Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 72 (2018) 323–332

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Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/tust

Key aspects of a DN4000 steel pipe jacking project in China: A case study of T
a water pipeline in the Shanghai Huangpu River
⁎
Jianfeng Wang , Kang Wang, Tao Zhang, Shuai Wang
Shanghai Road and Bridge (Group) Co., Ltd., Shanghai 200433, PR China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Pipe Jacking is one of the most popular method to construct new pipelines below the ground surface in the area
Pipe jacking of oil & gas, water supply, sewage, communication and electricity pipelines, and pipe-roof projects. The common
DN4000 jacked pipes are concrete pipes, steel pipes, glass Fiber Reinforced plastic Mortar Pipes (FRMP), cast ductile iron
Bentonite slurry pipes and clay pipes. The key technologies involved includes but not limited to: selection of the jacking machine,
Trajectory
jacking force prediction and reduction, trajectory deviation control and corrosion protection. Moreover, the key
Corrosion
technologies may changes from one jacking project to another one, as the geological conditions and the size of
the jacking projects changes. These key aspects are crucial importance especially for the large diameter pipe
jacking, because out of control of theses aspects will remarkably increase of the failure risks. In this paper, these
key aspects were introduced and discussed based on the largest diameter steel pipe jacking project, called C3
pipe jacking project. This projects involved nine sections of a DN4000 mm and totally 5221 m jacking length in
soft soil strata. The largest single jacking length between two shafts is 970 m. An earth-pressure-balance pipe-
jacking machine (EPB) with a large spoke-type cutter face was employed to excavate the soil. A highly viscous
bentonite slurry mixed with polymer was used to reduce the friction resistance. Close control of the pipe welding
and use of corrosion protection technology has ensured the efficiency and quality of the project.

1. Introduction et al., 2010).

In the past century, many large pipe jacking projects have been
constructed around the world. In recent years, notable projects include
a 2.4 m diameter and 1040 m long drainage tunnel constructed in
Canada in April 2012 (Shen et al., 2012). A 7.8 km (4.9 miles) project
with 1.37 m or 1.52 m diameter was implemented in America (Smith
et al., 2001). A 3.13 m diameter steel pipe was constructed in South
Africa (Trebicki et al., 2002). Approximately 48.3 km (30 miles) of pipe
was jacked with fourteen tunnel crossings in America (Shirk, 2016). In
China, many large diameter and long distance pipe jacking projects
were also constructed in recent years. Some of the projects are:
Guangzhou Xijiang project with 5.14 km jacking distance and 2.4 m or
3.6 m diameter (Zhong et al., 2011), Shanghai Qingcaosha project with
27 km jacking distance and 3.6 m diameter (Gu, 2012), Shanghai
Hongqiao energy center pipeline project with 4.2 m outside diameter
steel pipe and 4.7 m outside diameter concrete pipe (Zhou et al., 2014),
Kunming sewage treatment plant drainage project with 4 m inner dia-
meter concrete pipe and 1188 m jacking length (Tunnel Construction,
2014), Shanghai West Beijing Road-West Huaxia Road electrical cable
tunnel project with 3.5 m diameter and 6.22 km jacking distance (Ding
From the cases listed above, most of the projects which has more
than 4 m diameter are concrete pipe jacking while most steel pipe
jacking projects are less than 3 m diameter. C3 section of Huangpu
River water pipelines project is both large and long in diameter and
distance without precedent in China before. Compared to small dia-
meter pipe jacking, the large diameter projects are likely to experience
more risks. Such as excessive jacking path deviation and jacking force,
difficulty of lubrication mud grouting and steel pipe buckling. To avoid
or minimize the failure risk, successful use of the key technologies in-
volved is particularly important. In this paper, the key aspects of the
pipe jacking are analyzed based on the Section C3 of the overall pipe
jacking project.
2. Background of the C3 section of the pipe jacking project
2.1. Project background
The connecting pipe project in the upstream water source area of
Huangpu River includes the water transmission line, the Songjiang
pump station and three water delivery branch points at Qingpu, Jinshan

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: wjf7907@126.com (J. Wang).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tust.2017.12.012
Received 15 July 2017; Received in revised form 26 October 2017; Accepted 13 December 2017
Available online 19 December 2017
0886-7798/ © 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
J. Wang et al. Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 72 (2018) 323–332

Fig. 1. Construction schematic plan of C3 section.

and Minfeng. The project starts from a shaft in the pump station of Jinze Zhongxin river and including obstacles such as high-voltage towers and
Reservoir, and terminates at the Minfeng water point. The water communication lines. The range of single jacking distances is between
transmission line is constructed using steel pipes with 4 m or 3.6 m 600 and 1000 m. Some wells, especially JB07 and JB08, are in a con-
inner diameter, and pipe jacked segments are connected using 70 fined aquifer, so sudden water ingress or other conditions were of
working shafts. As steel pipe has a good sealing performance, a high concern. Because of the long construction distance as well as the large
inner pressure capacity and little impact on the environment, it is diameter steel pipe, which lead to the lubrication mud difficult to
widely applied in urban drainage pipe construction (Chen, 2012). The surround the pipes entirely and the pipe-soil friction resistance in-
project is being used to transport 3.51 million cubic meters of water crease. Additionally, the large diameter steel pipes with high stiffness
every day (m3/d) through the 42 km transmission line. The success of are hard to adjust trajectory and need more stoppage time to welding.
this project will improve the ability to face a sudden water pollution So it is more difficult to control jacking force, trajectory and improve
incident, will enhance the safety of the raw water supply and promote jacking efficiency, etc. than in typical smaller diameter and shorter
the economic, social and environmental development of Shanghai. jacking distance projects. This paper focuses on those problems and
This paper focus on the C3 section of the project which runs from difficulties.
the JB03 shaft in Qingpu to the JB12 shaft in the Songjiang pump
station with a length of 5220.95 m, including 8 working shafts and 9 2.2. Geological conditions
jacking sections (Fig. 1, Table 1). The steel pipes used in the C3 section
are constructed with 4 m inner diameter and two different wall thick- The strata of the C3 section consist of artificial fill, silty soil, mucky
ness (40 mm and 38 mm). Such kind of large diameter and length steel soil, clay and sandy soil, as shown in Table 2 and Fig. 2. Fig. 2 shows the
pipe jacking project is firstly constructed in China with no construction strata condition of the JB06-JB07 jacking section which is noteworthy
precedent. because it has the longest jacking length and deepest depth of pipe. The
The C3 section crosses various types of terrain, including woodland, pipe jacking passes through mucky silty clay, silty clay and sandy soil at
fishponds, river channels and sluices. The geomorphic type along the
project line is a limnetic plain and slightly undulating. The surrounding Table 2
environment of the project is relatively complicated requiring jacking Summary of soil properties.
through areas containing multiple important watercourses and ports
such as Nandagang, Huanqiao port, Dongtang port, Qingsong port and Layer Soil Ps of CPT Density Cohesion Internal
(MPa) (kN/m3) (kPa) friction angle
(°)
Table 1
Information of all jacking periods of C3 section. ②1 Silty clay 0.70 18.5 19 20.5
②3 Silty clay 1.35 18.7 6 30.5
Jacking period Diameter-wall Pipe length Buried depth of pipe ③1 Mucky 0.41 17.6 13 18.0
thickness (mm) (m) center (m) silty clay
③1-inter Sandy silt 4.56 18.4 7 29.5
JB04～JB03 DN4000-38 253.05 −7.50 to −7.50 ③3 Clay 0.51 17.6 14 16.5
JB04～JB05 DN4000-38 289.06 −7.50 to −7.50 ⑥1-1 Silty clay 2.22 19.4 33 19.0
JB06～JB05 DN4000-38 763.30 −9.00 to −7.50 ⑥1-2 Silty clay 1.38 18.9 29 19.0
JB07～JB06 DN4000-40 969.94 −12.50 to −9.00 ⑥2-1 Sandy silt 3.41 18.7 5 31.0
JB08～JB07 DN4000-40 926.02 −12.50 to −12.50 ⑥2-2 Sandy silt 5.96 19.0 5 32.0
JB08～JB09 DN4000-40 637.61 −12.50 to −8.00 ⑥3 Silty 0.96 18.4 19 19.5
JB09～JB10 DN4000-38 247.60 −8.00 to −8.00 clayey soil
JB11～JB10 DN4000-38 689.30 −9.00 to −8.00 ⑥3-inter Sandy silt 3.18 18.5 26 31.0
JB11～JB12 DN4000-38 433.84 −9.00 to −9.00 ⑥4-1 Silty clay 2.22 19.6 40 19.5
Total 5220.95
CPT: Cone penetration test. Ps: specific penetration resistance.

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Fig. 2. JB06-JB07 stratigraphic section.

the elevation between −7.5 and −12.5 m. The mucky silty clay has employed in this project was designed by the Shanghai Road Bridge
uneven soil quality and rheological thixotropy properties with a Group with the Yangzhou Guangxin Heavy Industrial Equipment Co.
thickness of 0.4–19.10 m. These engineering properties are poor for the Ltd fabricating and assembling the machine. The machine has following
pipe jacking, which will increase the risk of the project. The silty clay particular characteristics:
and the sandy silt are compatible with the pipe jacking with a thickness
of 0.6–8.00 m and 0.6–13.8 m, respectively. (1) The cutter face of the machine is of the spoke type. When jacking,
the earth pressure in the soil bin equals the earth pressure of the
excavating surface. It is different to that for a normal EPB for which
2.3. Hydrogeologic condition
there exists Δp between the earth pressure in the soil bin and the
excavating surface.
Underground water that is closely related to engineering construc-
(2) The soil cut by the machine is transported into a stirring tank by the
tion in Shanghai includes phreatic water, micro confined water and
screw conveyor. After they are mixed with water and stirred, it is
confined water in quaternary deposits. The phreatic water occurs in
transported to a surface precipitation tank through a pipe. After
shallow strata with a burial depth of 0.3–1.5 m. The micro confined
precipitating the solid material, the clear water goes to a recycling
water is found in silty soil and sandy soil which are located in the lower
tank for reuse. The sludge pipe and water delivery pipe both are
part of Holocene deposits, appearing in a discontinuous distribution
steel pipes with a diameter of 15 cm.
and partly connecting with the confined water. The burial depth of the
(3) This kind of machine has a wide application. The large spoke cutter
micro confined water is 3–11 m, and changes periodically with the
face cuts the soil mass in a full section, so that there will be only a
tides. The confined water is located in silty soil and sandy soil in the
very slight influence made on the surrounding area during jacking
upper Pleistocene deposits with a burial depth of 3–12 m. The water
and the surface settlement will be small after construction. It is
level of the confined water also changes periodically. The project is
especially applicable to a project that passes through river beds and
close to the Taimao river and Mao river where the river level varies
close to some important structures with high protection require-
with the tides. Because the shallow soil strata consist of clayey silt,
ments.
laminated clay soil, sandy silt and laminated sandy silt, which have
strong permeability, it is necessary to pay attention to the potential for
The main design parameters are listed in Table 3.
a hydraulic connection between the aquifer and the river.

4. Grouting process and mud performance

3. Selection of pipe jacking machine
The large thrust requirements for large diameter pipe jacking makes
Selection of the pipe jacking machine is an important part of the
high demands on the compressive strength of the pipe, the launching
construction design which to a great extent determines the construction
shaft structure and the bearing thrust capacity of back of the jacking
difficulties, risks, schedule and cost (Liu and Guo, 2009). A wrong se-
machine. Therefore, it is critical to apply a suitable slurry to reduce the
lection of jacking machine not only has negative effects on construction
jacking resistance as much as possible (Zhang, 2006). In this project,
schedule, but also increase the risks of excavation face collapse, ground
bentonite mud was applied in the section JB06∼JB05 and the unit area
surface settlement or water inrush (Cai et al., 2010). According to the
frictional resistance was calculated over different periods from the
design drawings and geological investigation report, the C3 section
jacking force data to analyze the resistance reduction effect of the
mainly traverses sandy silt, silty clay and mucky silty clay for which the
bentonite mud. Polymer bentonite mud was applied in JB06-JB07,
grain size and permeability are both small. An earth-pressure-balance
analyzing the relationship between jacking force, grouting volume and
(EPB) machine is preferred and economical in this situation.
jacking length, then calculating the unit area frictional resistance to get
Considering the pipe diameter of 4 m and the situation of obstacles
the resistance reduction effect of the polymer bentonite mud. From the
along the project line such as high voltage towers, rivers and commu-
application of these two kinds of mud in practice, it is possible to
nication lines, the final selection was to use an open spoke cutter layout
analyze their different effects.
EPB pipe-jacking machine which transfers the soil to the surface as a
mud slurry (Fig. 3.).
Extensive previous experience has proved that the type of EPB 4.1. Arrangement of grouting holes
machine selected has a high precision in controlling surface settlement,
high construction efficiency and a wide accommodation of different soil Each grouting section has 6 holes evenly arranged (Fig. 4). In order
conditions (Huang and Feng, 2003). Taking into account the soil to form a good mud jacket, the first 3 pipes behind the head of jacking
properties of the C3 section, the high requirement for surface settlement machine are arranged with 6 holes for each pipe, for the others a group
control and little influence on the social environment, the machine of holes is provided every two pipes, so that is there is longitudinal

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Fig. 3. Large cutter disc earth pressure balanced

pipe-jacking machine.

spacing of 12 m between two adjacent holes. Each group has 6 holes

arranged at an angular spacing of 60° with no hole arranged at the
bottom of the pipe. The intermediate jacking station also has a group of
grouting holes.
The overall grouting system is shown in Fig. 5. When jacking, the
mud is pushed to the outer wall of pipes through the grouting lines by
the pump so as to form a complete slurry jacket. It is important to
grouting symmetrically to make the mud evenly fill the space between
the pipe outer wall and the surrounding soil so that the friction between
pipes and soil can be reduced as much as possible.

4.2. Bentonite mud performance

4.2.1. Slurry mixture ratio and quality requirements

The mixture ratio of the slurry for this project is shown in Table 4.
The mud after mixing was designed to satisfy the parameter re-
quirements listed in Table 5. From the testing of the mud on the project,
the bentonite mud met the quality requirements.

4.2.2. Grouting volume calculation Fig. 4. Arrangement of grouting holes.

It is often assumed that the theoretical grouting volume is equal to
500% of the theoretical formation pore space. Given that the outer
diameter of the machine head Rr = 4100 mm, the outer diameter of the
pipe R = 4080 mm, pore width e = 10 mm, so the theoretical grouting
volume Vt is 0.633/m. Because the pipes are mainly in silty soil, the
practical grouting volume is generally found to be 1.5–3 times as much
as theoretical. So the practical grouting volume for one pipe Vt is
0.94–1.88 m3/m. Supplying slurry for the following pipes depends on
the soil properties, grouting pressure and jacking force, with which the
supplying slurry volume is closely related. The necessary distance be-
tween the groups of grouting holes is estimated:
L=T×V

L, V and T are respectively the supplying slurry hole distance (m),

average jacking speed a day (m/d, choosing V = 12 m/d here) and the
Fig. 5. Sketch of slurry system.
extent of time over which the mud continues to provide effective drag
reduction (d, choose T = 6 d here).

Table 3
Design parameters of EPB jacking machine.

Shell outer diameter 4100 mm Maximum torque of cutter 1150 kN·m

Length 6454 mm Rotating speed of cutter 0–1.22 r/min

Blade diameter φ520 mm Screw conveyor power 37 kW
Motor power 30 kW(×5) Screw conveyor rotating speed 16 r/min
Rectifying oil pump 5.5 kW(×4) Screw conveyor dumping quantity 80 m3/h
Stroke of rectifying oil cylinder 125 mm Maximum rectifying oil cylinder thrust 200 T × 8=1600 T
Maximum rectifying angle 3° Highest oil cylinder working pressure 31.5 MPa
Installed capacity 195 kW Resistance to earth pressure ≤50 T/m2

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Table 4 4.3. Polymer bentonite mud performance

Mixture ratio of bentonite mud.
4.3.1. Proportion and parameters of polymer bentonite mud
Bentonite Soda ash CMC Water
Polymer bentonite mud uses bentonite, soda ash, high polymer
100 kg 5 kg 1.2 kg 780 kg material and water for its preparation. Its proportion and performance
parameters are shown in Table 7.
Table 7 shows that every performance parameter of the polymer
Table 5 bentonite mud is more favorable when compared to the bentonite mud,
Parameter requirements of bentonite mud.
its water loss change to 10 ml, while the specific gravity is bigger.
Funnel viscosity (s) Effective viscosity Fluid loss Specific gravity (kg/
(CP) (ml) m3)
4.3.2. The application of the polymer bentonite mud
1′19″2 21 12.6 1.048 The section JB06∼JB07 used the polymer bentonite mud for lu-
brication. In this section, the pipe-jacking was buried at a depth be-
tween 18.25 and 21.75 m, which was the deepest depth of the whole
Table 6 project. This section had a length of 969.94 m, through ⑥1-2 silty clay,
Results of grouting volume.
⑥2-1 sandy silt and ⑥3 silty clayey soil which the C value and bearing
Theoretical grouting Practical grouting Supplying slurry hole capacity are higher. The ⑥3 layer shows an easy expansion after ab-
volume (m3/m) volume (m3/m) distance (m) sorbing water, is hard, has a larger viscosity and is not easy to stir. The
stratigraphic section is shown in Fig. 2.
0.628 0.942–1.884 72
The pipe-jacking crosses below the Ring Bridge port, which is 53 m
from the launching shaft. The bottom of the river is 7.9 m above the top
The results are listed in Table 6. of the pipe-jacking, and the port is 51.2 m wide. The base of the Ring
Bridge port’s flood prevention wall is a concrete retaining wall with a
bottom elevation of 0.9 m. Before the pipe jacking construction, some
4.2.3. Application of bentonite mud precise determinations for the depth of river silt were made. During the
Based on the JB06∼JB05 jacking section, the strata profile of pipe-jacking construction, the precautionary measures used were
JB06∼JB05 is shown in Fig. 6. For the soil characteristics refer to through the control of jacking force, in the process of jacking speed and
Table 2. grouting pressure, and through the monitoring of the pressure gauge to
The whole jacking length of JB06∼JB05 is 763.3 m. It is indicated ensure the pipe jacking is at the earth pressure balance state of jacking.
from Fig. 6 and Table 1 that the stratum of this section contains ⑥1-1 The frequency of measurement was increased to confirm the stability of
and ⑥1-2(silty clay), ⑥2-1(sandy silt) and ⑥3(silty clayey soil), for jacking process. With the use of the polymer bentonite mud, the jacking
which the cohesive force and bearing capacity are both relatively large. force and the grouting amount are shown in Figs. 8 and 9.
Especially in regard to the ⑥3 layer, this layer easily absorbs water From Fig. 8, according to the measured values of the jacking force,
which leads to swelling and the soil is hard, sticky and difficult to stir. the first 300 m showed a steady rise with little fluctuation. Since this
After applying the bentonite mud, the jacking force of JB06∼JB05 is section passed through the ⑥3layer, the average friction resistance
shown in Fig. 7. value was larger, f = 2.75–3.77 kPa. Between 300 and 400 m, the pipe
From Figs. 6 and 7, there the resistance reduction by applying jacking was through ⑥3 interlayer and, due to the two strata property
bentonite mud is not uniform. Over most of the jacking length, the differences, the jacking force had a large fluctuation. When jacking
jacking force rises at a relatively stable rate. However, when jacking between 500 m and 700 m, the jacking force showed an unstable state
around the 300 m distance, the jacking force shows a big fluctuation due to the formation properties observably changing. After 400 m, it
because of the great difference between the silty clayey soil and the silty can be seen that the resistance value decreases significantly. In addition
soil. The largest jacking force for the overall section is 20,000 kN. In the to the impact of the soil type, from Fig. 9, we can also see, that the
first 300 m length, the frictional resistance tends to be large at between jacking force also has a close relationship with the grouting quantity. In
2.66 and 3.01 kPa because of the poor properties of the silty clayey soil. the first 400 m, the grouting quantity is generally low, and the grouting
After 300 m, the soil properties are relatively better and hence the quantity per meter is mainly between 1 and 2 m3, with its volume per
frictional resistance declines to a value of 1.16–1.62 kPa. meter not exceeding 33. After 400 m, the grouting quantity was sig-
nificantly increased, to about 3 m3 per meter, and every value is more
than 2 m3 per meter. In this section, the friction resistance is greatly
reduced, f = 0.72–0.93 kPa, showing that an increased in the grouting
amount was able to reduce the drag.

Fig. 6. Stratum profile of JB06∼JB05 section.

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Fig. 7. Jacking force of JB06-JB05.

Table 7 silt. From Tables 5 and 7, it can be seen that the bentonite mud’s
The proportion and the technology parameters of the polymer bentonite mud. fluid loss is bigger than that for the polymer bentonite mud and the
⑥3 layer expansion coefficient is bigger than for the other soils, so
Proportion Bentonite Soda ash Polymer Water
materials when it absorbs water from the thixotropic mud, its volume will
350 kg 5 kg 1.2 kg 780 kg increase and grip the pipeline, making the jacking force larger. But
when the polymer bentonite mud is used, there is no such problem.
Technology parameters Funnel Water loss/ml Specific
(2) When the bentonite mud’s filtration rate is higher, it’s difficult to
viscosity gravity
0″ 10 1.4 form a slurry jacket outside the pipeline and hence the frequency of
grouting needs to be enhanced, leading to an increase in grouting
quantity. In contrast, there is no loss when using the polymer
4.3.3. Application comparison bentonite mud, so the grouting quantity is lower. The application
By analyzing the comparative applications of bentonite mud and contrast of dosage and frequency is shown in Table 8.
polymer bentonite mud, we draw the following conclusions: (3) By monitoring, and in reference to Fig. 4 showing the grouting hole
arrangement, we found that there is no slurry injected at the valves
(1) In the section JB06-JB05, the lower portion of the pipeline cross- of 1o 'clock and 11o 'clock, the slurry pressure is bigger at the 5 o
section is in ⑥3 layer, the upper part of the pipeline is in ⑥2-1 sandy 'clock and 7 o 'clock, causing the slurry flows to the bottom of pipe

Fig. 8. The jacking force of the section of theJB06-

JB07.

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Fig. 9. The grouting amount of the section of

theJB06-JB07.

Table 8 were used to monitor the pipe jacking alignment.

The comparison of the dosage for two kinds of slurry. The manual monitoring mainly uses a theodolite together with an-
cillary instruments to measure the pitch and roll of the pipe jacking
Slurry type Grouting Frequency of The dosage of The average
quantity supplying bentonite (t/ friction
machine. The main test content includes the monitoring of the rolling
(m3/100 m) slurry (once/ 100 m) resistance Angle of the top pipe, the monitoring of the vertical Angle and the
100 m) (kPa) monitoring of the horizontal Angle. Use the electronic level gauge to
measure the height difference, calculate the rolling center Angle of the
Bentonite mud 700 10 300 1.16–1.62
top pipe machine, and monitor the rolling deviation of the top pipe. The
Polymer 400 2 310 0.72–0.93
bentonite method is to set two measuring points in the back of the cutting bulk-
mud head, and the two points are at the same level and the distance is a
certain value, the height difference between two points can be calcu-
lated to calculate the rolling Angle. The electronic level can directly
and resulting in pipeline buoyancy. When the upper portion of the measure the elevation Angle of the top pipe, and the change direction of
pipeline extended into the ⑥2-1sandy powder soil it caused the the Angle increment is reversed. The electronic theodolite can directly
friction resistance to become larger. This increase was seen with measure the left and right oscillation of the top pipe, and the direction
both types of lubrication mud. of the left or right pendulum is opposite. The main instruments are
(4) The drag reduction effect is also an obvious difference, when these shown in Table 9.
two different kinds of mud are compared. Comparing Figs. 7 and 8, Laser guide monitoring are mainly dependent on the laser guiding
because of the grouting quantity, the lubrication effect is not ob- system which installed on the pipe jacking machine, it uses a mission
vious for the first 400 m in Fig. 8, so no comparison is possible. In laser beam from a fixed reference point to pipe jacking machine’s
the latter half of section JB06-JB05, using bentonite mud, the measurement board, then calculates deflection that the relative design
average friction resistance value is between 1.16 and 1.62 kPa. And line of the position of the pipe jacking machine. The deflection of the
in the latter half section of JB06-JB07, using the polymer bentonite relative design axis of the pipe jacking machine is displayed on the
mud, the average friction resistance is only 0.72–0.93 kPa, i.e. there monitor. The operator could stay in the control room through the
is a drop of about 40% on average. control system to modify the pipe jacking machine’s deflection. The
measuring device consists of the target measuring plate, the laser target
From the above comparison, it is shown that the polymer bentonite plate and the inclining compass device. The laser target plate measures
mud is superior to the bentonite mud in water retention, durability, the laser incident point and the incident Angle, and the Angle of the
support characteristics and overall performance. Table 8 shows that the inclinometer measuring the machine in two directions. Automatic
bentonite mud’s unit grouting quantity is larger than that for the monitoring and manual monitoring are corrected to further improve the
polymer bentonite mud, and the frequency of supplying mud is higher accuracy of the attitude monitoring.
than that for the polymer bentonite mud, although the dosage of ben- Because this project was jacking DN4000 steel pipe with rigid pipe
tonite are similar. Although polymer bentonite mud’s unit grouting cost
is high, the frequency is far less than the bentonite mud, so the overall
Table 9
cost is nearly the same. Instrument for attitude detection of top pipe machine.

Instrument Type Precision

5. Trajectory control
Electronic level Leica NA3003 ± 0.4 mm
Electronic theodolite Leica T2002 0.5″
In the process of jacking, both manual surveying and laser guidance

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(a) Vertical deflection
(b) Horizontal deflection
Fig. 10. Laser deflection in JB06∼JB07 section.
joints, the entire pipeline stiffness is very large and any small deviation
of the steel pipe jacking axis generates a large bending moment and
high stress in the steel tube. When the stress is too high, pipe failures
can occur. The Yanqiao branch line and the Nanhui feeder were both
exposed to pipe explosion accidents.
In this project, the guidance was carefully controlled using the
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Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 72 (2018) 323–332
following main principles:
(1) When deviation occurred, corrections were made only gradually to
regain the design alignment.
(2) GPS technology was used for overall control with the laser guidance
and total station measurements providing redundant measurements
for control of the axial line.
(3) A significant emphasis was placed on the quality control of this
aspect of the work.
(4) The ancillary measurements of the axial tilt and roll of the machine
itself were also used to anticipate any developing alignment issues.
For the JB06∼JB07 section of this project, the laser-measured de-
flection of the pipe jacking machine’s position relative to the planned
alignment is shown in Fig. 10.
It can be seen from Fig. 10 that at 30 m, the pipe jacking machine is
shifted horizontally and downward, with the horizontal deviation at
about 8 cm. In the section from 50 to 300 m, the laser deviation was
always kept close to zero. In the following section from 300 to 948 m,
due to the increase in jacking distance, there was a relatively greater
difficulty to control the position of the pipe jacking and this can be seen
in the fluctuation of the laser deviation value. Through taking the above
measures, and making timely rectification, the pipe jacking axis de-
viation was always kept within 15 cm.
6. Steel pipe welding and corrosion protection
6.1. Steel pipe welding
Usually, the connection type for steel pipe jacking is an “F” type
socket joint or weld connection. The former is typically used in curved
pipe jacking and non-pressure pipe, while, the latter is used for straight
line jacking and pressure pipe. As both a straight line jacking and
pressure pipe, the welded joint connection was selected. The welding of
40 mm steel plate is difficult and it is critical that the weld joint should
keep the necessary strength and tightness. For the practical construc-
tion progress, the welding efficiency controls the speed of the whole
jacking procedure (Yang, 2012) and the long time required for the
welding means a pause in jacking and a remarkable increase of the
jacking force. So, in order to make sure of the welding quality and di-
minish the welding time, a novel welding method and procedure were
adopted, as shown in Fig. 11.
Firstly, the steel pipe barrel was divided into the upper semicircle
and the lower semicircle. Then, the two sections of the pipe end were
each grooved into a “V” shape with a 40° inclination angle. Considering
the convenience of the welding operation, the upper groove is in the
outside of the pipe, and the lower groove is in the inside. The welders
could work inside or outside with a comfortable body position.
Moreover, the groove was welded one layer by one layer, and totally,
eight layers were used for the complete weld. The widths of the welding
Fig. 11. Schematic diagram of yuanyang slope.
J. Wang et al. Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 72 (2018) 323–332

Fig. 12. Welding procedure diagram.

Backing welding Welding process

Covering Ceramic sheet

layers are 7–58 mm. Before the welding of the first layer, a ceramic
sheet was lain under the weld. Stages of the welding progress are shown
in Fig. 12.

6.2. Steel pipe anticorrosion measures

6.2.1. Corrosion protection measures

The outside surfaces of the steel pipe barrel were coated using a
fusion epoxy powder coating as the factory-applied anti-corrosion layer.
The coating involves a two component, preservative and curing agent.
The mixture ratio of these two component is 3:1 at normal temperature
and 4.5:1 at high temperature, as listed in Table 10. The coating
thickness was set to be no less than 0.4 mm, and it was coated by the
airless spraying technique.
In situ, considering the narrow working site, the fusion epoxy
powder coating was substituted by a solvent-less liquid epoxy coating.
The thickness of the coating is 0.6 mm, and the lapping length is larger
than 100 mm, as shown in Fig. 13. The quality of this kind coating was Fig. 13. The coating of welding pipe joint.
tested 30 min after application in the laboratory. It was required that
the adhesion, adhesive strength, and abrasion resistance index reach by direct intrusive inspection and using an electric spark test as de-
70% of a completely cured coating. In situ, the coating was also tested scribed below:

Table 10
Ratio of anti-corrosion coatings.
Temperature conditions
The normal temperature
The high temperature
(1) A knife was used to score two parallel lines (at 10 mm interval) on
the coating along the axis, and to score another two parallel lines
Preservative: Curing agent with the same interval but obliquely crossing the former at a 30°
angle. It was required that the coating under the parallel lines
3:1 should be absolutely separated. The knifepoint was placed at the
4.5:1
corner of the scored parallelogram, and pushed horizontally.

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J. Wang et al.
Examining the damage of the coating, a flakiness fracture was not
allowed or else the coating should be recoated. If the coating was
damaged as a plastic flow with only a small amount of powder
produced, the coating was deemed to match the requirements.
(2) The naked eye was used to inspect the outside of the coating. An
acceptable product should be level, smooth, and with no sag.
(3) A coating thickness detector was used to check the upper, lower,
left and right locations of the weld. An acceptable product should
be no less than 0.6 mm in thickness.
(4) An electric spark apparatus was used to test the coating on the weld
with 5 V/μm direct current. An acceptable product should exhibit
no electric spark.
7. Summary and conclusions
In this case study of a large-diameter steel pipe jacking project,
analysis has been made of the construction related technical measures
used on the project. The C3 section of the overall pipe project involved
the installation of a steel jacking pipe for water transmission with an
outside diameter of 4080 mm over a total distance of 5.2 km. In this
paper the selection of the appropriate machine excavation type and
cutter were described in conjunction with the assessed soil profiles
expected. Two sub-sections of the project were analyzed in more detail
to study the measured relationships among various site and construc-
tion parameters. In addition, the measures to speed the steel pipe
welding and to enhance corrosion protection have been briefly de-
scribed.
From an analysis of the measured pipe jacking and lubrication
grouting data, the following conclusions are made:
(1) The soil conditions surrounding the pipe were shown to affect the
friction resistance for both types of lubrication mud tested with the
largest increases noted for a swelling soil and using the bentonite
mud slurry. An increase in the lubrication grouting volumes was
seen to reduce the friction resistance.
(2) Over comparable sections, the use of conventional lubrication mud
for the jacking resulted in an average friction resistance of
1.16–1.62 kPa. When a polymer-mud combination was used, the
average friction resistance was from 0.72 to 0.93 kPa, and the lu-
brication effect is thus much better the conventional mud under
these conditions.
(3) The conventional mud fluid loss is larger than for the polymer-mud
fluid and the frequency of supplying slurry and the grouting volume
also are larger; the polymer-mud because of its good performance
characteristics showed little fluid loss and lower grouting volumes.
Although the polymer-mud cost is higher, the differences in
332
Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology 72 (2018) 323–332
grouting amount mean that the overall cost difference is not large
and hence was considered the preferred lubrication slurry for this
project.
(4) Through taking manual measurements combined with the laser
guided detection, and making timely rectifications, the pipe jacking
axis deviation was always kept within 15 cm.
(5) The “yuanyang groove form”, namely outside and inside pipe “V”s
over the upper and lower 180° respectively of the pipe cir-
cumference was used to speed construction and make the welding
of the pipe joints more convenient for this thick wall, large diameter
steel pipe.
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