The contract C310 comprises the construction of the Plumstead tral London. The estimated construction cost volume is
and North Woolwich Portals and the twin tube Thames Tunnel, approximately € 18 bn overall. Altogether there will be
which has a length of approximately 2.6 km between the two 118 km of new rail track, including 42 km of tunnels and
portals. The two TBMs used for the construction of the Thames 37 train stations.
Tunnel will drive through varying ground conditions (Thanet
Sand, River Terrace Deposit (gravel), and chalk) below the water 1.2 Contract C310 Thames Tunnel (Bored tunnel drive H)
table. During the drive under the River Thames, the tunnels will
only have an overburden of approximately 12 m. The effect of Hochtief Murphy Joint Venture (HMJV) is responsible for
pressure variation due to the tidal River Thames has to be ac-
the construction of two tunnels underneath the River
counted for in the control of the tunnelling. The tunnel will pass
Thames, under the contract name C310 Thames Tunnel.
underneath several grade II listed buildings, utilities, adjacent to
The contract C310 comprises the construction of both the
operational railway tracks and close to existing subway tunnels.
Plumstead and North Woolwich Portals, as well as the
Previous experience of the handling and disposal of excavated
twin tube Thames Tunnel which has a length of approxi-
chalk has been gained on several tunnelling projects in chalk,
most notably the Dartford Road Tunnels, the Channel Tunnel, the mately 2.6 km between the two portals. Contract com-
Brighton Stormwater Tunnel, the Lille Metro Tunnel, the Socatop mencement date was in early March 2011; in November
Road Tunnel near Paris and Channel Tunnel Rail Link CTRL 320. 2011 the construction of the tunnel portal at Plumstead
The Contract allowed for both Mixshield and EPB TBM Technolo- commenced. The main tunnelling works started in Janu-
gy. The advantages and disadvantages of a TBM-S with Earth ary 2013 and the anticipated completion of the tunnelling
Pressure Balanced face support (EPB-TBM) and a TBM-S with work including cross passages and pump sumps is Sep-
Slurry Face support (Mix-Shield TBM) for the C310 Thames Tun- tember 2014. Completion of the whole works is expected
nels were discussed after contract award and a comparative risk mid June 2015. C310 is a challenging project, both techni-
assessment was developed. A Mixshield TBM is more expensive cally and operationally, due to its location and difficult ge-
but outperformed the EPB TBM in the overall scoring of risk as- otechnical conditions. The two TBMs will drive through
sessment and therefore it has been decided to use this type at varying ground conditions (Thanet Sand, River Terrace
C310. Deposit (gravel), and chalk) below the water table (Fig. 2).
During the drive under the River Thames, the tunnels will
only have an overburden of approximately 12 m. The ef-
1 C310 Thames Tunnel project overview fect of pressure variation due to the tidal River Thames
1.1 Project Crossrail has to be accounted for in the control of the tunnelling.
Additionally, the drive under the River Thames is charac-
Crossrail, the biggest infrastructure project in Europe, is a terized by fissured and weathered chalk and layers of dis-
new major cross-London rail link project, which has been continued sediment discharge. The tunnel will pass under-
developed to link east to west by crossing the heart of neath several grade II listed buildings, utilities, adjacent to
London and its important business locations. It will bring operational railway tracks and close to existing subway
1.5 million people within 45 minutes commuting distance tunnels.
of London’s key business districts. The project includes
the construction of a twin-bore tunnel on a west-east align- 2 Geotechnical and hydrogeological conditions
ment under Central London and the upgrading of existing 2.1 Geotechnical conditions
National Rail lines to the east and west of Central Lon-
don. The new rail line (Fig. 1) starting in Shenfield/Abbey The encountered River Terrace Deposits (gravel) are typi-
Wood in the east of London and ending in Maidenhead/ cally described as: medium dense to very dense, grey (or-
Heathrow Airport in the west of London includes the con- ange or green) brown or dark grey, slightly silty, slightly
struction of eight central area underground stations, clayey, fine to coarse sand and fine to coarse subangular to
which will provide interchanges with London Under- rounded flint gravel. The sand and gravel proportions vary
ground, National Rail and London Bus services, as well as from very gravelly sand to sandy gravel. Quartzite and flint
the upgrading or renewal of existing stations outside cen- cobble are found occasionally.
© 2014 Ernst & Sohn Verlag für Architektur und technische Wissenschaften GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin · Geomechanics and Tunnelling 7 (2014), No. 1 45
R. Rengshausen/R. Tauriainen/A. Raedle · TBM and spoil treatment selection process – case history Crossrail C310 Thames Tunnel
The Thanet Sand is predominately a sequence of fine- is a microcrystalline silica rock that occurs as dispersed,
grained sand beds, with higher proportions of clay and usually black nodules or as tabular bands or sheets. Flints
silts in the lower part. The unweathered formation is grey represent very strong, brittle inclusions in contrast to the
to brownish grey, and at the surface it weathers to a pale comparatively weak host chalk matrix. Marl seams are
yellowish grey. The basal Bullhead Bed is a conglomerate horizons with increased concentrations of clay.
comprised of rounded coarse flint gravels and nodular Two different chalk layers are encountered by the
flints in a matrix of dark greenish grey, clayey fine to C310 tunnel, the chalk of the Haven Brow Beds and the
coarse grained sand. It is described as dense to very dense. Cuckmere Beds. The chalk at the top of the layer is very
Approx. 80 % of the C310 tunnel cross section is lo- weak, highly weathered and described as low density
cated in chalk. Chalk is generally considered to be a white chalk improving in both strength and density with
soft/weak rock, a very pure white limestone formed from depth. Generally the chalk is described as medium density
the skeletal remains of sub-microscopic algae. However, chalk. The geotechnical and geological grading of the
unlike many limestones, chalk is very widespread as a con- chalk has a range from A to Dc. Chalk Engineering Grade
sequence of its entirely planktonic origin. Two features of A1 is considered to be the highest rock mass quality,
commonly found in chalk are flints and marl seams. Flint with Dm considered to be the worst rock mass quality.
There are two aquifers within the London area. The main
deep aquifer is located in the Chalk Group whereas the
River Terrace Deposits contain the second, shallow
aquifer.
In the eastern part of London, these two aquifers are
in hydrostatic contact, as at C310 Thames Tunnel. A re-
sponse to the tidal motion of the River Thames was ob-
served, dependent on the distance to the river. A minimum
and a maximum water level were derived from the geo-
Fig. 4. Tunnelling in proximity of Network Rail Assets
technical investigations. The maximum is set at 104.5 m
ATD whereas the minimum is set at 96.5 m ATD (above
tunnel datum). A variation of ± 4 m to the average ground-
water level of 100.5 m ATD can be found in close proximi- 3 TBM tunnelling underneath sensitive structures
ty to the River Thames (Fig. 3). This is due to the ± 3.5 m and buildings and within tidal influence
tidal influence. The rest of the tunnel alignment has a pre- 3.1 TBM launching in close proximity to operational NKL
set variation of ± 1 m. In addition to the values given by with low overburden
Crossrail [4], further investigations were undertaken. The
long-term measurements were reviewed and continuous Directly after cutting through the diaphragm walls at
reading of piezometer measurements was carried out over Plumstead Portal, the TBMs excavate in the Network Rail
a time period of four weeks. From this information, the zone of influence for a duration of approx. 36 calendar
three design water levels were defined (see Fig. 3). These days each close/adjacent to the operational North Kent
design levels indicate the pore water pressure in the pre- Line and underneath the White Hard Road Bridge and
sent aquifer. The support pressure calculations were car- Cathedral Substation (Fig. 4). The tunnel cross-section
ried out using these three design levels. here is located in mixed-face conditions (gravel, Thanet
Sand and chalk) with shallow overburden of approx. 7 to 3.3 Tunnelling within tidal influence and underneath
10 m for the first 150 m of tunnelling. the River Thames
Real-time monitoring devices were installed consist-
ing of ATS and prisms on the railway and hydrostatic lev- In this area, the pressure variation due to the effects of the
elling cells on the bridge and the Cathedral Substation. tidal River Thames has to be taken into account for tun-
The HMJV monitoring system, Advanced Tunnel Drive nelling (Fig. 5). Due to the proximity to the sea, the
Steering (ATDS), collects any movement and potential set- Thames water level and therefore the adjacent groundwa-
tlement on a continuous 24/7 basis and shows the data in ter level are highly affected by tides. The duration of one
real time. tidal cycle is about 12 h, corresponding to two cycles with
For the commencement of the tunnelling works, a so two minimum trough and two maximum peaks per day.
called LONO (Letter of no objection) is required from Between low tide and high tide, the Thames water level al-
Network Rail otherwise tunnelling is not allowed to start. ternates in general up to 8 m, causing relevant face pres-
Settlements are to be minimised and support pressure has sure changes of approx. 0.8 bar. Therefore the support
to be controlled in a safe and robust manner to maintain pressure has to be constantly reviewed and appropriately
the confidence of Network Rail and demonstrate assur- adapted. An additional consideration is the time depen-
ance. dence of the damping. The delay measured in the bore-
holes adjacent to the river was approximately 0.5 h. This
3.2 Tunnelling underneath sensitive structures time effect will be covered by an increase of the pore water
pressure by 2.5 m for low Thames water levels. The in-
Along the alignment, further sensitive structures had to be crease of 2.5 m creates a confined pore pressure at lowest
underpassed (Southern Outfall Sewer, Royal Mail Build- Thames water level. The damped value is used to calculate
ing and Middlegate House) and overpassed (Docklands the corresponding theoretical support pressure.
Light Railway tunnel with approx. 2 m clearance). To pre- Detailed operational tables for the support pressure
vent settlement from tunnelling operations underneath for the regular tunnel drive were derived from detailed cal-
the Cathedral Substation and Middlegate House, compen- culations. For each ring position and tunnel metre respec-
sation grouting was designed and implemented indepen- tively, the corresponding pressures for the three different
dent of the TBM type. The White Hart Road Bridge is lo- water levels were compiled and interpolated between the
cated west of the main worksite at Plumstead approxi- calculation cross-sections.
mately 40 m from the launch headwall. To mitigate settle- Based on these tables, an automatic calculation and
ment caused by tunnelling operations, the foundation of respective correlation of the support pressure to the tidal
the bridge had to be supported, with a micro-pile and soil measurements (displayed damped water level) takes place
anchor scheme being the preferred method of underpin- within the TBM Data Process Management System TPC.
ning to strengthen/support the foundation of the White Subsequently the theoretical support pressure is dis-
Hart Road Bridge. played. The damped water level for the calculation of the
theoretical support pressure is capped at a minimum of to compensate for pressure fluctuations in this part of the
99 m ATD although the minimum design river water level machine [3].
is 96.5 m ATD. The reason for this is to maintain a conser- The excavated soil is mixed with the slurry and is
vative assumption. During low Thames water level, we then pumped out at the bottom of the excavation chamber
have to assume that, due to the damping effect, some wa- for separation at the slurry treatment plant located outside
ter could remain in the ground so the pore pressure would the tunnel. For compressed air support, the pressure
be higher than the actual river level. chamber is partially or completely filled with compressed
air.
4 TBM machine type selection and spoil treatment
4.1 Principles EPB and Slurry TBM 4.2 Experience with other tunnels located in chalk
4.1.1 Principle of TBM with earth pressure balanced (EPB)
face Previous experience of the handling and disposal of exca-
vated chalk has been gained on several tunnelling projects
The support pressure of a TBM with earth pressure bal- through chalk, most notably the Dartford Road Tunnels,
anced (EPB) face is provided by the resistance of the exca- the Channel Tunnel, the Brighton Stormwater Tunnel, the
vated soil or rock, which is transformed into an earth Lille Metro Tunnel, the Socatop Road Tunnel near Paris
mud. The latter is remoulded by the excavation tools and and Channel Tunnel Rail Link CTRL 320 A brief descrip-
the mixing tools at the temporary face and in the extrac- tion of the experience gained and problems met on each
tion chamber, potentially with the aid of liquid or foam of these projects is summarised below.
conditioning agents. Tunnelling with earth pressure bal-
anced face support is also referred to as EPB mode. 4.2.1 Dartford Road Tunnels
The extraction chamber is closed against the tunnel
by a pressure wall. Here, the support pressure ps has to These tunnels under the River Thames are large diameter
balance at least the horizontal rock mass pressure ph and tunnels (10.3 to 10.7 m cut diameter) which were excavat-
a potential water pressure pw. The pressure induced by the ed through Upper Chalk with flints using tunnel shields
thrust cylinders at the pressure wall is transferred to the with compressed air working and ground treatment meth-
earth mud and monitored by pressure gauges mounted on ods [7]. Spoil disposal for the first tunnel (built in the early
the pressure wall. 1960s) involved transporting the chalk (and the overlying
The earth mud is conveyed by a screw conveyor. The gravels) from the face on a conveyor to a crushing mill lo-
support pressure ps is controlled by the TBM advance cated behind the shield, and then pumping it to the sur-
speed and the revolution speed of the screw conveyor, the face where it was discharged into 3 m deep settling la-
aim being to keep the earth pressure constant during tun- goons. Limited information is available on the geotechni-
nelling. The earth pressure support to the temporary face cal properties of the chalk spoil but some 105,000 m3 of
requires the transformation of the excavated soil/rock chalk spoil was handled in this way and with the exception
mass into an earth mud, i.e. into a soil with soft to very of 5 % of the colloidal material, all the pumped material
soft consistency, high water absorption capability and low eventually proved suitable for re-excavation and incorpo-
water permeability [2]. The optimised earth mud should ration into flood protection works [8].
be a cohesive soil with soft to very soft consistency to act
as the medium required to support the temporary face. 4.2.2 Channel Tunnel – UK side
On the other hand the consistency of the appropriate
earth mud should not be too soft or liquid to avoid poten- On the British side of the Channel Tunnel, chalk marl was
tial handling problems on the belt conveyor system and al- excavated using open face TBMs (5.4 to 8.7 m cut diame-
so to guarantee that the subsequent muck disposal can be ter). The excavated material was loaded via a conveyor in-
carried out without any additional measures (e.g. adding to 14 m3 side tipping wagons and transported to the
quick lime to increase the consistency of the “liquid Shakespeare Cliff pit bottom, where the wagons tipped in-
muck” should be avoided absolutely). to a bunker storage area from which the spoil was con-
veyed to the surface and deposited by a radial spreader in-
4.1.2 Mixshield TBM tunnelling to a lagoon area located behind a newly constructed sea-
wall. The total volume of cut rock was 3.6 million m3 with
The TBM finally used on the C310 Thames Tunnel, called a peak production rate of 10,000 m3 per day. Minor prob-
a Mixshield TBM, was specially designed for the expected lems with spoil handling were experienced at the start of
ground conditions, to minimise settlement and also en- the undersea drive for the first 10 km. These were associ-
sure continuous face support control, which can be ad- ated with minor inflows of water encountered during exca-
justed in real-time to the appropriate monitored water lev- vation, which caused the marl to stick to the wagons. This
els and respective water pressures. chalk marl had much higher clay content than the chalk at
A Mixshield TBM can be used as a slurry shield or a the CTRL Thames Tunnel [9].
compressed air shield machine.
Located at the front of the TBM is the cutterhead and 4.2.3 Channel Tunnel – French side
behind the cutterhead is the pressure chamber, or excava-
tion chamber, which is divided by a submerged wall. The On the French side, Upper, Middle and Lower Chalk were
slurry rises behind the submerged wall and a compressed excavated using Earth Pressure Balance (EPB) machines
air cushion applies the necessary pressure onto the slurry (5.6 to 8.8 m cut diameter). Spoil excavated through a
screw was transported in muck wagons to the Sangatte former sand and gravel pit where it was spread in 0.3 to
shaft. There the material was crushed (to less than 20 mm 1 m thick layers across the ground using low ground bear-
in size) and mixed with 50 % water in a basculeur (tipper), ing pressure bulldozers. Problems were experienced with
with the resultant slurry being pumped to Fond Pignon handling the chalk, especially during periods of wet weath-
reservoir located at a distance of 2 km. Eight twin-piston er. These problems included breakdowns of the conveyor
Putzmeister pumps were used, each able to pump 90 m3/h leading from the TBM face to the barges due to the sticky
of slurry through the 250 mm diameter pipes. Problems nature of the chalk, and problems at the main disposal site
were experienced during construction in slurrifying the where the chalk was initially too wet (porridge consisten-
spoil and also with blockages in the pipes, which resulted cy) and could not be trafficked nor easily worked.
in significant TBM downtime. The spoil disposal system
controlled TBM production rates because it took 45 min- 4.2.7 Channel Tunnel Rail Link CTRL 320, London –
utes to process and pump the spoil as against 30 minutes Mixshield TBM
for ring building. On completion of filling, the reservoir
held 5.4 million m3 of spoil representing 3.07 million m3 The tunnel spoil totalled some 263,000 m3, of which 80 %
of cut chalk [9]. was chalk spoil, 18 % gravel with the remaining 2 % com-
prising soft alluvial clays and peats. The tunnels were both
4.2.4 Brighton Stormwater Tunnel bored from the Swanscombe side. The excavated material
was crushed at the face and pumped through a high pres-
This tunnel through the Upper Chalk with flints was exca- sure slurry main back to the surface where it was sent to a
vated using an EPB machine (6.9 m cut diameter). The ex- treatment plant. The gravels and crushed flints were
cavated material was loaded into muck wagons, which screened off and then the remaining slurry passed through
were emptied at the pit bottom onto a conveyor and taken a series of hydrocyclones and centrifuges to remove the
to the surface to be deposited in holding bunkers. Average water. The chalk residue was then transported by closed
production was 100 m3/d. Handling problems were expe- conveyor over a distance of 1 km to Craylands Pit, an old
rienced with the chalk due to high moisture content, with chalk quarry located immediately adjacent to the site. To
chalk sticking to the sides of the muck wagons. These facilitate the early strength gain required to fulfil the re-
problems were exacerbated by large inflows of water en- quirements of the land-raising operation, cement was
tering the tunnel face plus the addition of water needed to added to the chalk spoil as an integral part of the separa-
wash the muck out of the wagons. Both of these factors tion process. The chalk paste was then compacted in lay-
significantly wetted up the spoil between the face and the ers for future development. Although this constitutes the
surface. Flocculants and Eimco filter presses were used to most environmentally friendly disposal process (and at the
reduce the moisture content of the spoil somewhat. It was same time increased the structural integrity of the existing
then transported by road in sealed tipper trucks to the shear cliff faces), it did however present a significant logis-
Sheepcote Valley landfill site 2.5 km distant. tical challenge on the project [5] [6].
Initially the secondary separation plant was equipped
4.2.5 Lille Metro Tunnel, Northern France with three centrifuges with a total input slurry capacity of
210 m3/h producing 75 m3/h of solids. During the early
On Contract 4 of the Lille Metro, Upper Chalk with flints stages of the down-line tunnel drive, it became evident
was excavated by a roadheader. This was part of the con- from the nature and quantity of the chalk slurry to be
struction of a 1.24 km long twin track railway tunnel, processed that additional capacity of the secondary sys-
which was 5.8 m high and 6.5 m wide. The progress rate tem would be required. A decision was made to install an
was 25 m/week. The excavated chalk was broken down additional three centrifuges bringing the slurry capacity
and crushed to 50 mm size or smaller before water was up to 470 m3/h with an output of approximately 170 m3/h
added to form a slurry. The resulting thick paste was then of solids. With these additional centrifuges on line, TBM
pumped by Putzmeister sludge pumps up to 600 m hori- productivity reached over 130 m/week and peaked at
zontally along the tunnel and 30 m up the shaft into a silo 18 rings per day i.e. 27 m/d. The separation plant, cen-
above ground. The capacity of the system was 30 m3/h. trifuges and flocculent system were maintained and oper-
No problems were reported on this contract but on the ad- ated by five operatives.
jacent contract, which utilised a Mixshield slurry TBM, The successful and sustainable re-use of the chalk
problems were encountered because 70 % of the chalk tunnel spoil from the CTRL Thames Tunnel for engi-
went into suspension [10]. neered fill was the result of several years of pre-contract
geotechnical investigations and studies, careful plant de-
4.2.6 Socatop Road Tunnel, Paris, France sign, and extensive trials between contract award and the
start of tunnelling. Although some early difficulties were
Here, Upper Chalk with flints was excavated using an experienced in dealing with the chalk slurry and placing
11.6 m diameter Herrenknecht Mixshield slurry/EPB ma- the material in the Craylands Lane Pit, these were soon
chine. The chalk had an in-situ dry density of 1.56 t/m3, overcome through engineering ingenuity aided by co-oper-
an in situ moisture content of 26 %, and a UCS of ative working between all parties. In chalk earthworks, the
2.4 MPa. Excavation of the chalk was carried out in general plan is to reduce breaking down of the chalk
open/EPB mode and production was 2,000 m3/d. Chalk lumps, adding water, and working the chalk over the win-
spoil was transported from the face via a conveyor to ter – however the Thames Tunnel team had to do all three
barges before being transported along the River Seine to a to produce a satisfactory platform for future development.
in the filter presses. Before the slurry is pumped into the sured by a flowmeter and densimeter. The lime milk is
chambers of the filter presses, a defined amount of lime added before a centrifugal pump, which feeds the limed
milk is added, for which lime powder has to be mixed and mud into two storage silos before pumping into the filter
matured in a preparation unit. Lime milk consists of water presses. The purpose of the lime milk for the filtration
and lime powder and is mixed in a process similar to the process is to accelerate the process itself and also to re-
main bentonite preparation. Depending on the settings for duce the stickiness of the filter cake surface to improve the
lime milk concentration and lime dosage, which can set in discharge of the filter cakes.
the operators cabin, the required amount of milk is calcu- The filtration process includes the steps of closing,
lated using the values of outflow of waste mud tank mea- feeding, inflating (only two filter presses), core blast, open-
References