CONTENTS

1.0

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 2

2.0

STRUCTURAL COMPONENT ........................................................................................ 3

3.0

4.0

5.0

2.1

Thrust bed ........................................................................................................ 3

2.2

Precast R.C.C. Box ............................................................................................. 4

2.3

Front Cutting Shield & Rear Jacking Shield ........................................................... 5

PUSHING OPERATION OF THE BOX............................................................................. 6

3.1

Hydraulic Equipment .......................................................................................... 7

3.2

Intermediate Jacking Station .............................................................................. 8

DESIGN EXAMPLE .................................................................................................... 10

4.1

Introduction .................................................................................................... 10

4.2

Box pushing methodology ................................................................................ 10

4.3

Analysis and Design methodology ..................................................................... 10

4.4

Material properties........................................................................................... 11

4.5

Primary load cases........................................................................................... 11

4.6

Detailed design calculations .............................................................................. 11

CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................... 11
APPENDIX A
APPENDIX B

1.0

INTRODUCTION
This Present day Intensity of Traffic, both Rail & Road due to the fast
development of Industries and other Infrastructures, is very heavy and so it
cannot the disturbed, for construction of under bridges or Canal Crossings,
drainage etc by conventional construction methods. So to construct such
structures, Box Pushing Technique is developed where in R.C.C. Boxes in
segments are cast outside and pushed through the heavy embankments of
Rail or Road by Jacking. The required thrust is generated through thrust
bed, as well as line and level of precast boxes are also controlled

2.0

STRUCTURAL COMPONENT

2.1

Thrust bed
The thrust bed, thrust Beam and keys are designed in R.C.C. to resist
the required Thrust extorted by Jacking force and transfer it to soil at bottom
and sides. In cohesive soils even shallow piles are required to transfer the
load. Provision for jacking supports is made by providing suitable pockets in
the thrust bed to accommodate pin supports. During the construction of
precast box segments on the thrust bed, the thrust bed are filled with sand or
any other filling material, and the same is covered with screed layer of
cement mortar of 50mm thickness.

2.1 Casting bed showing jacking pin pockets in position

2.2 Construction of casting bed

2.2

Precast R.C.C. Box

The Precast Box is cast in segments of convenient lengths of Total
pushing length. The Box section is designed as per IRS / IRC codes of
practice for loading. Concrete grade normally kept as M-35. Front face of the
precast box segment which pierce into the embankment is provided with
inclined edge as shown in the following figure.

2.3 Front face of concrete precast segment

2.3

Front Cutting Shield & Rear Jacking Shield

The First Segment of the precast box is provided with a specially
designed structure named as cutting shield which forms the front working
face with a cutting edge fabricated from 16 to 20 mm thick M.S. Plates and
housed on RCC Box section with suitable anchor bolts. Necessary
strengthening is provided by stiffeners and face plates of Box in front on
completion of jacking the outer shell of the shield is cut and removed
The Rear Jacking shield is provided by anchoring steel plate on the
face of Bottom slab of RCC Box suitably designed to distribute the jacking
load uniformly on concrete area.

3.0

PUSHING OPERATION OF THE BOX

The purpose of pushing of Box is to form a horizontal opening below
ground or through embankments, can say a tunnel, by providing precast box
units underground or an embankment, without disturbing the overhead
amenities, like traffic & structures.
To reduce the frictional resistance, a thin film of Grease and thick gauge
plastic sheet is provided between the top of the thrust bed & Bottom of the
Box. This is done before casting of the Bottom slab of the box. A Glossy
Epoxy layer is also provided to reduce friction on the top and prevent the
disturbance of the mass over box to least during progress of pushing
Where mass of embankment is less or the soil is of poor quality, drag
sheet system is also considered for least resistance of friction and
disturbance of mass above box. This avoids disturbance of track structure
due to the pushing operation where minimum depth of earth cushion is
provided over the top of box. Typical drag sheet arrangement is shown in the
following figure.

Figure 3.1 Drag sheet arrangement over box

Figure 3.2 Drag sheet arrangement over box with truss

Auxiliary beds are also provided for casting of the other segments
with thin film of grease and plastic and segments are then brought in
alignment of pushing as and when required as pushing progresses.
With the progress of jacking, the front unit with shield penetrates into
the embankment and there after excavation within the shield is done either
manually or mechanically and the excavated stuff is transported outside the
working area.
After the first segment advances to the end of the thrust bed, the
second segment is brought in alignment of the front Box & intermediate
jacking space is lift between the two. The progress of pushing is kept
continuous and the system of side shifting of remaining box segments from
Auxiliary bed and bring in pushing alignment is adopted till total length is
pushed.

3.1

Hydraulic Equipment
The entire Box Pushing system is matter of proper selection of
Hydraulic equipments, as tremendous driving force is required for pushing of
medium to large size of Boxes. So for this, Number of Jack units are
provided in series for distribution of pushing load evenly on the face of the

concrete, and all Jacks are operated simultaneously with a common power
pack, which supplies uniform flow of pressure through network of Hydraulic
pipes of required pressure capacity, commencing from front unit to rear unit.
Jacking force is applied in sequence. This way pushing cycles are repeated
till total pushing is completed.

Figure 3.3 Jacking of end segment of box from thrust bed

3.2

Intermediate Jacking Station

As total length of Box is casted in Segments, each segment is pushed
turn by turn with necessary jacking force and so for this necessary
intermediate jacking stations are provided, with jacking pockets in bed &
walls.

Figure 3.4 Jacking of intermediate segment

4.0

DESIGN EXAMPLE

4.1

Introduction
Design of RUB which is proposed for a rail connectivity taking off from
railway station is covered in this document. The RUB is a RCC box of size 1
x 7.5 x 5.888m which has to be constructed below the railway track. It is
proposed to use Box pushing methodology for making the underpass without
interrupting the rail traffic above it. Barrel length of the box is 22.0m.

4.2

Box pushing methodology

Box pushing Methodology is a well suited construction method for
making underpass below the rail tracks without disturbing the rail traffic.
Number of RCC box segments to be pushed is depending upon the barrel
length of the RUB. In this project, two box segments of 11.0m each is used.
The entire operation takes place by pushing the box against thrust bed, and
removing the soil at the front end of the first box segment. Thrust bed
consists mainly of thrust wall, pin pockets and keys for additional resistance.
Thrust bed is designed for box pushing force which depends on the frictional
resistance of the soil.

4.3

Analysis and Design methodology

Analysis of the box has been done by moment distribution
method by considering all the loads on it and with suitable load
combinations. IRC-6 : 2010 has been followed for arriving the effect of road
traffic on the base slab. In addition to these loads pushing force on the box
and frictional resisting force due to soil also considered for the design.
Design bending moments and design shear forces have been taken from the
moment distribution method. The design of structural elements has been
carried out using IRS codes - Limit state method as per codes: IRS
Substructure Code, Concrete Bridge Code and Bridge rules.

4.4

Material properties
Table 4.1 Material Properties

Material
Grade of Concrete for box

4.5

4.6

Grade
M35

Grade of Steel reinforcement

Fe 500

Grade of Steel reinforcement for Shear

Fe 415

Primary load cases

i.

Self weight, and earth fill over the box

ii.

Super imposed dead load

iii.

Rail Live load and traction forces (Bridge rules, IRS)

iv.

Box pushing forces and resisting forces from the soil

v.

Earth Pressure

vi.

Surcharge Pressure(Due to DL & LL)

vii.

Road traffic loads

Detailed design calculations

Detailed load calculation, analysis, Calculation of pushing force,
Design of RUB and thrust bed are provided in Appendix A

5.0

CONCLUSION
The entire system is purely technical, dependent on Hydraulic
system, & safest method of crossing underground / Embankment, without
disturbing overhead traffic / structures for R.U.B., Canal siphon and other
drainage crossings.

Appendix A
Design Calculations

Appendix B
Drawings