From Calamity to full Compliance – The Rijnlandroute bored

Tunnel Project

H. Mortier
DEME Infra / Comol5, Zwijndrecht, Belgium
M. Brugman, Y. Liem, B. van de Water & J. Vervoort
Arthe C&S, Utrecht, The Netherlands
O. Gastebled & S. Giuliani
Vinci Construction Grand Projets, Rueil-Malmaison, France

ABSTRACT: In the Rijnlandroute twin bored tunnel project, the break-out procedure was based
on an arrival into an inundated shaft. Although an identical procedure was adopted for both tunnel
drives, at the second drive the temporary watertight seal failed shortly after dewatering the shaft.
The leakage generated soil transport from around the tunnel lining into the shaft, and by this a
significant disturbance of the soil support finally leading to huge deformations and structural
damage of the tunnel rings close to the arrival shaft. An exhaustive investigation campaign was
implemented to define the residual support stiffness of the disturbed soil. Subsequently, a soil
improvement was executed whereby the efficiency was checked by using the Multichannel Anal-
ysis of Surface Waves (MASW) technique in combination with common cone penetration tests.
After checking the available space and the required clearance profile, the most appropriate sec-
ondary lining was developed in order to make this part of the tunnel fully compliant again. This
meant that all criteria regarding structural strength, water tightness, fire resistance and durability
needed to be met. The article will describe the investigations made, the design options considered,
and the execution process implemented.

1 TBM BREAK-OUT AT RECEPTION SHAFT

For the TBM break-out of both tunnel drives, the methodology of the inundated reception shaft
was chosen. Hereby, the water level inside the reception shaft is kept as least as high as the ground
water level in the soil around the shaft. The TBM mines through the so-called soft eye in the
diaphragm wall, an area slightly larger than the TBM where the reinforcement consists of glass
fiber reinforced polymer bars. As soon as the diaphragm wall is mined over its full thickness,
water will only flow out of the reception shaft and by this any soil transport from around the
tunnel inside the shaft is prohibited.

Figure 1. Longitudinal section of TBM break-out procedure – installation of lining inside dia-
phragm wall.
 The TBM advances until the shield is past the lining ring positioned inside the diaphragm wall
thickness. Then, the gap between tunnel lining and diaphragm wall can be grouted and injected
to achieve a watertight sealing. After sufficient hardening time, the water inside the reception
shaft is lowered step by step, while occurrence of any leakage is accurately monitored.
Even though this methodology was performed successfully at the end of the first tunnel drive,
and the reception shaft was fully dewatered after the arrival of the second tunnel drive without
any leakage encountered, the seal in between diaphragm wall and tunnel lining failed suddenly
after a few days. Due to the high inflow of ground water, a significant amount of soil also flowed
into the reception shaft before the leakage could be stopped. This changed the support and loading
condition of the lining rings adjacent to the reception shaft to such degree that large deformations
and cracks were generated.

2 ASSESSMENT OF THE LINING DAMAGE

To assess the state of the lining, a 3D laser scan has been made. The results have been imported
into a 3D modelling software and converted to a mesh for further analysis. Here for, cross sections
at the centre of each ring were generated. The theoretical centre point for each ring was deter-
mined, and from this centre point, the distance to the intrados is measured along the circumfer-
ence. These measurements are compared to the theoretical radius of the tunnel ring, being 4.985m
for the Rijnlandroute tunnel. The differences in between measured and theoretical distances are
finally plotted in charts as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Cross sectional analysis of the 3D scan.

As the location of the segment joints is known, the individual segments of the ring can be traced.
When a segment maintains its circular shaped curve, the measurements will show a straight line
in the graph. Joint rotations are shown as the angles between two adjacent segments. Ovalisation
is the deviation from the theoretical diameter of two points 180⁰ apart from each other. By com-
paring the measured deformations, rotations and ovalisations with allowable limit values, an as-
sessment of the structural integrity of the lining can be made.
Assuming that deformations of a segment are due to bending of a simply supported beam hav-
ing the theoretical hoop force, a maximum allowable deformation of 11mm was defined. The
maximum allowable rotation is defined by looking for the stage where the joint no longer provides
additional rotational stiffness with increasing rotation. This value was 9mrad. Finally, the maxi-
mum allowable ovalisation was based on the DAUB rule stating that ovalisation shall be less than
0.5% of internal diameter, thus 49mm in case of the Rijnlandroute tunnel. Adopting these limit
values, it was concluded that up to 10 rings were lacking the required structural integrity. The
same exercise was done for the tunnel South, located at an interdistance of merely 2.5m. For this
tunnel it was concluded that no damage was encountered.
 3 BACK CALCULATIONS

Based on the measured deformations and the location of the leakages, it was assumed that the soil
support on the lower right quarter of the rings close to the receival shaft was reduced significantly.
To test this theory, a simplified model of the tunnel was created in DIANA FEA. The model
includes 12 consecutive rings whereby longitudinal segmental joints were modelled as Janssen
material and the dowels and bicones in the ring joints as non-linear interfaces. The soil was rep-
resented by non-tension springs, while soil and water pressures were introduced as explicit loads
on the lining.

Figure 3. Deformations as obtained by back-calculation using DIANA FEA.

To imitate the reduction of the soil support, part of the springs at the lower right corner were
removed. At these locations the soil pressure was removed as well, but the water pressure was
kept unchanged. The model was iteratively tuned until the resulting deformations matched the
measured deformations of the tunnel. It was concluded that the most significant loss of bedding
was encountered between rings N-1119 and N-1114, with the loss over the entire right half of the
rings. From ring N-1114 to ring N-1109 the loss was limited to the bottom part only.

4 ASSESSMENT OF THE BEDDING

To assess the quality of the bedding the tunnel lining experiences from the surrounding soil, two
types of investigation were performed, a Multichannel Analysis of Surface waves (MASW) and
a series of Cone Penetration Tests (CPT’s).

4.1 Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves

The MASW was executed by the Department of geotechnics of the Zagreb university. Hereby,
14 longitudinal lines with a length of 30m, thus covering 15 rings were installed equally distrib-
uted along the intrados. On each line, 20 geophones spaced 1.5m were attached to the tunnel
internal surface. MASW is a non-destructive geophysical method for determination of the veloc-
ity of surface waves and is exceptionally useful in determining the elastic modulus of various
materials at very small strains, as well as in determining changes of such modulus with respect to
depth. Waves are generated by means of mechanical impact and on the basis of the velocity the
wave is registered by the geophones, the stiffness of the material the wave passed through can be
determined. With the data obtained, 20 cross sections and 14 longitudinal sections of small strain
shear moduli could be developed. The data showed that a loss of bedding stiffness mainly oc-
curred at the northern side of the northern tunnel tube (area in between -20⁰ and -160⁰), and this
for the rings 1120 (ring inside the diaphragm wall) to 1114 (see also Figure 7).
Figure 4. View on two lines of geophones installed at tunnel invert (left), introduction of impact
signal (middle) and location of rings in tunnel north and south at arrival shaft (right)

4.2 Cone Penetration Tests

Three rows of 4 CPT’s each were performed, a row close to the outer side of each tunnel tube and
one row in between both tunnel tubes. Comparison with CPT’s made before the tunnel drives
showed no significant difference apart from one CPT where a sinkhole was encountered during
the second tunnel drive. Strangely, this sinkhole was not visible in the MASW.

5 ONGOING SETTLEMENTS

Only a few days after the calamity, joint/crack width measurement markers and monitoring prisms
were installed inside the tunnel. Frequent survey demonstrated an ongoing settlement of the af-
fected length of the tunnel, whereby the largest settlements were registered at the location of the
boogie of gantry 1.

Figure 5. Settlements along longitudinal profile rings N-1122 (inside diaphragm wall) to N-1100

6 SOIL IMPROVEMENT

To warrant a service life of 100 years, the bedding of the surrounding soil layers needs to be
restored and the structural strength of the lining requires upgrading. To restore the bedding, in-
jection through the tunnel lining was chosen. This soil improvement was the first step, as the
gantries needed to be removed out of the tunnel before any structural lining improvement could
take place, and therefore gantry 1 needed to be shifted to the receival shaft. The latter was unal-
lowable without prior soil improvement. Gantries 2 to 4 were pulled out of the tunnel towards the
launching shaft.
In order to fill any voids, the injection pressure needed at least to exceed the groundwater pres-
sure, but this injection pressure acted as external load on the damaged lining and by that was
limited. The developed FEM model was used to assess the allowable injection pressures. The
injection pressure is modelled as a distributed load, acting on a 1m diameter circle. The position
of this load is varied on a total of 12 locations. The excess pressure, compared to the present water
pressure, is an additional load on the lining. Using a staged analysis whereby the measured defor-
mation is firstly achieved and afterwards the injection pressures are introduced, gives the differ-
ence in deformations as expected effect of the injection works. A threshold value of 5mm was
assumed for the differential deformations. It was found that excess pressure of about 80 to 200kPa,
depending on the ring and position, are specified. To allow for minimum required injection pres-
sures at the heavily deformed rings N-1119 to N-1117, without exceeding the 5mm threshold
value, temporary steel support rings inside the tunnel became necessary.

Figure 6. FEM model showing the 12 envisaged injection points.

Once the injection works were performed, their efficiency was evaluated by a new MASW and
CPT investigation campaign. Especially the MASW results gave a clear picture that the injection
works improved the surrounding soil mass to at least its initial strength.

Figure 7. MASW results at cross section of ring N-1118 before (left) and after (right) soil im-
provement.
The MASW shows the small strain shear modulus (G0) which on its turn can be translated into
soil strength parameters using well known correlations. The weak dark blue layers close to the
invert of the lining before the soil improvement have been clearly changed into much stronger
soil layers, indicated by yellow to purple coloring, after soil improvement. The soil mass further
away from the lining has also been strengthened compared to the initial condition.

7 TRADE-OFF STRUCTURAL REPAIR VARIANTS

An effective structural repair of the lining was only considered feasible by means of a concrete
internal lining. Ensuring the contractual clearance profile would result in a locally very thin inner
lining of merely 100mm thickness. A slight reduction of the clearance profile at the critical loca-
tions would allow for a 300mm thick internal lining.
The first option would require high strength concrete without any dilation joint over the full
length of the damaged area. The minimum thickness of 100mm would ensure sufficient fire re-
sistance to the existing damaged lining, whereby it was reasoned that the lining surviving the
situation after the calamity, would also survive the situation in between a fire scenario and the
following repair. However, no further deterioration of the damaged lining in time could be al-
lowed for, and therefore a cathodic protection of the damaged lining was considered necessary.
The robust solution of a 300mm thick internal lining allowed for the installation of dilation
joints. This lining would remain structurally sound during a fire case scenario, and by this the
existing lining can be considered lost. The increased robustness, combined with a less complicated
construction process led to the choice of the variant with slightly reduced clearance profile.

Figure 8. Options of inner lining considered in trade-off matrix.

8 STRUCTURAL REPAIR BY MEANS OF ADDITIONAL INNER LINING

8.1 Main principles

To restore the structural integrity and water tightness of the tunnel, the realization of an inner
concrete shell within the damaged tunnel rings was chosen. The assessment of the structural in-
tegrity did show exceedances of the criteria down to ring N-1109, while settlements have been
registered down to ring N-1103. These observations led to the decision to realize a full inner lining
over the area N-1121 to N-1108 and to further extend the two lateral beams down to ring N-1102.
To have some flexibility, joints were added in the top half of the structure.
 In the regular tunnel sections, a rectangular precast concrete cable duct element was installed
at the invert of the tunnel and subsequently infill on both sides was placed. Infill, together with
the top slab of the cable duct formed the base level for the road works. At the calamity zone, a
300mm thick inner lining is foreseen. The cable duct couldn’t be placed on top of this as it would
protrude from the top of the road level and it was neither possible to embed the cable duct into
the inner lining, as this wasn’t compatible with the structural concept.
It was chosen to use the existing precast duct elements by cutting their bottom slab. A fixation
of the duct lateral walls into the inner lining compensated for the removed bottom part. By this
the cable ducts could serve as formwork for the lateral beams. To avoid any structural influence
from the beams on the cable ducts, a 20mm thick compressible material was placed at the inter-
faces.

8.2 Phasing of the repair works

The execution sequence was critical. The addition of the dead weight of the structural concrete
had to be done in small steps, whereby the structural strength increase due to previous concrete
pouring stages was essential to allow for a following pouring phase. To limit settlements, casting
of the lateral beams was realized in two steps. The adopted sequence can be seen in Figure 9.

Figure 9. Execution sequence of the internal lining: casting of invert (top left), installation and
fixation of cable duct (top right), casting of lateral beams in two pours (bottom left) and casting
of top half (bottom right).

8.3 Water tightness

To prevent ingress of water into the bored tunnel, measurements were taken in a threefold way.

8.3.1 Water tightness of the inner shell

The inner shell comprised the non-dilated bottom part and the dilated top half. In the dilation
joints of the top half, the injectable waterstops as usually adopted in tradition in-situ built tunnel
segmental joints were used. At the construction joint between bottom and top half, horizontal
injection hoses were installed to be used when necessary.
8.3.2 Sealing of the damaged outer lining
As it was expected that the damaged lining could have through going cracks, a sealing was in-
stalled at the intrados of the entire damaged area. Therefore, first all unevenesses were mitigated
by filling erector holes and smoothening the steppings in between consecutive rings by means of
repair mortar. Subsequently the smoothened area was covered by a spray applied watertight mem-
brane.

8.3.3 Blocking of possible longitudinal leakage paths

Water, entering through the damaged lining, could find its way via the longitudinal joints and/or
tie rod holes further down in the tunnel, beyond the area of the inner lining. These longitudinal
leakage paths had to be blocked. Therefore, the two consecutive ring joints N-1111/N-1110 and
N-1110/N-1109 were injected, as well as all longitudinal lining joints and tie rod holes located in
between these both fully injected ring joints. In the following downstream ring joint (N-1109/N-
1108) a drainage duct was installed to guide any potential leakage water towards the tunnel’s
drainage system. For redundancy ring joint N-1108/N-1107 was fully injected and in the interface
between inner lining and ring N-1107 two perimetric swell seals were placed.

Figure 10. Blocking of longitudinal leakage paths.

8.4 Fire resistance

To ensure the required fire resistance against a two-hour lasting fire according the RijksWater-
Staat (RWS) fire curve, a few options were evaluated. A protection by means of passive fire
protection boards would further limit the clearance profile by another 25 to 30mm. on top of this,
applying boards in a circular shape would lead to a huge number of small plates and thus huge
number of joints that require accurate execution to limit the joint widths to +/-2mm.
An alternative using spray applied mortar would also require a thickness of approximately
35mm. The great advantage of a sprayed mortar is the easiness of installation in a circular shape.
Contrary to the passive fire protection boards and the fiber-containing concrete, no fire tests were
already performed for a spray applied mortar. The necessity to await positive results of fire tests
on sufficiently dried-out test slabs (three months according to prescribed test protocols) intro-
duced a significant time impact.
Finally, an inner concrete shell comprising polypropylene fibers were considered. Positive test
results were available for this option, and the clearance profile wasn’t further reduced. By this, it
was decided to prefer this option.

9 CONCLUSION

By firstly implementing a soil improvement and subsequently installing an inner lining inside the
damaged part of the Northern tunnel tube, the final status of the permanent works could be con-
sidered as fully compliant to all contractual requirements. Thanks to a good cooperation in be-
tween contractor, client and authorities, a small concession in the clearance profile allowed for a
sound structure during the entire lifetime. Structural integrity, functionality, durability and re-
sistance to fire case scenarios were hereby the main points of aspect. Innovative soil investigation
techniques like MASW were very useful to determine the magnitude of the impacted area and to
evaluate the efficiency of the performed soil improvement. The initial contact grouting appeared
to be marginally efficient, contrary to the subsequently performed permeation grouting which
proved to lead to good results.