Career Episode 3
Construction supervision of semi-pressure headrace tunnel for Lower Modi
Hydroelectric Project(20Mw)
 
 
1. Introduction:
CE 3.1
This career episode focuses on my personal experiences gained during my one year
tenure as a site engineer from 1st June 2014 to 14th May,2015 for the construction of
semi-pressure headrace tunnel for Lower Modi Hydroelectric project(20Mw). The
project with the installed capacity of 20Mw, located on Parbat, Nepal was owned by
Manang Trade Link and I was employed as a site engineer by South Asian
Infrastructures Pty. Ltd, who was the contractor for all the underground works for
the project.
 
2.Background:
 
CE 3.2 South Asian Infrastructures Pty Ltd (SAI)
SAI was established with an objective to render complete solution in the infrastructure
development and hydropower construction sector while maintaining the international
standard. Ever since its establishment it has been steadily engaged in the construction
of tunnel, hydropower and transmission lines. The office headquarter is located near
the Balkumari Bridge, in Koteshwor, Kathmandu with respective site office at various
sites.
 
 CE 3.3
Lower Modi Hydroelectric project is a run-off river type hydropower located 50 km
west from Pokhara. The project was located between the latitude of 280 14’ 08” N to
28016’ 18” N and longitude of 830 42’ 30” E to 83044’ 43” E in Parbat District. With
the design discharge of 28.8.m3/s and net head of 83.37m, it had an installed capacity
of 20Mw and is expected to produce 117.53 GWh of net saleable energy annually.
The project that is being developed by Manang Trade Link was designed by Hydro
Solutions Engineering & Consultancy Private Limited. All the civil works were
categorized under surface works and subsurface works with Asish-Fewa-Nayabato
Joint Venture looking after the all the surface works and South Asian Infrastructure
Pty. Ltd undertaking the sub-surface works. 
 
CE 3.4
I was primarily responsible for the construction supervision of the 4021m long
headrace tunnel. It was an inverted D shaped tunnel with an excavation diameter of
5.10m having a mild slope of 1 in 1600 and a design velocity of 3.2m/s. To expedite
the rate of construction, two intermediate Adit tunnel both of length 180m were
 constructed at a chainage of 0+1420 m and 0+2720m respectively and the
construction was simultaneously initiated from 6 different faces. I was assigned as the
site in charge for Face 4 and face 5 at the second adit. I worked under the direct
supervision of the project manager Dhruba Mishra and assistant project manager
Shyam Sundar Bajgain.

The organisational structure showing my chain of command is shown below:

 
CE 3.5
The statements of my duty included:
 Act as the main source of technical advice and quality control for
subcontractors, operators and labour force working on the site.

 Examine the construction drawings and ensure that the activities are
performed as per specification.

 Day to day management of the site while supervising and monitoring the
labour force, support staff and the activities of the subcontractors.
  Coordinate with the on-site geologist to investigate the site and designate the
tunnel support depending upon the rock mass condition.

 Provide creative solutions to unexpected technical difficulties and other

unforeseen events that obstructs the construction.

 Liaising with the consultant, supervisors, geologist, surveyors, subcontractors,

workforce and local authority to maintain a harmonious workplace
environment.

 Compliance with the health and safety requirements while adhering to the
sustainability policies.
 
3. Personal engineering activities:
 
CE 3.6
As a site engineer, I was responsible for the overall supervision of the site, which
includes management of both the technical and managerial components associated
with the site. I delegated the responsibility of the supervision of the minor works
including the equipment handling, attendance of the labours and other subordinates,
handling of the construction materials, maintenance of site cleanliness etc. to my
support staffs, so that I could concentrate on the technical components, which were
more critical.
 
CE 3.7
I ensured that the tunnel lighting and ventilation were adequate to provide the safe
working environment to the labours. Safety of the workers were at the core of my
engineering values, therefore, I made sure that everyone working in the tunnel were
equipped with all the necessary safety apparatus like safety boots, safety mask
meeting the benchmark standard to filter the toxic airborne particles, safety gloves,
helmets, Hi- vision Jacket etc. Furthermore, the workers working in the site, were at
all time facilitated with the intercom facilities for regular communication with the site
office. I did everything in my mettle to manage the health and safety risks associated
with the tunnelling. For this I followed systematic procedure which involved
identification of the risk, risk assessment to understand the likelihood of occurrence of
the risk and the nature of damages to apply the most efficient methods to control those
risks.
 
CE 3.8
Because of the nature and the scope of the project we employed conventional drilling
and blasting approach for the excavation. As per the design wedge cut blast holes
containing 65 number of holes were used for a standard full-face excavation.
 However, I figured out that all those holes were not necessary, particularly when
working in the soft rocks. Hence, depending upon the rock mass condition I made a
slight modification in the design. The objective of the modification was to reduce the
number of holes which would ultimately reduce the amount of gunpowder (gelatin) as
well as the detonators so as to reduce the power factor (kg/m3) making the tunnelling
both quick and cost-efficient.
 
 
CE 3.9
The process of drilling and blasting was ensued by surveying. I requested the onsite
surveyor to carry out surveying based on three points coordinate system using a total
station. The surveyor measured the L-section and C-section of the tunnel and
provided the centreline of the tunnel based on which location of drill holes were
approximated. I would later plot the data obtained from the total station using Arc-
GIS and Auto CAD to ensure the correct alignment and elevation of the tunnel.
Furthermore, the cross-section details precisely provide the volume of excavation that
serve as important documentation for the preparation of running bill.
 
CE 3.10
The process of blasting reduces the strength of the rock around the openings which
increased vertical pressure along the face, changing the equilibrium of the system.
Hence, I needed to provide immediate supports to prevent the excessive deformations
in the rocks. However, the tunnel support had to be determined based on the rock
mass classification. Therefore, after each blast I performed the face mapping in
presence of a geologist in order to obtain the geological information of the excavated
rock and the analyse the deformation zone by assessing the rock type, grain size
variation, joints and fault planes, fractures in the rock, presence of water etc., all of
which are very crucial information for obtaining the Q-Value. Based on the Q value
the rock mass was classified as good or poor rock and the support type were
designated accordingly.
  
CE 3.11
Majority of the section in Face 5 was stable due to the presence of very thickly
bedded, medium to coarse grained pale yellow to white quartzite with their grains
stretched parallel to foliation. Therefore, I provided temporary support consisting of
pattern rock bolts (3.2m length, 25mm diameter) at centre- centre spacing of 1.5m
along with safety shotcrete of 5cm thickness. Since the rock bolts makes the greatest
contribution when installed very close to the face, I instructed the foreman to insert
rock bolts after each blast, oriented in the best possible way, to take maximum
advantage from the natural strength of the rocks.
 
CE 3.12
At sporadic intervals, the quartzite was often present along with the intercalation of
phyllite. The presence of layer of phyllite degraded the rock mass condition and
 increased the stress on the crown and the walls which instigated me to change the
temporary supports. I provided the steel ribs (ISMB 150/75 mm) at the centre- centre
spacing of 0.5m and reinforced the ribs with additional supports consisting of tie rods
(25mm diameter), channel laggings (ISMC 75/40mm), anchor bolts (2.5m, 25mm
diameter), compression strut (ISMB 150/75mm), MS-plates (3.2mm) and concrete
backfilling (M15 grade) whenever necessary.
 
 
CE 3.13
On the flip side, the rock mass condition on Face 4 was extremely poor due to the
presence of shear zone consisting of sheared crushed earth like quartzite along with
clay coating (Cauline). The overburden of just over 20m and presence of groundwater
(40 lps), that would change its orientation with every blast, further exacerbated the
situation. Since this rock there had very low stand up time, I decided to abandon the
full-face blasting and adopted heading and benching method which involved the
creation of series of small steps to reduce the wall height and ensure stability.
 
CE 3.14
To facilitate the advancement in heading, I installed rebar spiles into the pre-drilled
holes, making a very gentle angle of 10-20 degrees to the arch ribs which will provide
a protective canopy and reduce the risk of falling debris or over break from the crown.
At first, I proceeded for the heading blast and stabilised the crown section using the
steel ribs (at crown only) at centre-centre spacing of 0.3m and rib supports. Only after
some advancement in the heading, benching blast was taken and the steel ribs
(corresponding to the crown installed during heading) and ribs support were installed.
 
 
CE 3.15
Marked by exorbitant stress concentration, the section in face 4 was inarguably the
most sensitive section of the tunnel. Therefore, I used innovation and took an
initiative to perform the convergence analysis to monitor the deformation. The result
of convergence analysis was disturbing which showed that the tunnel was moving
inward with the average movement being in the range of 25-30cm (maximum being
50 cm). To complicate the situation the ribs started to show sign of lateral
deformations that was substantiated by the evidence of twisting and buckling of steel
ribs and the opening of joints. In the exposed areas, the rock mass intruded into the
supports (average intrusion 15-18 cm) and in the backfilled area concrete bulged out
along with large visible cracks without any sign of detachment from the parent rock.
This was a serious problem requiring immediate attention.
 
CE 3.16
Through intensive research I figured out that the phenomenon was called squeezing
which is particularly observable in the tunnel sections with high stress concentration
and weak rock mass condition. The best possible solution to ameliorate this problem
 is to provide the permanent concrete lining. However, the intermediate concrete lining
would result in a significant deviation from the planned schedule as I was not
authorised to take such critical decisions. Therefore, I updated the information to the
project manager and acted as a moderator to facilitate the decision making between
consultant and the contractor. The consultant deliberated on the issue and eventually
resonated with my idea and gave me the approval to proceed for the concrete lining.
The lining was completed using M25 grade Reinforced cement concrete. The
reinforcement bars were placed as per the design and concrete was properly
compacted. To check the strength requirement of concrete, 9 concrete cubes were
prepared and tested in the laboratory at the end of 7 days and 28 days.
 
 
CE 3.17
I was also responsible for the preparation of the daily progress report which were
compiled together at the end of every month to prepare the monthly progress report.
The monthly progress report monitors the overall progress of the project, compares
the work completed with the actual schedule and assist in preparation of the future
schedules. It also served as an important documentation for the preparation of the
interim payment certificates.
 
CE 3.18
As a responsible civil Engineer, I was aware of the environmental implications of the
project. Since the noise pollution (from the ventilation fans, drilling and blasting etc.)
and air pollution (from the dust and toxic fumes from blasting) were inevitable, I
categorised the environmental ramifications of the project into two main categories i.e
dealing with the waste water and the excavated materials. For the management of the
excavated material I estimated the total volume of the excavation and constructed a
landfill site that could accommodate the entire excavation volume. However, the
management of the wastewater, that was often contaminated with harmful chemicals
during blasting, was much more demanding as it has significant impacts on the human
toxicity, photochemical oxidant formation and acidification of the soil. Therefore, I
excavated a reservoir (50m3 approximately) and diverted the wastewater into that
reservoir, passing through double layer metal screen. The reservoir facilitated the
process of sedimentation as well as reduced the biochemical oxygen demand of the
water before it was finally disposed into the river.
 
CE 3.19
I was also responsive to the social issues and was extensively engaged in addressing
the community related issues obstructing my site. Most of the support staffs working
under my supervision were locals. At times, I was empathetic to the needs of my
subordinates and made necessary adjustments to maintain work-life balance if that did
not hamper the progress of the project. I maintained smooth professional
communication methods with my seniors, clients and the sub-contractors.
Furthermore, I established a harmonious relationship with the local leaders and other
 influential persons of the community for maintaining a cordial workplace
environment.
 
 
4. Summary
CE 3.20
The project provided me an ideal opportunity to incorporate my engineering
knowledge in real-life working environment allowing me to view things from diverse
perspective. Most importantly the experience provided me the comprehensive
overview of the tunnel engineering including the planning and execution, construction
methods, geotechnical analysis, associated challenges and their corresponding
solutions. Not only did the project enhanced my understanding of the geotechnical
engineering but also made me more competent in construction management. The
exposure to the technical difficulties that I encountered during the project enabled me
to understand the limit of possibilities and enhanced my problem-solving skills and
practical ability. Being able to use my initiatives and innovation to serve in the best
interest of the organization to achieve its objectives, provided me an intense feeling of
satisfaction and much needed confidence going further into my career.
 
 
 
 
Annex:
1. Formula for the calculation of Q value:

RQD
∗J r
Jn
Q= ∗J w
Ja
SRF