Reflection Paper

This is the last webinar for the year 2020. It is also one of the toughest and most difficult
applications for a Civil Engineer. The most complicated in terms of the procedures. I am talking
about underground construction for tunneling and passageways. Underground construction is the
erection and building of underground tunnels, shafts, chambers, and passageways. It also can be
described as the portion of traditional construction that takes place below grade line.
Underground construction considers a lot of unique risks and challenges but shares with
traditional construction and mining. Underground construction workers and laborers often work
under reduced light conditions, in dangerous spaces, and are at a high risk of exposure to
contaminants, fire, and explosions. But before proceeding with the actual construction of a
certain underground projects, soil investigations must be first to be considered. Soils reports, also
sometimes called “geotechnical reports” are prepared by a licensed geotechnical engineer or a
registered civil engineer having an experienced in soils engineering. A soils report may be
required and needed depending on the type of structural buildings, loads and location of the
project. The report gives information and details of earth conditions affecting a building. They
are required and needed in areas with expansive or low strength soils. Other times a geotechnical
report may be required and needed include buildings where the foundation will be supported by
fill, on steep slopes or where a lot of grading will be performed and done, locations with high
ground water may also require and need a soil investigation report prior to construction
activities. Soils reports are prepared and obtained before construction begins. The person which
is an engineer who designs the foundation uses the soils report in determining what kind of
foundation design approach to use. In this way, future problems such as differential settling over
time can be taken care of and avoided. There are different methods used to observe and test soil
in preparing a geotechnical report. These are drilling core samples, driving steel rods into the
ground to determine density and the presence of solid rock, test pits and the use of a
seismograph. For the construction of tunnels, The New Austrian Tunneling method (NATM) can
be used. The New Austrian Tunneling method (NATM) was developed and performed between
1957 and 1965 in Austria. It was derive its name in Salzburg in 1962 to differentiate it from old
Austrian tunneling approach. The main purpose is to use the geological stress of the enveloping
rock mass to uphold the tunnel itself. The NATM integrates and consolidate the principles of the
conditions and behaviors of rock masses under stress loads and monitor the performance of
underground stability during construction. The NATM is not a set of specific excavation and
support strategies and has often been describe to as a “design as you go” method to tunneling
providing an high support based on observed ground conditions but more precisely and correctly
it is a “design as you monitor” method based on observed findings in the lining as well as
prevailing rock conditions. According to the webinar, there are advantages and disadvantages of
NATM. These advantages include the following: It is flexible in a way the support provided as
required by the ground conditions. It is safe in the way that it able to deal with locally
unexpected ground condition, minimizing claims. It is economical in a way that the support
provided as required by the encountered ground conditions, in contrast to tunneling boring
machine (TBM) segments, which are designed for unacceptable load case if needed or not,
therefore it is overdesigned. It is adaptable in a way that the equipment and crews, allowing
multiple operations done at the same time. The disadvantages are the following: It requires high
level of coordination, cooperation and communication. It has a lower production rates. There are
interruptions in excavation and support works have to be avoided as early as possible.