Penchala Tunnel: example of an efficient combination of empirical, analytical, and observational approaches for design

The 710 m-long Penchala Tunnel is the first underground civil structure of the Kuala Lumpur highway system. It is a twin-bore tunnel and each bore has a horse-shoe shaped section with an excavated area of 118-144 m2. The ground conditions vary from residual soils to fresh, strong granites and the overburden from a few meters to a maximum of 115 m. Given the importance of this tunnel and the relatively limited experience of Malaysia in constructing tunnels of this dimension, the construction contract was procured through international tendering, admitting proposals with alternative solutions for design and construction. To speed up the execution of the construction of this tunnel a flexible construction design was developed using an efficient combination of empirical, analytical, and observational approaches, wherein the various excavation section types are integrated in order to allow a smooth variation and an easy definition of their application directly to the excavation face, optimizing both the advance rate and the installation of stabilization measures. In order to define both the excavation sections and the rules for their right application a linear correlation between the geomechanical context and the excavation works and thus the construction design was based on the successive determination along the tunnel alignment of (Russo et al., 1998): geomechanical groups, representing the different rock masses with well-defined intrinsic geomechanical properties; behavioral categories, which express the deformation responses of the geomechanical groups at tunnel level; technical classes, which are directly associated with the different project solutions, in terms of typical sections of excavation and support. In total five typical sections were defined. The foreseen percentage of application of each section type is compared with the actual percentage of application in the table below. It is clear that the on site follow up of the designer including the face mapping, the geomechanical data collection and the pro-active collaboration with the sub-contractor CMC and the resident engineer allow to optimize the application of the lighter sections, which allows to save both time and money, with respect to the foreseen application based on the information from bore-holes. The example represents certainly another successful case of technology transfer from Italy to abroad. (A) "Reprinted with permission from Elsevier". For the covering abstract see ITRD E124500.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/08867798
• Authors:
  • GRASSO, P
  • PESCARA, M
  • RUGA, N
  • RUSSO, G
  • SIVALINGAM, P
• Publication Date: 2004-7

Language

• English

Media Info

• Pagination: p429
• Serial:
  • TUNNELLING AND UNDERGROUND SPACE TECHNOLOGY. UNDERGROUND SPACE FOR SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT. PROCEEDINGS OF THE 30TH ITA-AITES WORLD TUNNEL CONGRESS SINGAPORE, 22 - 27 MAY 2004
  • Volume: 19
  • Issue Number: 4-5
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 0886-7798

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Conferences; Design; Excavation; Tunnels
• Uncontrolled Terms: Efficiency
• Geographic Terms: Italy
• ITRD Terms: 8525: Conference; 9011: Design (overall design); 5911: Efficiency; 5155: Excavation (process); 8051: Italy; 3374: Tunnel
• Subject Areas: Bridges and other structures; Design; I25: Design of Tunnels;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01011599
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Transport Research Laboratory
• Files: ITRD
• Created Date: Dec 19 2005 3:20PM