Design and Construction of Cross Passage of Delhi Metro BC-16

B. C. B. Hsiung & Y. Y. Tsai

CECI Engineering Consultants, Taiwan
C. C. Tsai
MIDAS, Taiwan

ABSTRACT: In this paper, design and construction of cross passage of urban metro are discussed using a case history
from Contract BC- 16 of Delhi metro. In order to start to build permanent structural works in TBM shafts as soon as
possible, construction activities of cross passage should be isolated from TBM shafts. Vertical shafts for cross passage
were thus installed between the two main running tunnels from ground surface level to increase workable areas as well
as to transport excavated spoil. Details of design and construction of the cross passage will be reported in this paper.
Analyses using 3- dimensional FEM program MIDAS GTS will be undertaken in order to evaluate ground deformations
induced by the construction of the cross passage. It is concluded that the ground deformation induced is very small (up
to 5mm) and this might be connected with high soil stiffness as well as arch influence generated by a circular excavation.
At last, engineering properties of soils at BC- 16 are explored and it was found that the silt and silty clay on site are
overconsolidated so parameters used for design might not fit the reality.

INTRODUCTION of cross passage CP1 located between the Contract BC-15

Due to the use of emergency, cross passage is required to and RC station are addressed. As indicated from ground
be constructed for a certain length of underground metro investigation results from the borehole near, the soil
tunnels. In general, cross passage is either built between stratum at CP1 mainly consists of low- plasticity stiff silty
two running tunnels or can be connected between the clay and silt (up to 23.5m below surface level). The SPT-
tunnel and surface level. In this paper, design and N value varies in the range of 10 to 32. A layer of much
construction of a cross passage in Contract BC-16 of stiffer low- plasticity clay was found beneath the layer of
Delhi metro are described and a 3- dimensional analyses silty clay and silt and SPT- N value increases to in the
of ground deformations caused by excavation of the cross range of 43 to 54. The groundwater level is very low
passage are undertaken also. (approximately 14.0m below surface level) which
probably caused by long- term pumping of neighbourhood
PROJECT BACKGROUND area.
Contract BC-16 in Delhi metro is 5260 m long, has 4 cut-
and-cover stations, Race Course (RC), Jor Bagh (JB), INA
and AIIMS. The location of BC-16 was shown in Figure
1. This contract also includes single track twin tube
mined tunnels between the contract boundary to BC-15
and Race Course Station of 994 m length, RC and JB
Station of 990 m length, JB and INA station of 919 m
length, INA and AIIMS station of 538 m length and
AIIMS station and the contract boundary to BC 17 in the
south of 701 m length. The inner and outer diameter of
the running tunnel is 5.6 and 6.35m respectively. Lining
of the tunnel was erected by 7- pieces 2750mm
reinforcement concrete segment. Four earth- pressure- BC- 16
balance (EPB) tunnel boring machines (TBM) were used
to construct these tunnels. The diameter and length of the
shield varies from 6.52m to 6.54m and from 7.7m to 8.8m.
Please refer to Izumi et al. (2007) for more details of Fig.1 Location of BC-16 in Delhi metro
construction of Deli metro and Contract BC-16.
Except stations and running tunnels, four cross passages In order to start to build permanent structural works in
connecting two running tunnels for emergency use have to TBM shafts as soon as possible, construction activities of
be built in BC-16. In this paper, design and construction cross passage should be isolated from TBM shafts.
Considering such reason, a circular vertical shaft for CP1 in both running tunnels; (iii) construct a reinforcement
was thus installed between the two main running tunnels concrete ring beam on ground, at top of vertical shaft; (iii)
from ground surface level and then horizontal tunnels excavate the shaft by stage excavations and 3m of
were built at bottom of the shaft to connect two running excavation depth for each stage here; wire mesh, shot
tunnels in order to increase workable areas as well as to concrete and steel rib were installed; (iv) excavate
transport excavated spoil. Figure 2 shows the dimension horizontal cross passages from the shaft; and (v) break out
and details of CP1. Table 1 presents simplified soil temporary portal and connect cross passages with running
parameters given by the client and used for design of CP1. tunnels.
In Table 1, t means total unit weight; Su means undrained
shear strength; E and  is elastic stiffness and Poison ratio
of soil. For all materials, none cohesion intercept and 30
of effective friction angle were assumed in the design.
For design of CP1, a computer software PLAXIS was
used and 2- dimensional analyses were undertaken to
evaluate acceptability of the design. However, due to
limit of the program, analyses of excavation of the vertical
shaft and horizontal cross passage were delivered
separately.

4850 mm
3850 mm Surface level

(a) Construction of shaft

12500 mm
16600 mm

6350 mm 6350 mm
5800 mm 5800 mm

Fig. 2 Details of CP1

Table 1 Soil parameters used for design (b) Construction of cross passage
Soil Thickness t Su E  Fig. 3 Construction of shaft and cross passage
type (m) (kN/m3) (kPa) (kPa)
ML 6.4 17.7 0 23800 0.3 DEFORMATION ANALYSES
CL 8.6 18.9 155 54250 0.35 In order to indicate possible ground deformation induced
ML 8.5 18.0 0 44800 0.3 by construction of CP1, analyses using 3- dimensional
CL 6.5 18.8 185 99750 0.35 FEM program MIDAS GTS are undertaken in order to
evaluate ground deformations. As shown in Figure 4,
Figure 3 presents construction of CP1, the 16.4m deep similar analyses were delivered using the other software
3.85m of diameter of vertical shaft was constructed from LUSAS for excavation of cross passage and ventilation
surface level first. The shaft was retained by wire mesh shaft in Heathrow Terminal 5 project in London
and shot concrete. During the excavation of the vertical (FaberaMaunsell Ltd., 2003) but soil parameters are
shaft, a steel rib ring was installed and attached along the hardly given since LUSAS doesn’t have such function. In
shaft in the shape of 20 boundaries in one meter interval addition, only stresses on structural elements are
vertically in order to strengthen the stiffness of the concerned but not for evaluation of deformations.
retaining structure. Construction sequences of CP1 In this paper, as shown in Figure 5, a 30m × 30m × 35m
include: (i) install dewatering system and keep the water 3- dimensional mesh was used for analyses. The elastic -
level 1m below dredge level; (ii) install temporary support
perfect plastic modified Mohr- Coulomb model was Lateral movement (mm)
applied and the same soil parameters with initial design 6 5 4 3 2 1 0
were used for analyses in this paper. Groundwater level 0
was set at 14m below surface level. Construction
sequence stated above was used in the simulation. Excavate to 7m bgl
2
Figure 6 presents the horizontal displacements of retaining Completion of shafe
structure at various stages. It was found that the Completion of cross passage
4
horizontal displacement gradually increased from 2mm
(excavate to 7m below surface level) to 5mm. The
6
maximum lateral displacement occurred at the place

Depth (m,bgl )
slightly higher than level of excavation depth.
8

10

12

14

16

18

Fig. 6 Lateral deformations of retaining structure

Distance to shaft ( m )
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
0
Fig. 4 Simulation of excavation of shaft and cross
passage using LUSAS 1
Settlement ( mm)

2
Fig. 5 Analytical mesh
3

Figures 7 presents surface settlement outside the shaft at 4

various stages. In short, the ground deformations induced Excavate to 7m bgl
Completion of shafe
by construction of shaft and cross passages are small. (up 5
Completion of cross passage
to 5mm) Hsiung (2009) and Hsiung and Hwang (2009)
concluded that ground displacements are significantly 6

connected to soil stiffness so higher stiffness of clay here Fig. 7 Surface settlement outside the shaft
is thought to be one of reasons leading to small
displacement. Further, through observations and a RETHINK OF SOIL PARAMETERS
simulation of a large- scale cofferdam excavation, Hsiung Unfortunately, no reliable field observation data is
and Chuay (2006) recommended that the arch effect available to be compared with prediction. Figure 8 shows
generated by a circular excavation could successfully effective stress failure envelope for highly
reduce ground deformations and this should be connected overconsolidated clay (Das, 1992). Shear strength of soil
to small displacement induced also. at failure (f) is determined by
For overconsolidated clay
 f  C ' ' tan 1 (1)
For normally consolidated clay
 f   ' tan  (2)
in which C’ is cohesion intercept; ’ is normal stress and
35m
’1 and ’ is effective friction angle of overconsolidated
clay and normal consolidated clay, respectively.
It is seen that cohesion interception of shear stress does
exist for overconsolidated material and which is not
consistent with parameters given in Table 1. Therefore,
soil parameters are thus re-examined. Table 2 indicates
the results of laboratory tests and they show cohesion
intercept is in the range of 20 to 26 kPa and effective
friction angle varies from 32° to 34.6°. Figure 9 illustrates
the result of one of 3 oedometer tests and the test results
have given compression index Cc of about 0.12 as well as
overconsolidation ratios (OCR) in the range of 1.38 to
2.05. These evidences approve the materials on site are
over- consolidated and the assumption of no cohesion
intercept with 30° of effective friction angle is under-
estimated shear strength of soil and may not fit the reality.
Overconsolidated
Shear Stress
TBM shafts. Therefore, a circular vertical shaft was
thus installed between the two main running tunnels
from ground surface level and then horizontal cross
passages were built at bottom of the shaft to connect
two running tunnels in order to increase workable
areas as well as to transport excavated spoil.
2. A 3- dimensional analysis using the program of
MIDAS- GTS was undertaken to simulate ground
deformation induced by the construction of shaft and
cross passages. The predicted maximum lateral and
vertical deformation is very small, up to 5mm in both
directions. High stiffness of soil and arch influence
Normally consolidated
provided by circular excavation should be the reasons
led to such small displacement.

 3. Since silt and silty clay on site are overconsolidated,

soil parameters given by the client might not fit the
’1
reality.

C
REFERENCES
1’ = 1 Normal stress Das, B. M. (2002). Principle of Geotechical Engineering,
3’ = 3 c’ = c 2nd edition, PWS Publishing Company
Fig. 8 Effective stress failure envelope
FaberMaunsell Ltd. (2003). Independent Check Report of
Heathrow Terminal 5 Rail Tunnels- Storm Water
Table 2 C’ and 1’ of soils obtained from labotary tests
Outfall Tunnel, Spray Concrete Lining Works Project
Borehole Depth (m) C’ (kPa) Effective
Number: 722049
Number friction
angle (°) Hsiung, B. C. B. (2009). A Case Study on the Behaviour
SMB-04 14.7- 15.0 20.0 34.6 of a Deep Excavation in Sand, Computer and
SMB-05 10.0- 10.3 33.0 32.0 Geotechnics, Volume 36, Issue 4, 665- 675
SMB-11 15.0- 15.3 26.0 33.0
Hsiung, B. C. B. and Hwang, R. N. (2009). Evaluating
performance of diaphragm walls by wall deflection
paths, Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, Southeast
Asia Geotechnical Society, Volume 40, No. 2, 81- 90
Hsiung, B. C. B. and Chuay, H. Y. (2006). Geotechnical
Risk Assessment and Performance-Based Evaluation of
a Deep Excavation in the Kaohsiung MRT System
Project, TAIPEI2006 International Symposium on New
Generation Design Codes for Geotechnical
Engineering Practice, Taipei, Taiwan
Izumi, C. Lovelock, C., Tyagi, J. and Gupta, S. K. (2007),
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EPB shield TBMs, World Tunnel Cogress, Parague,
Czeck Republic

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Fig. 9 The result of oedometer test The authors would like to thank for permission of use of
data from Continental Engineering Corporation and
CONCLUSIONS assistance Mr. Chang, Chin- Hau and Mr. Hsieh, Fong-
The following conclusions can be made based on this Chen, postgraduate students in KUAS, Taiwan provided
study. for preparation of this paper is also appreciated.
1. In order to start to build permanent structural works
in TBM shafts as soon as possible, construction
activities of cross passage should be isolated from