From Overload

to Insight
Artificial intelligence offers exciting opportunities to
improve the efficiency and safety of many aspects of
tunnelling. Here’s TJ’s peak into a few early ideas.

For a few years now, we’ve been garbage’ out very much applies
complaining about ‘information to machine learning and AI. The
overload’ in tunnelling. All this better the quality of information,
data spewing from machines, the faster the machine will learn
surveying equipment and other and the more accurate the end
sources, that could offer so much result will be.
more insight if it were to be
mined and analysed.
Data management systems with
their summarising dashboards
and the ability to overlay
information from different
sources were the first step.
Now various organisations are
looking at deploying artificial
intelligence (AI) to a wide range
of applications across different
types of tunnel.
Here are a handful of examples,
most of them in the early stages
of development. These range
from using machine learning to
help spot defects in surveys to
grouting control to predicting
the ground ahead of the tunnel
face. These new tools can arm
human operators with more
information ahead of time and,
in some cases, can react quicker
and automatically take over the
controls.
Perhaps the most interesting
idea is Dynamic Infrastructure’s
review of existing photos to spot
defects, because it comes from
outside the immediate tunnelling
industry. It is a reminder that
disruptive innovation could has
the potential to cause the biggest
leaps forward.
One recurring theme from all
the companies we spoke to was
that the old adage of ‘garbage in,

10 Tunnelling Journala
Journal

Speedier survey reviews boost
productivity by 60 percent
Last year, Amberg Engineering
launched AI-driven software
which automatically identifies
problem areas from tunnel
inspection images. According to
Amberg, using the new software
can increase productivity by 60
percent because it removes the
need for engineers to pore over
hundreds of inspection photos.
“Amberg Inspection Cloud works
by bringing the data to the web
and using AI to speed up the
data processing, so the user does
not have to go through all the
data for the whole tunnel,” says
Alzbeta Prokopova, application
and support engineer, tunnel, at
Amberg Technologies. “We want
to deliver the data to the tunnel
owner in an intuitive form so that
he can maintain the tunnel.”
Amberg has already used the
software to process the inspection
of a 7km segmentally-lined road
tunnel. The software was able
to spot cracks and wet spots –
which could then be examined by
an engineer to determine if any
action was required.
“The brain work is still done by
people,” says Prokopova. “The
data shows only the tunnel
surface, not the tunnel history
or the geology around. There
are many factors that have to
be considered, so making those
decisions cannot be automated.”
At the beginning of the
development period, Amberg
considered using laser scan
data points, but this would have
required much more processing
power. “And it also would have
excluded customers who prefer
to use photogrammetry for their
Amberg’s software
uses AI to spot
anomalies in tunnel
survey images
and to make
comparisons over
time.
FROM OVERLOAD TO INSIGHT
surveys,” says Prokopova.
Recent developments in image
processing made the use of
images – both photos and laser
scans – the best solution. “Earlier
there were attempts to use
image processing to automate,
but the results were never good
enough,” says Prokopova. “Now
the technology has reached a
level where we can use artificial
intelligence more easily.”
In selecting the right network
to learn how to spot defects,
Amberg looked at a number of
different options. “We needed
something that could work
with less data,” says Prokopova.
Amberg was advised on AI by
LeanBi, a technology company
that advises on AI applications.
The software only takes a few
hours to train and needs a few
hundred metres of tunnel.
Amberg has used historic survey
images from a variety of different
tunnels so that users of the
software didn’t have to train it
themselves.
One challenge for Amberg
was the switch to working in
the cloud. This is challenging
for some of its customers too,
says Prokopova, because they
are generally large government
departments or construction
or engineering companies who
need to be confident that their
data is secure.
A late hurdle in getting the new
software to market was how to
work with a web-based system
inside a tunnel which has no
internet. Amberg developed an
offline version which can be
used on a tablet and which then
synchronises with the cloud
once connected to the internet
again.
In theory the data could be
transferred into BIM software
and models. The constraining
factor is that there is not yet a
standard format which allows
transfer between programmes.
“Amberg Inspection Cloud
can also be used to compare
consecutive surveys and identify
whether the condition of the
tunnel lining is deteriorating,”
says Prokopova. Eventually
tunnel inspections may not have
to be conducted on a regular
basis – say every four years –
but can be driven by what the
state of the tunnel is.
Tunnelling Journal 11
 FROM OVERLOAD TO INSIGHT

Feast of data to feed TBM’s ‘brain’

Data management specialist “Really it comes down to data; The team is also working
Maxwell GeoSystems, working the quality of it, the consistency on a predictive model that
with contractor Gamuda and and the format of the data. You lets the operator know if
the Colorado School of Mines, need all the data to be entered settlement above the allowed
is investigating how to use AI to digitally and in a common amount is expected so that
improve tunnel process control. format and language set at the they can make adjustments to
“We are working to assist project or even business level,” the face pressure or backfill
Gamuda to come up with more says Grasmick. “We have been grouting to minimise final
intelligent ways of tunnelling, working to digitalise shift reports settlements. “We want to be
not only to speed up current so we can put time stamps and able to notify the operator
projects but more importantly georeferenced reports to shift well in advance of any
to help future projects,” says activities that could be tied into potential exceedance,” says
Jacob Grasmick, a geotechnical the machine learning.” Grasmick.
engineer at Maxwell GeoSystems. “Having so much data in the One barrier that the
“It’s an exciting collaboration.” MissionOS platform gives us a research project has run up
Gamuda has already developed great opportunity to widen the against is availability of data
its Autonomous TBM (A-TBM), dataset available to the AI,” says from past projects in the
which uses embedded logic to Gamuda tunnelling lead Justin region or in similar geology.
analyse data from the TBM in Chin. “We are also keen to use Because data from previous
real time and make changes to statistical methods to evaluate projects is privately owned,
operations including steering the ground characteristics and relate it’s often not possible to gain
machine, support pressures and this to machine performance, access to that data for training
screw speed. The A-TBM system particularly for predicting future the machine learning.
has already been deployed on 10 tunnelling performance” “The UK is pushing towards
of the 12 Herreknecht TBMs that Although the research project open source borehole data
are mining Line 2 of the Klang only began in September 2019, which is really exciting,” says
Valley Mass Rapid Transport the team can already report some Grasmick. “Currently we are
project in Kuala Lumpur for success. “We have been able forced to do machine learning
MMC-Gamuda JV and won an to optimise the TBM operation on projects that are 50% or
innovation award at the last parameters to achieve maximum close to 100% done. The
International Tunnelling and advance rates for different question is how useful will
Underground Space Awards. geologies,” says Mooney. that be for the next project.”
Colorado School of Mines
Center for Underground
researchers, led by Professor
Mike Mooney, have developed
AI algorithms to characterize the
ground that the TBM is mining
through using the TBM operating
data. They have also developed
algorithms to show which
operating parameters influence
advance rate and how this varies
across geology types.
The goal is to use a wider
variety of information sources
which the AI will then process
and feed into the TBM’s AI
‘brain’ to make it even more
efficient. To date, Grasmick and
his colleagues have developed
an application programming
interface (API) which can retrieve
conventional data such as feeds
from the TBM, monitoring
instruments and boreholes.
More challenging is working out
how to incorporate data such
as shift reports and associated
construction records.

Tunnelling Journal 13
 Comparing old photos could revolutionise
tunnel maintenance
Here’s a neat idea: gather up all
the images taken of your tunnel
over the years and use AI to look
for signs of deterioration and map
them.
This is the basis of a new
business called Dynamic
Infrastructure, set up in 2018 by
AI looks through Saar Dickman, an entrepreneur and
historic photos
and flags up
technology specialist, and Amichay
abnormalities for Cohen, who has headed up major
the maintenance toll roads and concessions.
manager’s They realised there was a
attention
technology void when it came
to the maintenance of bridges
and tunnels. “Everything is
concentrated on the construction
period, which is very short and
expensive, but you don’t see too
many tools supporting the 75-year
lifetime,” says Dickman.
Dickman and Cohen realised that
for every tunnel and bridge there
are thousands of photos, taken for
various reasons, spread around
different people and reports. They
created a tool that can look at all
the photos, find ones that match
up in terms of location and create
a story of what is happening to
that patch of tunnel wall, or bridge
girder.
Three years ago, they started
working on an algorithm that
could work with any type of image,
including photos from phones,
cameras, drones or Lidar surveys
and somehow align those images
to be ‘looking’ at the same spot
from the same direction.
“If you can spot defects or
deterioration ahead of time,
you can invest now to save a lot
more money in the future,” says
Dickman.
The level of detail that the
machine learning can reach does
depend on the quality of the
images, says Dickman: “If you
provide us with good photos, we
will provide you with good results.”
But the biggest challenge in getting
their idea up and running have not
been technical.
“The key challenge is proving
to a very professional partner that
computers can support them
in finding the right details. It’s
something cultural,” says Dickman.
“It takes some mind shifting to
14 Tunnelling Journal
understand that computers can
scan thousands and thousands of
defects.”
The software has been trained to
look for differences that indicate
deterioration or problems, and alert
the user, but not to suggest what
could be done to tackle them.
“Our job is to look for meaningful
abnormalities, but we never decide
whether something is a large
maintenance problem or a minor
one,” says Dickman. “It’s up to the
owner or maintenance manager to
decide what to do.”
Dynamic Infrastructure is already
being deployed on structures in
the US, Germany, Switzerland,
Greece and Israel, for both public
and private sector clients. Mostly
these organisations are trialling the
system – which can be accessed
anywhere – for one bridge or
tunnel.
“In some places we are moving
from an initial pilot project to a
bigger adoption,” says Dickman.
“We start with one or two bridges
or tunnels and then we can fine
tune the rules and alerts and then
expand to a larger project.”
Each piece of infrastructure has
its own ‘medical records’ which
can be accessed from the Cloud
anywhere through a mobile device.
The price model involves an annual
payment, scaled depending on
the number of structures involved,
which allows access to the medical
records for as many users as the
owner requires.
“We have set the pricing to
be affordable for any operator,
be it a small Private-Public
Partnership or a large Department
of Transportion,” says Dickman.
“The ‘per asset’ subscription allows
flexibility and unlimited use per
asset.”
For some clients, Dynamic
Infrastructure is using the images
to create a 3D model of the
structure, which allows virtual
inspections so that consultants
or specialist contractors can view
issues and propose solutions.
This isn’t detailed enough to be
called a comprehensive digital
twin, says Dickman. Having talked
to infrastructure managers, they
realised that an accurate working
3D model to aid communication
and locating the defects was all
that was needed.
Maintenance managers start
to understand the usefulness of
the idea as soon as they see all
the images merged and in one
place, says Dickman. Early users
are already finding ways to benefit
from the service. For instance,
one tunnel owner had a problem
with bricks falling from the lining.
Local contractors proposed an
expensive solution, but by showing
the photo story of the deterioration
to specialists in other parts of the
world, a more cost-effective fix
was found.
In the longer term, Dynamic
Infrastructure’s software will be
able to inform the operation and
maintenance managers of future
tunnels and bridges faults. “To get
the advantage of AI, you want to
train it so that it’s getting smarter
and smarter. The aggregated
knowledge of the machine will
be far higher than that of any
single researcher or owner,” says
Dickman. “That’s a meaningful
industry disruption.”
 Predicting shear zones increases
production and safety
Skava Consulting gives each of
its employees two hours a week
to look into new ideas. Project
manager Juan Pablo Merello
used his time to investigate how
AI could make better use of
probe hole data.
Four years on, the company
has developed a machine
learning tool that can predict
the rock ahead for a drill and
blast tunnel to an accuracy of
85 percent. One of the biggest
benefits, says Merello, is that
overbreaks or collapses can
be avoided because the tool –
provided through an app on a
tablet PC – flags up when there
are shear zones ahead.
“The shift manager really
appreciated the forecast because
he knew immediately what his
shift would look like in a couple
of hours’ in terms of rock quality,”
says Merello. “That meant
that short term logistics were
improved. He knew if he had to
install lattice girders, for example,
or if the rock quality was going to
get worse, he needed to call for
the shotcrete to be ready.”
Skava’s innovation programme,
which is supported by funding
from the Chilean Government,
sees initial ideas for innovations
assessed by a panel who decide
whether it is worth devoting
more resource to. Merello’s idea
got the green light and the panel
linked him up with a software
Q Index Forecast
16 Tunnelling Journal
engineer from a sister company.
Merello himself spent more
and more time on the project,
working on it full time latterly.
Skava put the idea to the test
for the first time on a 7.7km river
diversion tunnel in Peru. Skava
was employed on that project to
provide face mapping records for
every advance. The face mapping
and probe hole information was
used to train the AI model.
“You train the model with
existing data sets,” explains
Merello. “The model detects
patterns and then matches
those patterns against ones
it has already seen to predict
what is coming up. It learns with
every advance and every bit of
information you provide.” The
model was trained with 1692 data
sets, with a further 423 data sets
used to test its accuracy.
The number of records
required for the training depends
on the variation in the data,
says Merello. For homogeneous
rock, you might require fewer
data sets than if the ground is
heterogeneous. For a drill-and-
blast tunnel in rock, you might
need 500 to 700m of tunnel or
200 to 300 data sets, he says.
One surprising discovery for
Merello and his colleagues was
that the model, having been
trained in one type of ground,
could predict ground in quite
different ground, although with
lower accuracy. “We took the
model that we had trained for
our Peruvian project and used
it in a tunnel in Chile and got
over 65% accuracy. That meant
that we needed smaller data
sets to train it for new tunnels,
say 50m of tunnel. The patterns
the model detects are really
similar from one tunnel to
another.”
From a technical perspective,
one of the biggest challenges
was getting the data into a
compatible format for the
machine learning. “We had to
move the data sets to a new
format – software engineers
like zeros and ones,” says
Merello.
Otherwise, the challenges
were cultural. The first was
switching the geologists from
paper to tablet records. The
second was convincing clients
that there would be any benefit
from using AI.
“This was something really
new that they didn’t think they
needed because face mapping
with pictures and paper was
doing a perfect job,” says
Merello. “But once we started
to show them that we could
predict the shear zones in
advance, they began to rely on
this model.”
With this initial success under
his belt, Merello wants to go
further with AI. He thinks it
may be possible to predict the
rock mass ahead without using
probe holes, just information
from the face mapping and the
behaviour of the tunnel. The
other thing he would like to
develop is a way of predicting
water inflow into the tunnel,
which would be a huge step
forward.
Skava is committed to the
ongoing developments. Merello
now has two colleagues
who are working on the
development projects with him,
and they hope to secure more
funding from the Government.

Patterns lead the way to more
efficient grouting
Pre-excavation grouting in
rock tunnels can be a delicate
business and requires people with
experience to operate the grouting
equipment. Pumping above a
tolerable pressure can lead to
fracturing (creating new cracks) or
jacking (widening existing cracks)
which results in uneconomical
grouting with losses of time and
material.
“There are always time pressures
related to grouting works, as
there are for all tunnelling works,”
says Helmut Wannenmacher, a
geotechnical expert at Implenia
who has around 20 years’
experience in rock tunnels, mainly
for hydropower. “We expect our
pump drivers to operate and
oversee four pumps at the same
time. From time to time, it’s very
challenging for them to fulfil all
tasks according to the design.
“The overall grouting process
is based on the observational
method, implying in case
of deviations of prediction,
modifications of design”, says
Wannenmacher. The actual
process of fracturing of rock is
rather short, so less-experienced
workers keep pushing, regardless
of whether it is needed and tend
Typical grouting for widening of joint
Typical grouting patterns for jacking/fracturing operation
to oversee fracturing the rock.”
To prevent this from happening,
Wannenmacher and data
management specialist eguana,
are using AI to recognise pressure
and flow patterns. “The biggest
challenge has been how to analyse
and process the data efficiently,”
says Philipp Maroschek, CEO at
eguana. “For AI, one of the most
important things is to understand
the structure of the data, how to
process them and later to combine
with geotechnical processes.”
Their common goal is to link the
AI to the controller of the pump
to either turn it off or adjust flow.
The system will spot that a fracture
is about to happen a few seconds
ahead of time. “I don’t think that
many operators can recognise that
within such a short period,” says
Wannenmacher.
To develop the system,
Wannenmacher collected grouting
data from various construction
sites and analysed the grouting
curves. “We analysed hundreds
of thousands of pressure-volume
curves to find similar patterns and
work out what was normal and
what wasn’t normal,” he says. The
data sets are now used to train the
machine learning algorithm and
FROM OVERLOAD TO INSIGHT
compare the analyses towards
their geotechnical meaning.
“In three to six months I think
we can come up with a box which
drives our grout pumps,” he says.
“I think we can hit that schedule.”
When Wannenmacher talked
to operators about his idea, they
were initially worried. They said
‘you are taking away our jobs’.
Wannenmacher is convinced that
the expertise of operators is still
needed, but system will support
and ease their work.
There is an additional element
on the horizon. Implenia has
started combining polyurethane
and cement-based grouting on a
few trial projects. “At the moment,
the grout pump operator decides
when to add the polyurethane
and how much. Hopefully, we
can train the computer to do
that.” Finding the right proportion
of polyurethane – which varies
between 0 and 40 per cent – has
been a matter of trial and error
so far.
Once Implenia and eguana
have optimised its AI control
for the grout pumps, they may
decide to market its ‘black box’
to other contractors. “We all have
the same problem that we need
to solve,” says Wannenmacher,
“everybody needs a helping hand,
we may provide it as a service.”
eguana is already using AI in
some other areas, for instance,
to produce shift reports
for tunnelling and grouting
operations. E.g. data from the
pump goes to the cloud, with
the computer learning things
such as how long a packer
change takes and automatically
slotting them in.
“The engineers love it, among
other things, because it saves
them time otherwise spent
producing reports at the end of a
shift when everybody wants to go
home,” says Wannenmacher.
Tunnelling Journal 17