Geotechnical challenges in design and construction of tunnels for

Mumbai metro line - 3

S.K. Gupta
Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd., India,
M.G. Khare & GVR Raju
AECOM, India

ABSTRACT: Mumbai Metro Line – 3 (MML-3) is a 33.5 kilometer long underground corridor
presently under construction. The project scope includes twin tube tunneling by tunnel boring
machines (TBM), 19 Cut and Cover Stations, 7 Stations, cross passages and cross overs using
New Austrian Tunnelling Method. The city of Mumbai was formed by merging of seven islands
through multiple land reclamations. Mumbai geology consists of soft ground followed by vol-
canic rocks such as Basalt, Breccia, Tuff and intertrappean sedimentary rocks such as Shale.
The ground water table is shallow. The paper describes challenges including tunneling under
mixed ground conditions, water drawdown and associated settlements. The observed settle-
ments during TBM tunneling are analyzed to estimate a range of volume loss and trough width
parameters for Mumbai geology. The paper illustrates the benefits of instrumentation and moni-
toring scheme to understand the ground and groundwater response in urban tunneling.

1 INTRODUCTION

India’s urban population is projected to be about 820 million by 2051. The rapid urbanization
has led to a high growth in the number of vehicles leading to traffic congestions, higher air pol-
lution, associated health risks, and higher number of road accidents leading to loss of life.
Therefore it is necessary to plan public urban transport projects in a sustainable way to support
the desired economic growth, protect the environment and to improve the quality of life. The
city of Mumbai is the financial capital of India and home to about 22 million people. Mumbai
Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) is constructing the Mumbai Metro Line 3 (MML-3) which is
a 33.5 kilometer fully underground corridor through the city center integrating the existing
modes of transportation. The Figure 1 shows MML-3 alignment plan. The project scope in-
cludes 33.5 kilometer of twin tube tunnels by TBM, 19 Cut and Cover Stations, 7 Stations in-
cluding cross passages and cross overs to be constructed using NATM. The shallow urban
tunneling is being undertaken for the first time in Mumbai geology. The objective of the paper
is to present the ground and groundwater response to TBM tunneling which would be of value
to the ongoing and future projects of similar nature in similar hydrogeological conditions.

2 MUMBAI GEOLOGY

Seven islands of Mumbai off the West Coast of India were merged into one landmass by means
of multiple land reclamation projects in 19th and 20th century as illustrated in Figure 1.
 MML-3

1843 Present

Figure 1. History of reclamation of Mumbai

The ground investigations show strata of soft ground (predominantly silty, clayey sand, clay
of medium to high plasticity and boulders) followed by Deccan trap formation. The thickness
of soft ground varies from about 1m to 14m. The Deccan traps were formed about 65 million
years ago as a result of various subaqueous lava flows showing a distinct westerly dips. The
major volcanic rocks are basalt, breccia, and tuff. Intertrappean sedimentary rocks such as shale
are also found which indicate a long period of quiescence in volcanic activity (Sethna, 1999).
The ground water table is shallow and rises close to ground level during monsoon.
The ground and groundwater response to TBM tunneling in varying geological conditions of
Mumbai is presented in the following sections.

3 SETTLEMENT DATA FROM TBM TUNNELS

The settlement data from TBM tunneling in varying ground conditions which are representative
of the Mumbai geology are analyzed and presented in this section. The basis for back analysis
of the settlement data is explained here.
The shape of a settlement trough above mining excavations was examined by Martos (1958)
and he represented it by a Gaussian or Normal distribution curve.
Later, Schmidt (1969) and Peck (1969) showed that the surface settlement trough above tun-
nels took a similar form. O’Reilly and New (1982) developed the Gaussian model by making
the assumptions that the ground loss could be represented by a radial flow of material toward
the tunnel and that the trough could be related to the ground conditions through an empirical
‘‘trough width parameter’’ (k). The model was guided by an analysis of case history data. These
assumptions allowed to develop equations for vertical and horizontal ground movements that
were also presented in terms of ground strain, slope and curvature (both at, and below, the
ground surface). The equations have since widely used to assess the potential impact of tunnel-
ing works during the design stage. The base equation is given as:

  x2  AV   x2 
 S max exp  exp 
S
 2( kz) 2   2( kz) 2  (1)
  ( kz) 2  
where S = ground settlement at a point; Smax = maximum settlement; A = cross-sectional area
of tunnel; V = percentage of ground loss assuming the ground is incompressible i.e. V = V s/A,
where Vs is the volume loss; k = empirical constant also called as trough width parameter; and z
= depth of tunnel axis.

The ground settlement induced by twin tunneling is calculated by superposition of two single
tunnels. The back analysis of settlement data is carried out at Site 1 and Site 2.

3.1 Site 1
The TBM tunneling was completed through a mixed ground comprising Volcanic Breccia rock
of Grade III with Rock Quality Designation (RQD) of 40% - 60% and Grade IV with RQD of
10% - 40%, with a small rock cover of about only 0.5 tunnel diameter (minimum value), over-
lain by layer of alluvial soils. The tunnel depth (measured from tunnel crown) ranges from
15.5m to 16.5m. The groundwater is close to the ground surface. A representative corebox BH-
1 from this section is shown in Figure 2. The interpreted geological section is illustrated in Fig-
ure 3.

Figure 2. Representative corebox (BH-1) – Site 1

 TBM Tunnel

Figure 3. Interpreted Geological Section – Site 1

The rock earth pressure balance (EPB) machines were chosen along this section of the align-
ment primarily because of largely varying geological conditions, surface features such as rivers
and the reduced cover to sensitive structures. The design features of the EPB TBM are summa-
rized below:

• Large opening ratio of between 28 and 35%,

• Additional injection ports in the cutter head to enhance soil conditioning,
• Closer spacing than normal for forward probing and ground enhancements,
• Bespoke cutter head design with closely spaced disk cutters, scrapers and peripheral cutters
to accommodate the large opening ratio.

The TBM was operated in open mode at the section presented here. The ground movements
were monitored using arrays of ground settlement markers at regular intervals. The observed
maximum ground settlement after completion twin tube tunnels is only 7.6 mm. The Figure 4
shows ground settlements measured using 4 instrumentation arrays with settlement markers in-
stalled transverse to the direction of twin tunnel drives.
Using equation (1) and the principle of superposition, the Gaussian distribution curve is fitted
for the observed ground settlement data from Site 1 and is shown in Figure 4. The back ana-
lyzed value of trough width parameter (k) is 0.7 and the volume loss is 0.3%. These values are
similar to the range of k values of 0.5 to 0.7 and volume losses of 0.4 to 0.6 % for tunnels in
weak rock, mixed ground condition as reported by Guglielmetti et al. (2008).
3.2 Site 2
The site 2 represents mixed ground conditions comprising Basalt rock of Grades I (with RQD
90%-100%) to V (with RQD of 0% to 10%), overlain by loose to medium dense silty sands. In-
tertrappean Shale of Grades IV (10%-40%) to Grade III (40% to 75%) is observed below tunnel
axis. Tunnel depth (measured from tunnel crown) is about 15m below ground level. The weak
Shale having compressive strength of 5 MPa to 15 MPa together with high strength Basalt of
about 50 MPa compressive strength presents difficult ground conditions for tunnelling. A rep-
resentative corebox of borehole BH-2 for this section is shown in Figure 5. The interpreted geo-
logical section is illustrated in Figure 6. The geological section is further divided into favoura-
ble ground (titled as stretch A) and unfavourable ground (titled as stretch B) conditions. The
unfavourable ground comprising mixed of weak Shale and strong Basalt is found in a very lo-
calised area beyond which the geology again changes similar to that of Stretch A comprising
Grade III or better Basalt.
The tunneling in this geology was carried out by dual mode TBM. The machine features are
summarized below:

• Heavy duty main bearing and modified cutter head to cater for predominately hard rock,
• Change over from “Open” to “Closed” mode for mixed face conditions,
• Capable of high excavation rates in the predominantly hard rock conditions,
• Ability to “close off” the machine should soft flowing ground, or high water inflows are
encountered.
 ROCK COVER

ROCK COVER
ROCK COVER BORED TUNNEL
TUNNEL
CROWN

BORED TUNNEL
TUNNEL BOTTOM

Figure 5. Representative corebox (BH-2) – Site 2

STRETCH A STRETCH B
STRETCH A STRETCH B
TBM Tunnel

STRETCH A STRETCH
STRETCH B A

Figure 6. Interpreted Geological Section – Site 2

The tunnel drive in the section was carried out with open mode of operation. The open mode
drive was chosen because the tunnels are under open ground and there are no nearby sensitive
structures. The tunnel stretch discussed here was initial drive when the TBM operating parame-
ters were yet to be refined and considered as a learning curve for tunneling through such geolog-
ical conditions. The settlement data for stretch A and stretch B is presented in Figures 7 and 8
respectively. It is observed that the settlement data over the downline tunnel is limited due to
the restricted access. It is assumed that the ground response for the both tunnels is likely to be
similar.
For the favorable ground conditions referred as the “Stretch A”, the maximum observed set-
tlement is 11 mm. The back analyzed value of trough width parameter (k) is 0.5 and the volume
loss is 0.5%.
For the mixed ground conditions observed during the stretch B, the maximum observed set-
tlement is 25mm. The back analyzed value of trough width parameter (k) is 0.5 and the volume
loss is 1.2 %. The high magnitude of settlements in the Stretch B are attributed to the mixed
ground conditions comprising weak sedimentary Shale and strong volcanic Basalt rock ob-
served at the tunnel face. The open mode TBM operation in this geology resulted in significant
groundwater drawdown during downline as well as upline tunnel drives. The groundwater
drawdown was measured with series of standpipes installed along the drives. The relationship
between groundwater drawdown and the tunnel boring machine is presented in Figures 9 and
10.
From Figures 9 and 10, it is observed that open mode tunneling in the mixed ground condi-
tions resulted in drawdown of 6m to 8m. The drawdown is observed when tunneling is within a
distance of about 50m from the piezometer monitoring location. The drawdown induces settle-
ments as a result of:

• The hydraulic gradient weakening the mechanical conditions at the face and on the tunnel
walls thereby increasing ground deformations;
• Worsening effects on pre-existing mechanical instabilities.
Figure 9. Standpipe PZ 03 Data –Site 2 (STRETCH B)
 The ground settlements were immediate in response to the drawdown. Therefore, a major
portion of the settlements shown in Figure 8 are attributed to the water drawdown. However,
the groundwater table rose as TBM moved away from the monitored location. The settlements
also showed a stable trend post recovery of the groundwater table. As there were no sensitive
structures in the vicinity there was no adverse impact on the ground surface due to the observed
settlements. However, the instrumentation data demonstrates that the successful tunneling in
rock under high water table requires effective groundwater control measures to be in place. The
mixed ground features observed in Site 2 are localized and the rest of the tunnel drive is in
Grade III or better Basalt very with negligible settlements.

4 CONCLUSIONS

Instrumentation data from shallow urban tunneling by TBM in Mumbai geology is presented.
The settlement data in varying geological conditions is analyzed. The data is fitted with Gaussi-
an model to estimate the volume loss and trough width parameters. The study indicates that
volume loss in the range of 0.3% to 0.5% and trough width parameter range from 0.5 to 0.7.
However the absence of groundwater drawdown control measures together with unfavorable
geological condition could increase the magnitude of volume loss to as high as 1.2%. The ini-
tial data indicates that the settlements for tunnel drives in Breccia with mixed weathering grades
and even with open mode of TBM operation are generally less than 10mm. The contact bound-
aries of volcanic (e.g. Basalt) and sedimentary (e.g. Shale) rocks presents possibility of ground-
water drawdown and associated ground settlements of higher magnitude. Appropriate measures
such as TBM operating in closed mode, forward probing and grouting should be implemented to
control groundwater drawdown and settlements. The instrumentation should be used to under-
stand the ground and groundwater response to the tunneling and is an indispensable tool for ur-
ban tunneling.
5 REFERENCES

Guglielmetti, V. (Ed.), Grasso, P. (Ed.), Mahtab, A. (Ed.), Xu, S. (Ed.). 2008. Mechanized Tunnelling in
Urban Areas. London: CRC Press.
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O’Reilly, M.P. and New, B.M. 1982. Settlements above tunnels in the United Kingdom – their magnitude
and prediction. Tunnelling’82, London, 173–181.
Peck, R.B. 1969. Deep excavations and tunneling in soft ground. 7th International Conference on Soil
Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Mexico City State-of-the-Art volume, 225–290.
Schmidt, B. 1969. Settlements and ground movements associated with tunneling in soils. Ph.D. Thesis,
University of Illinois, Urbana.
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stratigraphy. Journal of the Geological Society of India, 53, 359–365.