Chapter - 6

Engineering Geology of Tunnels

 Tunnel is one of the underground engineering structures
that is constructed below cities, rivers and through
mountains for the purpose of transportation (road and
railway), water supply, hydropower generation,
irrigation and etc.
Tunnel Excavation
 Tunnels can be excavated by drilling and blasting
method, Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM), Cut and Cover
Tunneling and Sequential Excavation Method
Excavation By Drilling And Blasting Method
 It is the tunneling method that involves the use of
explosives
 Drilling rigs are used to bore blast holes on the proposed
tunnel surface then explosives and timed detonators are
placed in the blast holes.
Advantages of drilling & blasting methods
 Almost any type and cross sectional shapes can be made.
 It can be applied to nearly any type of rock.
 It gives great flexibility in the performance of the
excavation.
 The rock support can be installed easily and quickly
Disadvantages of drilling & blasting methods
 Production of gases and smoke from the explosives,
which leads poor working conditions for the team
 Vibrations on nearby structures from the blasting
 The blasting creates new cracks in the rocks, which leads
to increased rock support
Excavation by Tunnel Boring Machines (TBM)
 It is a circular tunnel excavation machine consists of a rotating
cutter head and often used for excavating of long tunnels.
 It was developed after World War II, first for the weaker
types and Later the method has been greatly improved to be
used also in harder rocks.
 It use for tunnel with diameter been between 3m and 10m

 Its capacity can be depend on the strength of rock, degree of

jointing and other weakness planes of rock mass.
Advantages Using TBM Excavation
 It requires less rock supporting.
 It is more effective and economic for longer tunnel
excavation.
 It has higher tunneling capacity.
 It gives better working conditions for the team.
Disadvantages of TBM Excavation
 More (better) geological information from the pre-
investigation stage is required.
 It requires the selection of appropriate equipment for
different rock mass and geological conditions.
 It is a less flexible method than drill & blast method.
 Only longer tunnel sections can be bored more
economically (because of larger investment and rigging
costs) than drill and blast.
 The TBM may get stuck under squeezing rock
conditions
 It is difficult to perform / install rock support at the
tunnel face.
 In extremely hard rock mass it is an inefficient and
uneconomical and may take longer time than the drill-and-
blast tunneling method.
1. Investigating the Stand-Up Time
 it is the amount of time a tunnel will support itself
without any added structures.
 Knowing this time allows the engineers to determine how
much can be excavated before support is needed.
 The longer the stand-up time is the faster the excavating
will go.
 Generally certain configurations of rock and clay will have
the greatest stand-up time, and sand and fine soils will
have a much lower stand-up time.
 It can be controlled by condition of geological material,
groundwater condition, tunnel shape and size
(diameter)
 The New Austrian Tunnelling Method includes a number of
techniques for safe tunnelling in rock conditions in which
the stand-up time is limited before failure occurs.
 These techniques include the use of smaller headings and
benching or the use of multiple drifts to form a reinforced
ring inside which the bulk of the tunnel can be excavated.
 These techniques are applicable in soft rocks such as
shales, phyllites and mudstones in which the squeezing and
swelling problems are likely to occur.
 The techniques are also applicable when tunneling in
excessively broken rock, but great care should be taken in
attempting to apply these techniques to excavations in hard
rocks in which different failure mechanisms occur.
 Tunnel Supporting
 It is carried out to improve the stability of the tunnels
◦ Some examples of tunnel supporting methods are rock bolting,
shotcrete , concrete and steel lining
Tunnel supporting works are carried out in two main stages:
 Initial support stage: It is installed to secure safe working
conditions for the tunneling team. It also use to ensure tunnel
stability until the secondary or permanent support system, for
example, a concrete lining, is installed.
 Permanent support: It is carried out to meet the
requirements for a satisfactory function of the tunnel during
its life.
 The Rock Quality Designation index (RQD) was developed
by Deere (Deere et al 1967) to provide a quantitative
estimate of rock mass quality from drill core logs.
 RQD is defined as the percentage of intact core pieces
longer than 100 mm (4 inches) in the total length of core.
 Therefore:
◦ This is the qualitative estimation of rock mass quality from the drill
core log
◦ It is define as the percentage of intact core pieces longer than 10cm
in the total run.
Volumetric Count
 Palmström (1982) suggested that, when no core is
available but discontinuity traces are visible in surface
exposures or exploration adits, the RQD may be estimated
from the number of discontinuities per unit volume.
 The suggested relationship for clay-free rock masses is:
 RQD = 115 - 3.3 Jv
 Where, Jv is the total numbers of discontinuities more
than 10cm long in 1m x 1m exposed rock face.
 RQD can also be worked out by Priest And Hudson’s
‘Scan Line Method’.
 In this method distribution of discontinuity spacings
along a straight line through a rock mass is considered.
 RQD = 100 e-0.1λ (0.1λ +1)
 Where, λ=mean number of discontinuities/meter.
 1. Calculate the RQD value for the following 350cm
drilled core run.
3. Geomechanics Classification
 In general to design the type of tunnel support the concept
of rock mass classification is very important.
 For this classification the Rock Mass Rating (RMR)
system which consider about six parameters is commonly
used (After Bieniawski 1989).
The six parameters used to classify a rock mass by
using the RMR system:
1.Uniaxial compressive strength of rock material.
2.Rock Quality Designation (RQD).
3.Spacing of discontinuities.
4.Condition of discontinuities.
5.Groundwater conditions.
6.Orientation of discontinuities.
Assignment 1.
 A tunnel is to be driven through slightly weathered granite
o
with a dominant joint set dipping at 60 along the
direction of the drive. Index testing and logging of
diamond drilled core give the compressive values of
80MPa and average RQD values of 70%. The slightly
rough and slightly weathered joints with a separation of <
1mm, are spaced at 300 mm. Tunneling conditions are
anticipated to be wet.
Determine the:
A) RMR
B) Excavation Criteria and
C) Supporting systems for this tunnel.
Tunnel Shaft
 It is the vertical openings to the horizontal tunnel and used
for supplying equipment, personnel and support systems
to the horizontal tunnel and as ventilation shafts and as
emergency exits.
 It is the main entrance in and out of the tunnel until the
project is completed.
 If a tunnel is going to be long, multiple shafts at various
locations will be bored so that entrance into the tunnel is
closer to the unexcavated area.
Geological Problem on Tunnels
1. Tunnels in the soft ground:
 The soft ground can be unconsolidated materials such as
gravels, sand, silt, clays and soft shale
 The tunnel excavation through such ground does not
require blasting, but always need high quality arch
support
 It short standup time can affect time of tunneling.
 If the tunnel that constructed in soft ground is shallow the
roof load is high and it can be the full weight of the
overlying material, so it require a very strong lining
support.
2. Tunnels in the hard rock strata
 Relatively it is more stable than the tunnel that constructed
in the soft ground
 It required the blasting
 Based on the rock mass quality it required different
strength of lining support
3. Swelling rocks: such as shale, unconsolidated tuff and
anhydrite rocks are affect the stability of tunnel.
 To stabilize them it need strong lining support and also
they must be protected from wetting
4. Inclined rock strata: when the tunnel is driven parallel
to the strike of rock strata, the block of rock fall into
the tunnel and affect the stability of the tunnel.
 But if it driven across the strike it can pass through
different strata and the ground water inflow problem may
occur.
5. Folded rocks: tunnel driven in synclinal fold has high
rock fall and ground water inflow problem than that
driven in the anticline fold
6. Fault zone: the fault zone commonly associated with
highly crushed rocks which is highly permeable and
allows ground water inflow problems in tunnels
 They also form unstable tunnel roof which need strong
lining supports
7. Jointed rocks: if the rock is highly jointed it is easy for
excavation but it can cause rock fall and ground water
inflow problems
8. Rock bursting: it is a suddenly breaking of rock from the
sides of tunnel excavation which can release hundreds of
tonnes of rock with explosive force. Most rock bursts
occur at depths in excess of 600m and in rocks that have
unconfined compressive strengths and values of Young’s
modulus greater than 140 MPa and 34.5 GPa, respectively
 The greatest groundwater hazard in underground work is the
presence of unexpected water-bearing zones, and therefore,
whenever possible, the position of hydrogeological
boundaries should be located. Obviously, the location of the
water table, and its possible fluctuations, are of major
consequence.
 Water pressures are more predictable than water flows as they
are nearly always a function of the head of water above the
tunnel location. They can be very large, especially in confined
aquifers.
 Sulphate-bearing solutions attack concrete, thus water quality
must be investigated. Particular attention should be given to
water flowing from sequences containing gypsum and
anhydrite. Rocks containing iron pyrite also may give rise to
water-carrying sulphates, as well as acidic water.
 The direction of this control may be achieved by using
drainage, compressed air, grouting or freezing techniques.
 Naturally occurring gas can occupy the pore spaces and voids in
rock. This gas may be under pressure, and there have been
occasions when gas under pressure has burst into underground
workings, causing the rock to fail with explosive force (Bell and
Jermy, 2002).
 this is one of the most difficult tunnel hazards to predict.
 Many gases are dangerous. For example, methane, CH4,
methane toxic, it also is combustible and highly explosive when
5–15% is mixed with air. Carbon dioxide, CO2, and carbon
monoxide, CO, are both toxic.
 Hydrogen sulphide, H2S, is heavier than air and is highly toxic.
It also is explosive when mixed with air.
 Sulphur dioxide, SO2, is a colorless pungent asphyxiating gas
that dissolves readily in water to form sulphuric acid. It usually
is associated with volcanic emanations, or it may be formed by
the breakdown of pyrite.
 Tmp. tunnels are not usually of concern unless the tunnel
is more than 170m below the surface.
 The rate of increase in rock temperature with depth
depends on the geothermal gradient that, in turn, is
inversely proportional to the thermal conductivity, k, of
the material involved:

 Although the geothermal gradient varies with locality,

according to rock type and structure, on average it
increases at a rate of 1OC per 30–35 m depth. In
geologically stable areas, the mean gradient is 1OC for
every 60–80 m, whereas in volcanic districts, it may be as
much as 1OC for every 10–15 m depth.