Tunneling : Drill and Blast Method

Prepared by Jitin Malhotra 08515g

Tunnelling : Drill-and-blast Method

The advancement of long tunnels through hard rock well before tunnel boring machines (TBMs) were invented relied entirely on the drill-and-blast method. Today, the drill-and-blast method is still widely practiced and used in building tunnels through hard rock where the use of tunnel boring machines is not justified and too expensive. The drill-and blast-method is also used in combination with full face drilling with tunnel boring machines.

PROCEDURE
As the name suggests, drilling and blasting works as follows: A number of holes are drilled into the rock, which are then filled with explosives. Detonating the explosive causes the rock to collapse. Rubble is removed and the new tunnel surface is reinforced. Repeating these steps will eventually create a tunnel.

The positions and depths of the holes (and the amount of explosive each hole receives) are determined by a carefully constructed pattern, which, together with the correct timing of the individual explosions, will guarantee that the tunnel will have an approximately circular cross-section.

CYCLE

TIME:Cycle time is the time taken between two consecutive blast. That is sum of time taken to all the activities between two consecutive blasts.

Progress of work <

Cycle time (if length of blast is same)

DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES OF CYCLE TIME 1. Drilling and blasting 2. Defuming 3. Mucking 4. Scaling 5. First layer shotcrete 6. Rockbolting 7. Wiremesh stiching 8. Lattice girder fixing 9. Forepoling 10. Second layer shotcrete 11. Bottom cleaning and survey 12.Final rock bolting 13.Face drilling. 14.Charging and blast. 15.Intrruptions.

DRILLING AND BLASTING Drilling is done with help of drill jumbo (tamrock) with two or three booms. It has drilling capacity of 2m per minute , after drilling gelatine is loaded.

Defuming

Gases produced after blast are allowed to go out. Defuming is carried out to about half an hour. Duct pipe is used for this purpose which is also used for ventilation.

Mucking

Muck produced during blast is removed in dumpers and dumped at dumping site. To clear the face quickly the muck is disposed at nearby points ,can be in a tunnel or outside and then later taken to dumping site.

Scaling

After mucking, scaling is done to remove the loose rock left after blast. It is done with help of tamrock, twin cutter and excavator/backhoe.

Twin Cutter

Tamrock

First

layer of shotcrete Shotcreteing is done immediately after the blast to increase the standup time of rock and to prevent any loose rockfall. Its thickness is usually 50 mm. Its done with shotcrete machine.

Rockbolting

Rockbolting is done after first layer of shotcrete 25 mm or 30 mm dia rockbolts are used initially and their spacing depends on the rock conditions. It is done with tamrock.

Rock Bolt

Wiremesh

Wiremesh is placed between the shotcrete to increase its strength. Wiremesh of size 100x100x4 is used .

Lattice

girder fixing Lattice girders of 3 sets are fixed after wire mesh installation. These are basically made of steel bars having different sizes like 25, 25, 32 dia. They are fixed to walls with help of bolts.

Forepoling

Forepoling is the process in which steel bars of 6m length , dia 32 mm are inserted into the face from crown to bottom.

FOREPO LES

Final

layer shotcrete Final shotcreting is done finally with executed after forepolling.
Bottom

cleaning and survey Finally cleaning of bottom surface is done and survey is done with the help of total station.
Final

rock bolting Final rock bolting is done depending upon the type of rock to give more strength.
Interruptions

Interruptions are the time taken in activities which, without completion of other work cannot be completed or started. Holidays are also the part of interruptions.

Total Station

Paper Target

Interruptions!

LINING AT DIFFERENT ADITS

During lining reinforcement is provided at places where needed. No reinforcement is provided upto rock class (iii). Lining is done in different thickness it may be 40mm or 60mm. For lining gantry is used which also act as form work and vibrators are also attached with it for the compaction of concrete. M20 concrete is used for lining.

LINING

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