ITA SEE 2011 Dubrovnik

April 7-9, 2011, Hotel Congress Centre “Lacroma”, Dubrovnik, Croatia

Theme 4. Choosing the right construction methods and

technologies in tunnelling
Alexandra Raluca Moldovan1, Trifan Alexandru Hulpus2

(Alexandra.MOLDOVAN@cif.utcluj.ro ; moldovanalexandraraluca@yahoo.com)

Nowadays, tunnels are used in order to overcome the overabundance of humans and scarcity
of horizontal space. The infrastructure development is increasing from one year to another
and a practical and undisturbed solution for human daily activity is the construction of
underground structures. Tunnels are used for different utilisation such as : passage of road,
rail traffic, vehicular passage, aqueducts and canals.

It is often cost-effective as an alternative to over-ground solutions, when the risk and

costs of disruption during construction is taken into account.[ Alan Graham ,2002]

Understanding the Subsurface construction is much more complex than building on the
surface. Choosing the method that may be used for a specific tunnels depends on several
factors including geology, ground conditions, the ground water conditions, the length and
diameter of the tunnel drive, the depth of the tunnel, the logistics of supporting the tunnel
excavation, the final use and shape of the tunnel and appropriate risk management manage,
costs, potential disruption of other activities. [Brian Webber, 1997]. In order to make a good
decision regarding the proper tunneling method for specific works a deep knowledge
regarding all types of tunneling methods, with their advantages, disadvantages and as a
consequence their limitation; needs to be known.

The objective of this paper is to describe the characteristics that have to be taken into account
when choosing the right tunnelling method (Immerse tube tunnelling, Cut-and-cover
method,drill-and-blast method, Conventional tunnelling method, NATM,shield driving or
tunnel jacking method, Raise-bore method, TBM) .

A brief introduction will be presented for existing tunnelling methods (mentioned before)
used in the past and the more actual methods developed nowadays and their technology.
Limitation of tunnelling methods will be described and solutions used to overcome this
limitation will be presented in the paper.

Key words: tunnels, technologies, tunnelling methods, tunnelling advantages,disadvantages,

limitation of tunnelling methods

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1
PhD Student, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca , Faculty of Civil Engineering
Department of Geotechnics and Foundation Engineering , Technical University from Cluj-Napoca,
Memorandumului street nr. 28, 400114 Cluj, Romania email: Alexandra.MOLDOVAN@cif.utcluj.ro ;
moldovanalexandraraluca@yahoo.com)
2
PhD Student, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca , Faculty of Civil Engineering Department of Geotechinics
and Foundation Engineering , Technical University from Cluj-Napoca, Memorandumului street nr. 28, 400114
Cluj, Romania email: trifan.hulpus@cif.utcluj.ro