Expanding Underground.

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on the World – Anagnostou, Benardos & Marinos (Eds)
© 2023 The Author(s), ISBN 978-1-003-34803-0
Open Access: www.taylorfrancis.com, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license

Underground solution for urban resilience: Stormwater

management infrastructure

A. Koliji, T. Kazerani, G. Questi & J. Senn

BG Consulting Engineers, Lausanne, Switzerland

ABSTRACT: In past decades, stormwater management has become an essential component

of climate-change resilient urban development. Replacement of natural pervious areas with
impervious surfaces increases stormwater runoff volumes and peak flows. In the absence of
sufficient drainage system, cities are subject to urban flooding with potential loss of life and
property damage. Underground solutions with network of smart tunnels and pumping sta­
tions are of a central role for urban resilience. The present paper studies a stormwater infra­
structure in the city of Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In the framework of Jeddah
Stormwater Drainage Program and Masterplan, a new pump station known as Al-Salam
Pump station, is planned to discharge the incoming flow from the storm water tunnel to the
Red Sea via an outfall. The design and construction of the deep large-diameter shafts close to
the sea as well as their intersection with the connecting tunnels involved several technical chal­
lenges. Geotechnical analyses combined with advanced numerical methods were used for an
optimized design. As an overall assessment, a Value Engineering study of the proposed solu­
tion was carried out highlighting the Value Engineering Concepts, their technical evaluation
and engineering development as well as cost, risk and sustainability impact on the project.

1 INTRODUCTION

One of the essential components of climate-change resilient cities is stormwater management.

Urbanization and land use modification is often associated with replacement of natural pervi­
ous areas with impervious surfaces resulting in changes in the characteristics of the surface
runoff hydrograph (Goonetilleke et al., 2005), increasing stormwater runoff volumes and peak
flows (Barbosa et al., 2012). In the absence of sufficient drainage system, cities are subject to
urban flooding caused by extreme runoff with potential loss of life and property damage (Fer­
nández and Lutz, 2010, Weber, 2019, Anni et al., 2020).
The climate change increases the risk of both sudden flooding and drought; further high­
lighting the necessity of stormwater management. In this regards, underground solutions with
network of smart tunnels and pumping stations are of a central role for urban resilience.
The city of Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is located with a generally dry region
with infrequent rainfall patterns. In recent years, the city has experienced cases of sudden
intensive rainstorms with urban floods, including 2009 floods with several casualties and sig­
nificant damages (Subyani and Hajjar, 2016, Abu Abdullah et al., 2019, Farooq & Alluqmani,
2021). With the aim of improving the safety and ensuring a long-term sustainable develop­
ment, Jeddah Municipality is investing in Stormwater Drainage Program and Masterplan
with major planning, engineering, and construction of network of tunnels and stormwater
management infrastructure. A new pump station known as Al-Salam Pump station, is planned
to discharge the incoming flow from the storm water tunnel to the Red Sea via an outfall.

DOI: 10.1201/9781003348030-12

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Figure 1. Location of Al-Salam pump station (google.com/map).

The masterplan included a preliminary design of the pumping station. Following tendering
and award of the contract for construction, an alternative design of the underground struc­
tures of the pumping station was proposed by the contractor. The objective of this study is to
present the alternative design, in particular the shaft design, from the conceptual studies, con­
struction methodology, numerical modelling and detailed design, until the value engineering.

2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION

2.1 Location and layout

The Al-Salam Pump station is located in the Jeddah coastal zone and discharges the water from
an incoming storm water tunnel into the Red sea. The area view of the site location is shown in
Figure 1. The project is located in the urban area and thus, facing several constraints not only for
design but also for logistics and construction works. The general layout of the pumping station, in
the Revised Design (RD) proposed by the contractor, is shown in Figure 2. It foresees:
– One circular deep wet well (area of 380 m2, hydraulic diameter of 22m and depth below
ground 20m) equipped with four pumps.
– One weir feed channel (L 63m, W 10m and depth below weir crest 7.5m) also with four
pumps.
– Two pumping channels.
– Two gravity discharge channels.

2.2 Geological et geotechnical condition

Based on the geotechnical report, the stratigraphy in the Al-Salam Pumping Station site is
mainly composed of:

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– Top soil and backfill layer reaching down to the elevation +0.70 m MSL.
– A thin medium dense silty sand layer, around 1.30m thick.
– A substantial layer of loose/very loose clayey silty sands or sandy clays extending down to
the bottom level of the return pool structure, i.e., -7.65 m MSL.
– A thick deep layer of stiff to hard sandy fat/lean clay of a clear cohesive nature whose
bottom elevation reaches -15.63 m MSL.
Based on the in-situ and laboratory examinations, the geotechnical parameters of the soil
layers are reported as listed in Table 1 along with the acronym adopted for each layer.

Figure 2. General layout of the pump station.

Table 1. Geological layers and geotechnical properties.

Bottom k Cu φf γd γw E
Soil layer Acronym m MSL m/s kPa ° kN/m3 kN/m3 MPa

Engineering backfill BF 1.70 2.0E-06 0 35 18 20 50

Top soil and backfill TS 0.50 2.0E-06 0 30 12 15 20
Medium dense silty sand MD1 -0.80 2.0E-06 0 32 17 18 20
Very loose/loose clayey silty sand/ VLL -7.80 2.0E-05 10 20 14 17 2
sandy clay
Stiff to hard sandy fat/ lean clay Stiff -15.80 4.0E-06 40 25 16 18 20
Medium dense to very dense silty sand MD2 -29.30 1.0E-07 0 36 19 19 40
with traces of very weak sandstone
Hard sandy silty clay/ clayey silty sand Hard -44.30 1.0E-07 15 33 18 20 35
Poor limestone Breccia Breccia -54.30 1.0E-07 165 30 20 23 300
Medium dense to dense clayey sand MD3 -58.30 1.0E-07 10 33 17 20 25

k: permeability, Cu: undrained shear strength, φf: Friction angle, γd: Dry density, γw: Unit weight, E: Young modulus

2.3 Hydraulics and operational scenarios

The hydraulics operation and design criteria of the pumping station, including the shaft, wet
well and the channels, were defined in the preliminary design. The stormwater is collected by
a network of tunnels and conveyed to the pumping station shaft through a main hydraulic
tunnel. Water is then pumped from the shaft to the channels and basin before flowing into the
sea via the outfall.

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 In the contractor’s alternative design, hydraulic studies were carried out to confirm and opti­
mize the layout and the design of the pumping station, the foreseen equipment, and the oper­
ation procedures from a hydraulic point of view. The hydraulic conditions, focusing on the
streamlines, velocity vectors, water levels and shear stresses are analyzed by CFD modelling
using the Flow-3D software. CFD models have been largely used to predict the flow patterns
and optimize the hydrodynamic behavior in sumps and forebays of pumping stations. Results
of these studies, presented in Amini et al. 2022, were used to finalize the geometry of the shaft
and the basin and to proceed with the geotechnical and structural design and construction.

Table 2. Proposed construction stages.

Phase Description

1 Surface preparation for jet grouting including superficial filling and/or dewatering as required.
2 Jet grouting around the return pool excavation zone
3 Implementing the shaft slurry walls and the head capping beam
4 Excavation in return pool down to the elevation of the pool bottom slab.
5 Starting deep pumping in the shaft
6 Excavation in the shaft down to the elevation of the pool bottom slab
7 Demolishing the separating slurry walls between pool and the shaft and installing struts
8 Concrete works in the pool (walls and slab)
9 Completing excavation in the shaft to the bottom level of shaft slab.
10 Concreting the shaft bottom slab
11 Excavation of the connection tunnel
12 Concerting the shaft internal liner and pumping stoppage.
13 Concrete work in the basin (walls and slab) – End of the construction

3 CONSTRUCTION METHODOLOGY

3.1 Tender design and revised design

The preliminary Tender Design (TD) for the basin area foresees an entire sheet piling confine­
ment, and a full excavation down to the level of -9.50m MSL with foundation refilling using
suitable soils. As an alternative, the Contractor proposes a Revised Design (RD) with (i) to
use of soil improvement by jet grouting instead of what suggested in the project preliminary
design considering improved properties: the compressive strength of the cement-based jet-
grouted soil considered as 10 MPa, Young’s modulus and a Poisson’s ratio as 3000 MPa and
0.3 respectively, and unit weight as 22 kN/m3., (ii) and to replace the rectangular pumping
station shaft of the preliminary design by a circular shaft of same functionality.
The cement-based jet grouting technique will have two effects:
– Improving soil geomechanical characteristics and enhancing excavation stability, bearing
capacity and avoiding excessive settlements
– Reducing soil permeability minimizing the risks and expenses linked to the groundwater
leakage into the earthwork area and subsequent dewatering.
The circular shaft, 25.4m in external diameter, will be implemented using slurry walls of 1.2m
thick. The depth is defined by the analysis presented in this report and found to be 37 m. The
shaft will be covered by an internal reinforced concrete liner of 0.50m nominal thickness.

3.2 Shaft construction stages

The excavation in the shaft will be carried out down to its bottom (-18.5m MSL) using deep
drainage pumping with no bottom plug, to drop groundwater table and keep it at the eleva­
tion of -22m MSL. The lining and bottom slab is then constructed in the shaft (Figure 3).

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Figure 3. Bottom slab concreting (left) and the general overview (right). (photo courtesy Abuljadayel
Co. for Cont. & Maint.).

4 NUMERCIAL MODELLING AND DESIGN

4.1 Model set up

To examine the shaft construction, a three-dimensional finite elements model simulating soil-
structure interaction and underground seepage has been established by using ZSoil Finite Element
package. This simulation aims at calculating the ground and the walls stresses and displacements.
The model represents the project geometry as illustrated Figure 4. Given the project struc­
tural symmetry, the simulation involves half of the project geometry. The slurry walls, 1.2m
thick, constituting the circular shaft of 25.4m in external diameter, are modelled by solid finite
elements and the dry joints between the panels are treated using cohesionless zero-thickness
interface elements whose friction angle is set at 20°.

Figure 4. Geometry of the FE model.

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 The analyses are first carried out with a diaphragm wall depth of 40m, to be adjusted based
on obtained results. The shaft is covered by an internal reinforced concrete liner of 0.50m
nominal thickness with concrete class C30/37.
The connection hydraulic tunnel is of a 3.5m diameter. Its excavation is carried out in one
step in its entire length, and the soil gradual deconfinement due to the front advancement is
simulated indirectly through the confinement-convergence method by admitting a deconfine­
ment ratio of 30% prior to the installation of the tunnel support/liner.
The elastic-perfectly plastic Mohr-Coulomb constitutive law is used for ground layers. Con­
crete is modelled using a linear elastic law. The Young’s modulus is reduced for slurry walls.
The initial-boundary condition corresponds to a K0 condition with hydrostatic under­
ground water pressure calculated for the high tide groundwater elevation (+1.4 m MSL).
A coupled hydro-mechanical is used at each calculation phase, pore pression is first evalu­
ated automatically by the software hydraulic module according to the model geometry, soil
permeability, and the pressure boundary condition. The calculated pressure is then used in the
mechanical module to obtain soil effective stress based on the soil parameters.
Soil-structure interaction is handled automatically by the software through simulating nat­
ural concrete-soil contact by using zero-thickness interface elements whose friction angle is
taken 2/3 of that of the adjacent soil and whose cohesion is null.
The joint between the panels is also dealt using the zero-thickness cohesionless interface
elements whose friction angle is taken 20°, as suggested by suggestions in ASSHTO 2007.

Figure 5. Vertical displacements at the end of excavation.

Figure 6. Hydraulic head as calculated at the end of excavation (left) & Variation of safety factor
against piping with respect to depth of excavation (right).

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4.2 Model results & design
Numerical results provided information both for the geomechanical behavior of the shaft in
interaction with the surrounding ground, and the structural safety of the shaft components
including the slurry wall and the bottom slab. Figure 5 shows the vertical displacements at the
end of excavation. The obtained displacements are withing the acceptable values with limited
plastic zones around the shaft and close to the surface. The presented modelling and calcula­
tions approved the stability and the safety of the proposed shaft structure design. The circular
shape of the shaft allows an optimized design of the diaphragm wall panels. No abnormal
stress concentration is seen in load carry body. Displacements are also limited guarantying the
serviceability of the structure.
Explicit seepage analyses were carried out to assess the safety of excavation and evaluate
the risk of piping. The construction methodology foresees deep drainage holes to keep the
water level inside the shaft always below the excavation level. Accordingly, the hydraulic gra­
dient increases with excavation depth, approaching the critical hydraulic gradient and redu­
cing the safety factor. Results are presented in Figure 6. These results suggest that the
drawdown can be delayed at least until when the excavation reaches the elevation of -8m
MSL and only for the last 10m the drainage wells are needed.

5 VALUE ENGINNERING

5.1 Value Engineering Change Proposal (VECP)

Based on the technical studies, a Value Engineering (VE) Study has been carried presenting
the concepts, evaluation, and developments of a Value Engineering Change Proposal (VECP).
It highlights the VE concepts and ideas, their technical evaluation and engineering develop­
ment as well as cost, risk, and sustainability impact on the project.

Table 3. VE concepts applicable to revised design.

. VE Concept Description Construction approach

Shaft VE1 - Circular shaft without struts Circular shape for the shaft
Circular shaft and frames instead of rect­ Construction using Diaphragm walls
angular shaft Reinforced concrete internal lining
Water control using deep drainage holes

VE2 - Reinforced concrete lining Cast in place reinforced concrete

Reinforced con­ 500 mm thickness instead of
crete lining shotcreting
Basin VE3 - Foundation soil improve­ Replacement of the surface soil layer
Jet grouting in ment using jet grouting Systematic jet grouting in the basin area
the basin area instead of soil replacement

Table 4. Technical evaluation of VE concepts.

. VE Concept Description Advantages & Justification

Shaft VE1 - Circular shaft without struts and Increased rigidity and stability thanks to the
Circular frames instead of rectangular shaft hoop effect in the circular form without need
shaft for additional stabilizing measures such as
struts and frames.
Larger storage volume
Systematic jet grouting not required for DW

(Continued )

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Table 4. (Continued )
. VE Concept Description Advantages & Justification

VE2 - Reinforced concrete lining 500 mm Increased durability and structure life
Reinforced thickness instead of shotcreting Decreasing the operation cots due to miti­
concrete gated leakage risks
lining

Basin VE3 - Foundation soil improvement Improved soil geomechanical characteristics

Jet grouting using jet grouting instead of soil enhancing bearing capacity
in the basin replacement avoiding excessive excavation in the depths
area and area
avoiding risks of complicated dewatering and
flood control measures
Avoiding risks associated with failure of
sheetpiling
Significant reduction f permeability around
the basin and minimising the risks linked to
the groundwater leakage into the basin area
Reduced HSE issues

The VECP considers the Revised Design (RD) proposed by the contractor as an alter­
native to the rectangular base Tender Design (TD). The VE process seeks to improve
the value of the project by evaluating the functions of various project components and
determining whether alternative design can be used to achieve the same functions at an
overall higher benefit in terms of cost, risk and sustainability. It looks to the project
effectiveness with cost and risk considerations and examines the performance of RD
alternative compared to TD alternative.

5.2 VE concepts
To identify the value engineering concepts, both the construction and operation aspects are
considred. In one hand, saving, safety and optimisation of construction methods and on the
other hand the sustainability and enhanced operation is sought. Table below summarizes the
value engineering concepts applicable to Revised Design.

5.3 Technical evaluation and engineering support

The VE concepts of the RD presented above are examined for their technical feasibility,
justification and advantageous compared to TD. Based on the analyses presented previ­
ously, the Table below summarize the main aspect of the technical evaluation and the
corresponding justification and advantageous in general terms.

5.4 Cost, risk and sustainability

As a next step in the development of VE concepts, the cost impacts of the VE concepts applic­
able to RD are compared to the base Billl of Quantity of TD. Despite variation in costs of
different components, the overall project cost is comparable with the TD and RD.
In parallel with the cost impacts, the risk and sustainability impacts of the VE concepts
applicable to RD are compared to that of the TD. Major risks such as soil improvement
quality, excavation stability and vertical deviation of diaphragm wall are either eliminated
or significantly reduced in the RD. In terms of sustainability, the RD exhibits improvements
by reducing the volume of excavation and construction material, as well as simplifying the
construction works in an urban area.

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6 CONCLUSIONS

Underground space provides a sustainable solution for stormwater management infrastruc­

tures and development of climate-change resilient cities. This paper presented the technical
challenges in design and construction of a storm water facility and pumping station in the city
of Jeddah. Overall, the presented modelling and calculations approved the stability and the
safety of the proposed shaft structure design. A Value Engineering Study was carried out to
compare the the revised design proposed by the contractor compared to the base tender
design. The study shows that, compared to the tender design, the proposed design suggests
significant benefits in terms of cost, risk and sustainability.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors acknowledge the permission granted by Abuljadayel Co. for Contacting & Main­
tenance, in charge of construction, to publish the main results of the present study on Al-
Salam pumping station, and specially thank Engineer Rateb Jawish and Eamonn Leavey for
their special help and support. The authors also acknowledge the contribution of Geotest Ltd
and Stunex Ltd on the early stages of the project.

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