presents the
division made, according with said parameters.
The groundwater level stabilized at the Figure 10 shows a typical face excavation of the
height 711.00 m in average. The inferior level second phase.
of the Tunnel was at height 704.00 m.
According with this data there was the need to Table 3.Saprolite division
internally control the influx of water.
As said in chapter 4.1 the Young Residual Primordial Abrasion
Layer Cohesion Visual
Soil (R2) and the Saprolite (SP) were very Mineral Resistance
sensible to the water presence and the humidity Very
SP-1 Biotite Very Low Gray
Low
level. When the ground was not well drained the Quartz,
Young Residual Soil (R2) would flow with no SP-2 Medium Low White
Feldspar
apparent cohesion, and the Saprolite (SP) would
SP-3 Plagioclase Low Medium Green
start to locally collapse.
The influx of water in the tunnel was erratic,
being regulated by the discontinuities in the
Saprolite (SP) and by the horizontal percolation
in the Young Residual soil (R2). Sp-3
The Side Drift and Top Heading horizontal
drainage was quickly rearranged, exchanging
the top drains for two lateral drains. Additional
all the gravitational horizontal drains were Sp-2 Sp-1
changed to a vacuum system.
The excavation conditions improved
significantly in the Side Drift and Top Heading.
In the Bench excavation, the water influx
was not present and so the vertical drains were
not needed and not installed. This was
confirmed by the installation of a piezometer
that showed no significant pressure.

4.3 Excavation – Second Phase


After the learning phase, the second phase
started, without any scheduled stop, being the
Side Drift 1 excavated until the end of the Figure 10. Side Drift 02 – Chainage 130 North (104.00m)
tunnel followed progressively by the other
excavation faces. The presence of vertical layers increased the
With the improvements made to the ground number of events where the face collapsed
treatments the face stability was no longer a locally.
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Proceedings of the World Tunnel Congress 2014 – Tunnels for a better Life. Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil.

The velocity of these events was quite high,


with the progressive collapse of the soil
reaching the outer perimeter of the excavation.
The roof pipe umbrella prevented the
propagation of the collapse.
Additionally the problem originated by the
Side Drift geometry was even clearer. In the last
meters before repeating the umbrella treatment
the space between the pipes was meaningful.
As the collapses occurred systematically the
probability of soil passing through the pipes
become higher, and the risk of a roof collapse
real.
Some measures were taken, namely:

I. Application of shotcrete and steel mesh at


the middle of the excavation cycle in
order to avoid face collapses;
II. Increase the number of fiber glass dowels.
III. New line of roof pipes;

The first measure (I) was inefficient in


stopping the local collapse of the face. The
second (II) and third (III) measures were more Figure 12. Roof collapse event
successful.
Contingency measures were successfully
taken in order to stop the evolution of the
collapse. Fortunately the collapse didn’t reach
the surface. Two solutions were presented in
order to increase the tunnel security:

 Injection of the Roof Pipes with high


pressure using a manchette injection system
(20 bar)
 Use of sub-horizontal Jet Grouting;

The injection of the Roof Pipes with high


pressure was not efficient. With the starting
pressure of 20 bar the injected volume was low.
Figure 11. Roof Pipe reinforcement The pressure was increased progressively until
reaching 36 bar. Nevertheless the injected
Figure 11 shows the detail of the second line volume remained low without any gain in
of roof pipe umbrella reinforcement. As the efficiency.
excavation kept going the ground characteristics Some test Jet Grouting Columns were made.
improved, mainly as the percentage of SP-3 and They were designed to open a column with
SP-2 was higher. In the chainage 150 was 50,00 cm of diameter. As observed in figure 13
decided to remove the roof pipe reinforcement the diameter of the column was largely inferior
(measure III). to the predict one.
In the chainage 170 a major event toke place. The real diameter ranged from 15.00 cm to
A local collapse started at the face excavation 30.00 cm, being largely dependent on the type
quickly reaching the roof pipe umbrella. During of Saprolite. It was concluded that the Jet
this event the pressure in the roof pipes was Grouting columns were not fit to substitute the
really high. As can be seen in Figure 12 the roof pipe umbrella treatment, as it was unlikely
pipes bended and the roof collapsed. to sustain a progressive collapse of the face.

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Proceedings of the World Tunnel Congress 2014 – Tunnels for a better Life. Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil.

Jet Grouting excavation face, with a maximum vertical


Column displacement of 3.00 mm at the top of the Side
Drift (point 1 and 4) and 22.00 mm at the top of
the Crown (point 7).
As shown in Figure 15 and Figure 16 the
instrumentation is divided in settlement
measure, and internal tunnel deformation
measure.
The shallow settlement measure is made at 5
(Section A) or 3 (Section B) surface points
(S1,S2,S3,S4,S5 or S1,S2,S3). The deep
Figure 13. Jet Grouting Column test settlement measure is made by a rod system at 4
(Section A) or 1 (Section B) points
Nevertheless they would be efficient in the (D1,D2,D3,D4 or D1).
reinforcement of the more sensible zone in the There are 3 internal measure points for each
vertex area of the Side Drifts, substituting the Side Drifts and 5 points for the Top Heading.
additional roof pipes. As it can be seen in Figure The analysis of the instrumentation will be
14 the vertex area were reinforced with 7 made after the first 20 m of excavation – second
additional Jet Grouting columns. phase. This paper will focus on the Section
The Top Heading excavation had the same B2/B3/A3/B4/B5/A4.
local face instability, but as the geometry was
more favorable there wasn’t any reported major
problem. The Bench excavation presented a
good behavior with no problems detected.

Figure 15.Plan view of the Instrumentation

Figure 14. Side Drifts treatment schematics

5 DEFORMATION AND SETTLEMENTS

According with the original project the expected


maximum surface settlement was in the order of
51.00 mm, and the expected maximum deep
settlement was of 72.00 mm. This settlement
was a combined effect of both the ground loss
Figure 16.View of the instrumentation
and the external dewatering system.
The maximum internal convergence between
internal points in the tunnel was of 7.00 mm in
the Side Drifts and 13.00 mm in the full
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Proceedings of the World Tunnel Congress 2014 – Tunnels for a better Life. Fozz do Iguaçu, Brazil.

Settlement Evolution (mm)


Days
B2 B3 A3 B4 B5 A4
S1 D1 S1 D1 S1 D1 S1 D1 S1 D1 S1 D1
30 -15 -6 -1 -3 0 -3 0 0 0 -1 0 0
60 -23 -14 -7 -6 -1 -3 1 0 0 0 -1 0
90 -40 -33 -16 -9 -8 -7 -3 -1 0 0 -1 -1
120 -54 -49 -33 -27 -22 -18 -4 -3 0 1 1 1
150 -69 -65 -62 -58 -54 -57 -19 -18 -13 -6 -15 -7
180 -82 -79 -84 -102 -79 -94 -53 -67 -38 -38 -29 -12
210 -86 -83 -89 -106 -94 -114 -75 -119 -60 -66 -46 -29
227 -90 -86 -99 -116 -98 -119 -82 -130 -69 -84 -58 -40

Figure 17 –Settlement Evolution

Figure 17 shows the values of the


instrumentation since the beginning of the
excavation of the second phase (Day 0).
The settlements associated directly with the
excavation effects were significant.
significan As can be
seen in Figure 18, even
ven after closing the Bench
and with the face excavation (Side Drift 01) at
more than 50 meters, the deformation continued
to evolve. This is mainly assign to the effects of
relaxation of the soil structure.

Figure 19 – Surface Settlement Evolution

Figure 18 – Settlement Vs tunnel advancement (S1-B3)

Historically the deformation behaviour


behaviou
associated with tunnelling in Residual and
Saprolite soil were high. All the data obtained
o
Figure 20 – Deep
eep Settlement Evolution
from this particular excavation proved this
theory.
Overall in Figure 19, 20 we can see that thet As can be seen in Figure 21 the settlements
didn’t follow a Gaussian curve, mainly due to
deep and superficial settlement evolution was
the local events and dewatering effects.
effects The
characterized by a fast evolution, with different
behaviors in different instrumentation sections. tunnel influence was higher than 100 m in the
surroundings.
The sensibility to the dewatering process
were significant, occurring an a instant The internal convergence was in order of the
deformation each time a new phase of o the deep expected with maximum value of 7.00 mm.
These values were 50 % of the predicted in the
wells were activated. The deformation
calculations,, showing a lower
l level of stress in
associated to the primary consolidation (both
instantaneous and over
ver time), were estimated in the primary lining.
order of 20-40
40 % of all deformation.

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Proceedings of the World Tunnel Congress 2014 – Tunnels for a better Life. Fozz do Iguaçu, Brazil.

 Events associated with local instability


produce sudden surface and deep
settlement;
 Low tunnel lining deformation;

Regarding Water control:

 Deep Wells behavior was good, even when


low volume of water was extracted, as they
eliminated the pressure and the water
gradient to the tunnel;
Figure 21 – Surface Transversal Deformation
Deformatio  The distance between Deep Wells should be
limited (5 to 7 meters) as the groundwater
flow is erratic;
6 LESSONS LEARNED – KEY ASPECTS  Deep Wells can’t eliminate the water that
flow through the Saprolite failures;
Residual and Saprolite soil present a unique  Vacuum sub-horizontal
horizontal drainage is advised
a
challenge
llenge in the tunneling domain,
domain as the high ass the non constant flow restrain the
heterogeneity of both soils and the lack of a gravitational drainage;
rainage;
mechanical model induce uncertain behavior.
Additionally the seepage evolution is quite Regarding Ground improvement techniques:
erratic, since the joints in the Saprolite
aprolite rule the
water influx.  Jet Grouting and cement injections are not
During the excavation it was very clear that efficient as a solo solution;
solution
the ground behavior was conditioned by the  Jet Grouting and cement injection don’t don
geological structures and not by the mechanical form continuous treatment
geotechnical parameters.  Roof pipe umbrella worked quite well.
Local face instability occurred without any  Fiber glass dowelss are quite efficient in
kind of warning, reinforcing the hypothesis of maintaining the face stable;
the influence of the geological structures in the  The number of fiber glass dowels has to be
stability of excavations. adapted to the local soil disposition;
The settlements were higher than expected  The conjugation of the three types of
compared with the numerical models.
model In future ground treatments achieved the best
projects this author thinks that the evolution efficiency in terms of local stability;
void ratio “e” should be considered for a better
approximation with reality.
A compilation of key aspects of tunneling in REFERENCES
tropical residual soil is presented aiming
aimin to
share some of the insight obtained through the Futai, M.M;; Cecílio Jr; M.O; Abramento M., 2012,
Resistência ao Cisalhamento e Deformabilidade de
excavation of this project. Solos Residuais da Região Metropolitana
Metropolit de São
Paulo; ABMS;
Regarding excavation: Schnaid, F., Fahey, M. and Lehane, B. (2004) In situ test
characterization of unusual geo-material,
geo In: Viana da
 Local face instability; Fonseca A. and Mayne P.W. (eds.),Geotechnical and
 Tunnel geometry fundamental in the Geophysical Site Characterization, Keynote Lecture,
Millpress, Rotterdam,
dam, pp. 49–74
49
creation of vertexes or “weak
weak” points; Cruz, N. (2010). “Modelling
Modelling geomechanics of residual
soils by DMT tests” PhD dissertation of Faculty of
Regarding settlements: Engineering of University of Porto, Portugal
Viana da Fonseca, (2002):: Characterizing and deriving
 High settlement magnitude; engineering properties of a Saprolite soil from granite,
in Porto.. Eds. Tan et al., pp.1341÷1378. Swets &
 High area affected by tunnel excavation; Zeitlinger, Lisse.
 Main cause of settlements associated with Viana da F. A; Buttling, S.; Coutinho, (2012). In A
dewatering process (20-40%)40%) and soil Handbook of Tropical
pical Residual Soil Engineering,
En 904
relaxation; - 1008. . Rotterdam: Taylor & Francis

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