Geotechnical and Geological Engineering 22: 161–186, 2004.

161
# 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.

Small diameter tunnel excavation method using

slurry pipe-jacking

HIDEKI SHIMADA, SAEID KHAZAEI and KIKUO MATSUI

Department of Earth Resources and Mining Engineering, Kyushu University, Fukuoka
812-8581, Japan. e-mail: {shimada, saeid, matsui}@mine.kyushu-u.ac.jp

(Received 25 March 2003; accepted 3 June 2003)

Abstract. In order to protect the safety of workers construction, as well as for environmental
and cost reasons, efficient small-diameter shallow tunneling methods have recently become
increasingly important in regards to outside plant engineering such as for water supplies, elec-
tricity, telecommunications and gas. The effects of the above projects in overcrowded urban
areas are significant and often result in substantial impact and traffic delays associated with a
loss of travel time. Clearly the solution to these utility placement problems, if the full impact
of trench excavation is to be avoided, is trench less technology. In particular, for construction
work near existing facilities, underground tunnels that are excavated by slurry pipe-jacking
are being increasingly employed in order to avoid problems. Slurry pipe-jacking was firmly
established as a special method for the non-disruptive construction of the underground pipelines
of sewage systems. Pipe-jacking, in its traditional form, has occasionally been used for short rail-
ways, roads, rivers, and other projects. Basically the system involves the pushing or thrusting of
a drivage machine through concrete pipes ahead of jacks. This method utilizes mud slurry that is
formed around the pipes in order to stabilize the surrounding soil. Moreover, in recent years, the
rectangular shape of the concrete pipe in using slurry pipe-jacking was introduced due to the
effective uses of the space. Based on his reason, the rectangular shape of the concrete pipe is
often adopted in Japan. From this point of view, this paper discusses the effect shapes have
on the stability of surrounding soil by means of the numerical analysis. Secondly, this paper dis-
cusses the performance of the mud slurry around the drivage pipes by means of the two-dimen-
sional Eulerian-Lagragian seepage analysis. Moreover, in slurry pipe-jacking, the performance
of the mud slurry plays an important role in the pushing process. Finally, the thrusts in slurry
pipe-jacking can be predicted accurately by evaluating the resistance between the mud slurry and
the concrete pipes and the resistance between the soil and the pipes in the curved jacking area.
Key words. seepage behavior of mud slurry, slurry pipe-jacking, stability of soil, thrust
estimation.

1. Introduction
Pipe-jacking is a technique used to install an underground pipeline through a bore
created by a shield type drivage machine, which is used hydraulically from a starting
pit. This technology was developed in the United States over 50 years ago. Since that
time, the advantages of this method have been recognized by the entire world. The
pipe-jacking technology has been used in various applications such as oil and gas
pipelines, electricity and telecommunications cable installation.