EFFECT OF COMPLEX

ENGINEERING STRUCTURES
AND THEIR INTERACTION WITH
TUNNELS OR CAVERNS
Submitted to: Dr. Zaka Emad

SUBMITTED BY: Mohammad Mustafa Fakhar

2016-GE-27
Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................2

Case Study ..................................................................................................................................2

Investigation ...............................................................................................................................2

Results and Discussion ................................................................................................................4

Conclusion and Recommendation ...............................................................................................4

References ..................................................................................................................................5
Introduction
Tunneling is a tedious work, which accompanies various complexities that need to be considered
in order to project a fruitful outcome for it. This includes numerous factors of geological
engineering, such as geotechnical engineering, rock mechanics etc. Our major focus to determine
various cases where the tunnel construction interfered with natural structures which further led to
increased complications of the tunnel. The case study that I have focused on is Ceppo Morelli
Tunnel, situated in NW Alps in Italy. The tunnel construction was subjected to rock block
instability which led to injuries for few minors that were working in that tunnel. However, it is
important to understand as to what sort of complexities had been encountered during the
construction of this tunnel, such that this minute cost would help engineers in the future to eradicate
larger expenses of cost and life.

Case Study
The case study is of Ceppo Morelli Tunnel. The geology of Ceppo Morelli consists of non-
weathered and fractured mica-schist and para-gneiss, metamorphic rocks with RMR index ranging
in between 33-47. The tunnel had been excavated full face, which was done by TBM following a
small exploratory tunnel of 3.5m diameter.

Figure 1 Rock Mass Failure at the face of the tunnel

Source: Barla (2017)

Investigation
In order to investigate the rock mass condition, 3D geo-mechanical model was utilized which was
deemed to highlight various instabilities that would form at the tunnel face and along the tunnel
parameters. Among these methods, Terrestrial Laser Scanning and Infrared Thermography was
also used. Most of the data that was obtained from a stand point of 6m and other monitory tool
concluded that the rock mass conditions were safe to be excavated. However, the image obtained
from TLS would highlight that there are 7 different discontinuities in the tunnel, which would pose
some basic and immense hurdle for the presentation of a proper excavation. However, when
compared to conventional mapping data, both reports give out the same set of results, i.e. the
mapping data also highlighted the presence of 7 different discontinuities, however, TLS identifies
that all these discontinuities are not situated in a single axis tunnel.

Figure 2 Stereographic plot of tunnel axis: TLS vs conventional mapping

Source: Barla (2017)

With the TLS image, we can observe the distance between the extrados and the steel ribs, which
shows that there is one significant over break along the tunnel profile. One anomaly that was
observed in the tunnel contour was the evidence of rock blocks detachments. Through this
anomaly, it was possible to restructure the source of instability that caused the tunnel to collapse,
thus, performing kinematic analysis throughout the tunnel.
 Figure 3 Point Cloud via TLS
Source: Barla (2017)

The above figure shows the rock blocks that had structured on a specific domain of the tunnel,
along with the onset of instability modes that have also been highlighted.

Results and Discussion

It was determined that the instability at the tunnel was due to over-break that had occurred,
especially due to improper scaling procedures (S and Oreste, 2010). Furthermore, due to the non-
presence of shotcrete and its placement at and along the tunnel were not appropriate to continue
tunneling procedure as well as the placement of steel sets within the tunnel. This was identified to
be the probable cause of the collapse of the tunnel at the face (S and Oreste, 2010, Barla, 2017).

Conclusion and Recommendation

The collapsing of tunnel that had occurred in Ceppo Morelli have been discussed in this report.
This report investigates the main cause of the collapse of tunnel at the face. With the help of TLS
images that were obtained of the tunnel and the stereographic plot, it can be observed that the
scaling procedure that had been identified in this tunneling procedure was immensely vague as to
provide one proper possible solution for the tunnel construction. Furthermore, difference in TLS
image and conventional mapping image suggest that the discontinuities were concentrated at a
single tunnel axis, which was ignored in the conventional mapping procedure. Despite the presence
of these discontinuities, shotcrete was not implemented along with proper support at the face of
the tunnel, which had non-profitable rock mass conditions, which led to over breaking of rock a
the tunnel face.
References
BARLA, G. 2017. Case Studies of Tunnel Instability and Interaction with the Ground Surface and
Manmade Structures.
S, L. & ORESTE, P. 2010. Ceppo Morelli Block-Falls Probability Study to Support the Decision
of Excavating a by-Pass Tunnel. American Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences,
3.