10

Subaqueous tunnels

The following possibilities are available for the crossing of water ways1:
Ferries: These are slow and have a reduced transport capacity when com-
pared with bridges and tunnels (e.g. the Channel tunnel has shortened
the drive from Paris to London from 6 hours to 2 hours and 40 minutes).
In addition they are dangerous to other ships and are affected by bad
weather.2
Stationary or mobile bridges: The following types can be considered:
• floating pontons with movable sections in the centre to allow the pas-
sage of ships
• mobile bridges.
Opening and closing of the bridges is time consuming and hinders the
traffic.
High bridges: These must be sufficiently high to allow the passage of ships:
10 m for inland navigation,
25 m for coastal navigation,
70 m for open sea navigation.
With a longitudinal slope of 4% for roads and 1.25% for rail, long ramps
may be necessary. High bridges may affect the scenery and traffic may be
impaired by bad weather (e.g. hurricanes).
Subaqueous tunnels: They can be up to 50% more expensive than bridges
but they help to avoid the disadvantages cited above. The following vari-
ants are available:
• anchored floating tunnels
• subaqueous bridges erected on piers

1
M. Kretschmer und E. Fliegner: Unterwassertunnel, Ernst und Sohn, 1987
2
In 1954 a storm caused 5 ferryboats to sink in Japan, 1,430 persons died. There-
upon, the 54 km long Seikan tunnel was built (from 1971 to 1988), that connects
the islands Honshu and Hokkaido.
204 10 Subaqueous tunnels

• cut and cover below water level, either within a sheet- or bored pile
wall, or constructed with towed and lowered parts, or built as caissons
or mined.
Mined tunnels have covers between 30 and 100 m and are, therefore,
deeper than tunnels constructed with cut and cover. Therefore, they need
longer ramps. Navigation requires a free water depth between 50% (for
inland navigation) and 10% (for open sea navigation) of the clearance
above sea level.

10.1 Towing and lowering method

Pre-fabricated blocks (Fig. 10.1, 10.2) with lengths between 40 and 160 m
are towed and subsequently lowered to their final position. To render them
floatable, their front parts are temporarily bulkheaded off. They are designed
to withstand loads between 10 und 80 kN/m2 due to wracks as well as an
impact of anchor of 1,300 kN distributed over a surface of 1.5×3 m. A pressure
drop of 7.5 bar due to passage of ships should also be taken into account.
Tunnel elements of concrete are waterproofed by means of steel sheets, bi-
tumen or synthetic membranes. Water-tight concrete is increasingly used. If
steel is used, corrosion should be taken into account. If the water contains
dissolved carbonate, a protective layer is created which inhibits corrosion.
Otherwise losses of 0.01 to 0.02 mm steel annually have to be taken into ac-
count due to corrosion. The so-called cathodic corrosion protection is based
on a galvanic voltage applied between the steel to be protected and an anode
made of zinc, magnesium or aluminium.
The stability of the floating tunnel elements has to be checked according to
the rules of ship-building. A resonance of the tunnel element and of the water
swapping within the ballast tanks should be avoided.
The subsoil investigation is based on sampling from boreholes and sounding.
This can be carried out from ships, if the water depths do not exceed 15 m. For
depths up to 25 m the investigations can be operated from leg jack-up drilling
rigs. Remote controlled vehicles that are capable of sampling and sounding
are also applicable on the sea ground.
The depth of the basement must comply with the requirements of navigation,
i.e. a minimum free water depth of 15 m must be allowed for. Taking into
account a tunnel height of 8 m and the corresponding cover, depths of ca 30 m
must be dredged. The surface of the dredged channel should be controlled
e.g. with ultrasonic sounding. Before touching the ground the lowered element
causes the water to escape from the gap. The accelerated water flow may
induce flutes. Therefore, sandy ground should be protected with a gravel cover.
 10.1 Towing and lowering method 205

95

75

75

95
8

5
5
0.
0.

0.
0.

0.

0.

0.
9.75 2 9.75 6.57 6.605 2.225 Protection
rockfill

Northern Southern
8.545

motorway Northern Southern

Glacial motorway railway railway
deposits tube tube tube tube Backfill

Copenhagen Escape and Gravel bed

limestone service galleries foundation All dimensions in metres

Fig. 10.1. Cross section of the Øresund tunnel3

Fig. 10.2. Pre-fabricated tunnel blocks for Øresund tunnel4

Due to buoyancy the bottom contact pressure is low (usually between 5 and
10 kN/m2 ). A safety factor of 1.1 with respect to buoyancy has to be assured.
The following types of bedding can be applied:
Bedding upon gravel: The gravel bed has to be bulldozed.
Underfilled basement: The tunnel element is deposed upon temporary
footings. The remaining space is subsequently filled with hydrauliking
material (mixture of sand and water). The sand bed obtained is rather
loose and, thus, prone to settlement and liquefaction. A remedy is to add
cement to the hydrauliking material.
Pile foundation is to be applied in case of weak underground.

3
Busby, J., Marshall, C., Design and construction of the Øresund tunnel, Pro-
ceedings of the ICE, Civil Engineering 138, November 2000, 157-166
4
www.thornvig.dk
206 10 Subaqueous tunnels

10.2 Caissons
Submerged tunnels can be constructed as arrays of caissons. A caisson is a
box driven downwards by removing the included soil and, thus, evoking a
series of controlled punchings. The removal of soil can be done either in open
caissons or in closed chambers filled with pressurized air5 (so-called pneumatic
caissons, Fig. 10.3).

Fig. 10.3. Pneumatic caisson, lock (right)

Fig. 10.4. Work chamber of a pneumatic caisson (Metro Amsterdam)

5
H. Lingenfelser: Senkkästen, Grundbau-Taschenbuch, 4. Auflage, Teil 3, Ernst
und Sohn, Berlin 1992
 10.2 Caissons 207

Fig. 10.5. Caisson for Metro Amsterdam: mould for concrete

The working chamber of pneumatic caissons is filled with concrete after arrival
at the final depth. Pneumatic caissons have a series of advantages:
• The penetrated soil can be inspected during lowering and obstacles can
easily be removed.
• The groundwater is not disturbed
• No vibrations are produced
• Loading the space above the working chamber with soil or water renders
lowering always possible.
• The caisson can be built elsewhere (e.g. on an artificial island) and towed
to its final position.
An offset of 3 - 10 cm width is provided 3 m above the cutting edge (Fig. 10.6).
The resulting gap is filled (or grouted) with bentonite slurry to reduce wall
friction (Fig. 10.6). Rough external walls cause an increased wall friction.
The inner wall of the cutting edge should be neither too flat (to enable access
to the soil) nor too steep (to avoid a too deep penetration into the soil). The
tip of the cutting edge is reinforced with a steel shoe appropriately anchored
within the concrete. The clearance within the working chamber should be
ca 2.0 - 2.5 m. The ceiling of the working chamber should have a thickness
of at least 60 cm to support the loads exerted by the pressurized air and the
ballast. An appropriately formed sand heap can serve as formwork for the
inner wall (Fig. 10.5). The excavation within the working chamber can be
done with the help of water jets. Muck can be pumped away (Fig. 10.4).
By means of a lowering plan it should be assessed that the ballast load is
sufficient to punch the caisson (Fig. 10.7).
On this, the driving forces G+B are balanced to the resisting forces P +R+V
for every intermediate state (Fig. 10.7). Herein are
P: Air pressure resultant = pl · A, where pl is the air pressure and A the
loaded surface.
208 10 Subaqueous tunnels

peripheral trench

peripheral gap

Fig. 10.6. Cutting edge and wall gap filled with bentonite suspension

Fig. 10.7. Lowering plan

R: Wall friction resulting from the horizontal earth pressure6 multiplied with
tan δ. δ is the wall friction angle and can be estimated to 23 ϕ. Adjacent to
the bentonite lubrication is δ = 5◦ , or a wall shear stress of 5 - 10 kN/m2
can be assumed.
V: Vertical component of the edge force.7 V is obtained from the limit load
pg , the distribution of which is assumed as shown in Fig. 10.8.

pg can be estimated as follows:

1.2 - 1.6 MN/m2 (gravel)
0.9 - 1.3 MN/m2 (sand) .

6
although not theoretically justified, usually active earth pressure is assumed.
7
P. Arz, H.G. Schmidt, J. Seitz, S. Semprich: Grundbau, Abschnitt 5: Senkkästen.
In: Beton-Kalender 1994, Ernst und Sohn, Berlin
 10.2 Caissons 209

Fig. 10.8. Assumed distribution of stress at the cutting edge