Acoustic emission monitoring of rockbursts during TBM-excavated headrace tunneling at Jinping Ⅱ hydropower station

To better understand the mechanical properties of marble at Jinping II hydropower station, this paper examines the changes of brittle rocks in excavation damaged zones(EDZs) before and after excavation of tunnel with the tunnel boring machine(TBM). The paper attempts to employ the acoustic emission(AE) to study the AE characteristics and distribution of rockburst before and after TBM-excavated tunnel. It is known that the headrace tunnel #2, excavated by the drill-and-blast(D&B) method, is ahead of the headrace tunnel #3 that is excavated by TBM method. The experimental sub-tunnel #2–1, about 2000 m in depth and 13 m in diameter, between the two tunnels is scheduled. In the experimental sub-tunnel #2–1, a large number of experimental boreholes are arranged, and AE sensors are installed within 10 m apart from the wall of the headrace tunnel #3. By tracking the microseismic signals in rocks, the location, frequency, quantity, scope and intensity of the microseismic signals are basically identifed. It is observed that the AE signals mainly occur within 5 m around the rock wall, basically lasting for one day before tunnel excavation and a week after excavation. Monitoring results indicate that the rockburst signals are closely related to rock stress adjustment. The rock structure has a rapid self-adjustment capacity before and after a certain period of time during tunneling. The variations of rock stresses would last for a long time before reaching a fnal steady state. Based on this, the site-specifc support parameters for the deep tunnels can be accordingly optimized.

The Ceneri Base Tunnel＂ Construction Experience with the Southern Portion of the Flat Railway Line Crossing the Swiss Alps

This paper summarizes the experience that was gained during the construction of the 15.4 km long Ceneri Base Tunnel （CBT）, which is the southern part of the fiat railway line crossing the Swiss Alps from north to south. The project consisted of a twin tube with a diameter of 9 m interconnected by cross- passages, each 325 m long. In the middle of the alignment and at its southern end, large caverns were excavated for logistical and operational requirements. The total excavation length amounted to approx- imately 40 km. The tunnel crossed Alpine rock formations comprising a variety of rock typologies and several fault zones. The maximum overburden amounted to 850 m. The excavation of the main tunnels and of the cross-passages was executed by means of drill-and-blast （D＆B） excavation. The support con- sisted of bolts, meshes, fiber-reinforced shotcrete and, when required, steel ribs. A gripper tunnel boring machine （TBM） was used in order to excavate the access tunnel. The high overburden caused squeezing rock conditions, which are characterized by large anisotropic convergences when crossing weaker rock formations. The latter required the installation of a deformable support. At the north portal, the tunnel （with an enlarged cross-section） passed underneath the A2 Swiss highway （the major road axis connect- ing the north and south of Switzerland） at a small overburden and through soft ground. Vertical and sub- horizontal jet grouting in combination with partial-face excavation was successfully implemented in order to limit the surface settlements. The south portal was located in a dense urban area. The excavation from the south portal included an approximately 220 m long cut-and-cover tunnel, followed by about 300 m of D＆B excavation in a bad rock formation. The very low overburden, poor rock quality, and demanding crossing with an existing road tunnel （at a vertical distance of only 4 m） required special excavation methods through reduced sectors and special blasting techniques in order to limit the blast-induced vibrations. The application of a comprehensive risk management procedure, the execution of an intensive surface survey, and the adaptability of the tunnel design to the encountered geological conditions allowed the successful completion of the excavation works.

Analysis of blasting damage in adjacent mining excavations

Following a small-scale wedge failure at Yukon Zinc＇s Wolverine Mine in Yukon, Canada, a vibration monitoring program was added to the existing rockbolt pull testing regime. The failure in the 1150 drift occurred after numerous successive blasts in an adjacent tunnel had loosened friction bolts passing through an unmapped fault. Analysis of blasting vibration revealed that support integrity is not compromised unless there is a geological structure to act as a failure plane. The peak particle velocity（PPV） rarely exceeded 250 mm/s with a frequency larger than 50 Hz. As expected, blasting more competent rock resulted in higher PPVs. In such cases, reducing the round length from 3.5 m to 2.0 m was an effective means of limiting potential rock mass and support damage.

Large deformations in deep tunnels excavated in weak rocks:Study on Y-Basque high-speed railway tunnels in northern Spain

Designing the support system for a deep tunnel in weak rock is always challenging,because a misjudgment of real rock behavior can lead to failures.During the construction of the Legutiano tunnel,which belongs to the high-speed railway network named Y-Basque in Spain,the measured convergences exhibited large deformations,which were significantly higher than those in the detailed design.At first glance,these deformations were associated with squeezing,as the tunnel was excavated in flysch-shales and limonite with a maximum cover of approximately 360 m.The aim of this study is to perform a retrofit analysis to compare the most popular empirical and analytical approaches for evaluating the squeezing effect,using geotechnical data pertaining to other tunnels excavated in the same area and in the same geological formations.Finally,a non-linear finite element analysis,focusing on time-dependent rock behavior,is conducted to reproduce the convergences measured.

Horizontal convergence reconstruction in the longitudinal direction for shield tunnels based on conditional random field

Tunnel horizontal convergence monitoring is essential to ensure the operation safety.However,only a few representative tunnel sec-tions are chosen for monitoring due to the cost limitation.It is difficult to capture the horizontal convergence of each tunnel ring with limited measurements.Confronted with this difficulty,the paper proposes a horizontal convergence reconstruction method based on the measurements of deployed sensors.The tunnel horizontal convergence along the longitudinal direction is seen as a one-dimensional sta-tionary and ergodic random field.The reconstruction problem is then transformed into the generation of conditional random fields.Monte Carlo simulation is adopted to generate possible realizations and the mean of realizations is considered as the maximum likeli-hood reconstruction.Error analysis proves the effectiveness of the proposed reconstruction method.The proposed method is proved to be applicable in reconstructing the time-variant horizontal convergence and is verified by the monitoring results of the shield tunnel of Shanghai Metro Line 2.The effect of sensor numbers is parametrically studied,and an optimal sensor placement scheme is decided.Additional sensors placed at the deformation drastically changed location can significantly improve the performance of the proposed method.