NEWS

& COMMENT

Undersea Tunnels in Norway--a Review

Dr. Ing. Bj#rn Nilsen

17

Since the f i r s t s u b s e a r o c k
t u n n e l s in N o r w a y w e r e c o m p l e t e d
a p p r o x i m a t e l y 10 y e a r s ago, such
projects have steadily become more
p o p u l a r . To d a t e , 10 rock t u n n e l s
b e n e a t h the sea f l o o r h a v e been
completed.
The m a j o r i t y of these t u n n e l s
are r o a d t u n n e l s a n d t u n n e l s for oil
or gas p i p e l i n e s (see T a b l e 1).
L o c a t i o n s of the p r o j e c t s are s h o w n
in F i g u r e 1, a n d l o n g i t u d i n a l
s e c t i o n s a l o n g the r e s p e c t i v e
t u n n e l s are s h o w n in F i g u r e 2.
Most of the t u n n e l s are r e l a t e d
to f j o r d a n d s t r a i t c r o s s i n g s on the
west coast of N o r w a y . As of
A u g u s t 1988, the t o t a l s u b s e a
l e n g t h of these t u n n e l s w a s about20 km, a n d the l o w e s t d e p t h b e l o w
sea l e v e l was a b o u t 250 m. For the
most r e c e n t l y b u i l t oil a n d gas
p i p e l i n e t u n n e l s , the c r o s s - s e c t i o n a l
a r e a is a p p r o x i m a t e l y 25 m2; for
some r o a d t u n n e l s , t h i s a r e a is as
g r e a t as 70 m 2.
The N o r w e g i a n u n d e r s e a
t u n n e l s are s i t u a t e d in a v a r i e t y of
geological conditions, ranging from
t y p i c a l h a r d rock, such as
P r e c a m b r i a n gneiss, to less
c o m p e t e n t p h y l l i t e s a n d poor
q u a l i t y schists a n d shales. The
most d i f f i c u l t s i t u a t i o n s t h a t h a v e
been e x p e r i e n c e d so f a r h a v e been
r e p r e s e n t e d by m a j o r w e a k n e s s
zones c o n t a i n i n g s w e l l i n g c l a y a n d
m i n o r q u a n t i t i e s of w a t e r . L a r g e ,
concentrated water inflows have
not c r e a t e d m a j o r p r o b l e m s thus
far.
All p r o j e c t s to d a t e h a v e been
t u n n e l l e d by o r d i n a r y d r i l l i n g a n d
blasting. The average tunnelled
l e n g t h per w e e k v a r i e s b e t w e e n 17
a n d 40 m.

B [Rfi

Oevonian

Cambro-situr
Late precambrian " ~-' , ~ ' ~ '~ ~

J--'-] Precambrian

,o.

t-'f ~" ,

ch,

o tgr~

L00

Figure 1. Locations of subsea tunnels in Norway.

Table 1. Norwegian rock tunnels beneath the sea floor completed as of Decernber 1987.
Project

Year
Completed

Bedrock

CrossSection (m 2)

Total
Length (kin)

Sub-Sos
Length (kin)

Level (M)

Lowest

1. Vollsfjord,
water supply
tunnel

1977

Precambrian
gneiss

16m2

9,4

0,6

- 80

2. Ffierfjord,
gaspipe tunnel

1977

Precambrian gneiss/
Cambro-Silurian
sediments

16

3,6

3,1

-252

3. Vard,
road, tunnel

1981

Late Precambrian
sandstone/shale

53

2,6

1,7

88

4. SRV-Slemmestad,
sewer tunner

1982

Cambro-Silurian
shale/limestone

10

0,9

0,7

95

5. Karm0y-Karst0,
gaspipe tunnel
5.1 Karmsundet

1983

27

4,8

2,1

-180

5.2 F~brdesI]ord
5.3 F~brlandst]ord

1983
1983

Caledonian greenstone
and phyllite/Precambrian gneiss
Precambrian gneiss
Precambrian gneiss/
Caledonian phylfite

27
27

3,4
3,9

1,6
1,0

-170
-160

6. Hjarty,
oilpipe tunnel

1986

Precambrian gneiss

26

2,3

1,8

-105

1987
1987

Precambrian gneiss
Preecambrian gneiss

68
68

3,5
4,2

1,1
2,2

-140
-137

7. Alesund,
road tunnel
7.1 Ellings~by
7.2 Valderey

Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology, Vol. 4, No,. 1, pp. 109-113, 1989 0886-7798/89 $3.00 + .00
Primed in Great Britain.
Perga n n Press ph

109

A boom in s u b s e a road
t u n n e l l i n g has been
t r i g g e r e d by the m a j o r
projects t h a t h a v e r e c e n t l y
been s u c c e s s f u l l y
c o m p l e t e d . T w o more
t u n n e l s are u n d e r
c o n s t r u c t i o n at this time,
a n d more t h a n 30 are
u n d e r p l a n n i n g or
c o n s i d e r a t i o n . The p r o j e c t s
u n d e r c o n s t r u c t i o n are
both t w o - l a n e t u n n e l s
(cross-sectional area
a p p r o x i m a t e l y 50 m2; the
planned projects include
t w o - l a n e as w e l l as t h r e e lane t u n n e l s ( a p p r o x i m a t e l y
50 m 2 a n d 70 m2).
T a b l e 2 lists some
projects t h a t most l i k e l y
w i l l be r e a l i z e d in the n e a r
f u t u r e ; t h e i r l o c a t i o n s are
i n d i c a t e d in F i g u r e 1. As
can be seen, the p l a n s
include several very
c h a l l e n g i n g projects. The
e x t r e m i t y is r e p r e s e n t e d by
the H a r e i d - S u l a t u n n e l ,
w h i c h has a p l a n n e d l e n g t h
of 12 k m a n d a m a x i m u m
d e p t h of n e a r l y 600 m
below sea level.
Experience from
c o m p l e t e d p r o j e c t s is a n
i m p o r t a n t basis for
p l a n n i n g new s u b s e a t u n n e l
projects. In o r d e r to
summarize and evaluate
some of the m a j o r
e x p e r i e n c e f r o m the
Norwegian subsea tunnels,
a r e s e a r c h p r o g r a m m e was
u n d e r t a k e n by S I N T E F
(the F o u n d a t i o n of
Scientific and Industrial
R e s e a r c h at the N o r w e g i a n
I n s t i t u t e of T e c h n o l o g y ) in
1987.
T h i s p r o g r a m m e has
included preinvestigations,
tunnelling experience and
s u p p o r t f e a t u r e s of subsea
tunnels. O w n e r s ,
contractors and consultants
for the t u n n e l s t h a t are
documented have actively
c o n t r i b u t e d to t h i s s t u d y ,
so t h a t a b r o a d o v e r v i e w
has been possible. The
m a j o r f i n d i n g s f r o m the
p r o j e c t h a v e been
p u b l i s h e d in N o r w a y
r e c e n t l y , a n d the m a j o r
c o n c l u s i o n s w i l l be
published internationally
in the n e a r f u t u r e .
[This review o f Norwegian
subsea tunnelling was
written by Dr. lng. Bjorn
Nilsen o f the Norwegian
Institute o f Technology/
SINTEF, Trondheim,
Norway. Thanks to Dr.-Ing.
Jan Bergh-Christensen, our
national correspondent from
Norway, for providing us
with the report.]

110

I VOLLSFJORDEN

.ioo

0
.I00

2 FRIERFJORDEN

"E
300

':,. ..... /

- 1oo

too
3

VARO0

ioo

ZOO

100
0

0.5

1,0

13

10

~'~

km

t. SRV- SLEMMESTAD

-IOO

5 KARMOY- K~RSTO

6 HJARTOY

IOO

7 ,~L E SUN[3 - VlfiRA

~-

71 VALOERHAUIF
JORD~

~ 7 2 ELLINI$IYFJ~
--

--

Figure 2. Longitudinal sections of the seven subsea tunnels

built to date in Norway.

Table2. Subsearoad tunnels underconstructionandprojects underplanningor consideration.

Tunnel Project

Total
Length
(km)

Lowest
Level
(m.b.s.I.)

Under construction:
8. Giske- Godey
9. Kvalsund

42
1,6

-160
- 65

Planned:
10. Hvaler
11. Nappstraumen
12. Kristiansund
13. Stavanger RennesC~y
14. Oslofjord
15. HitraFreya 16. Hareid - Sula
17. Mager@y

3,7
1,7
5,2
5,5
4,2
7,4
5,8
4,9
12,0
6,9

-100
- 70
-130
-210
- t 20
-130
-275
-145
-580
-230

TUNNEI3~IN(; AND U N I ) E R G R O U N D SPACE T E C H N O I , O ( ; Y

V o l t . h e 4, Numl)c~ 1, 1989