2018/7/4 Rock splitting solution on Hong Kong bypass

Rock splitting solution on Hong Kong bypass 23 Mar 2017

Shani Wallis, TunnelTalk

Article sections
Project design
Urban rock excavation
Protection of the portal structure
Excavation setup
NATM excavation sequence
Observational method savings
An award-winning project on the island of Hong Kong will ease heavy traffic
congestion in the east-west direction and required particular engineering
and excavation expertise to complete a mined hard rock trinocular highway
tunnel, under the portal structure of the existing Cross Harbour Tunnel and
without using drill+blast. Rock drilling, splitting and breaking has been
applied to progress a NATM approach to the excavation process.
Shani Wallis reports from Hong Kong.

Traffic congestion along the northern seaboard of Hong Kong Island is now chronic. Land reclamation and urban
development in the area, including the new convention centre, the airport express railway terminus at Central, and
many new high-rise structures, has increased east-west traffic to the point where extra highway capacity is now vital.

The need was recognised as part of

the island’s most recent phase of land
reclamation, but suggestions 10 years
ago to complete further reclamation to
create space for a new surface
highway, had the citizens of Hong
Kong enraged. Opposition to more
reclamation, and perhaps eventual
disappearance of Victoria Harbour all
together, put a stop to the plans and
had the SAR Hong Kong Government
Highways Department and its
consultants think again. The protests
resulted in the Protection of the
Harbour Ordinance, which now forbids
any further reclamation either side of Fig 1. 3D cross section of the mined tunnel of the underground
Victoria Harbour. bypass passing underneath the southern portal structure of Hong
Kong’s first harbour crossing immersed tube road tunnel
The solution, as in so many cases of
limited land space, is underground with the middle 3.7km of the new 4.5km Central-Wan Chai Bypass project solution
aligned in tunnel. When opened in late 2018/early 2019, a journey of 5-6km, that can take an anticipated 45 minutes
today at peak, will be reduced to about 5 minutes. The road users of Hong Kong just cannot wait.

Project design
Construction is mainly by cut-and-cover and from within temporary reclamation operations for under water with the
seabed of the harbour restored to its natural state once the undersea elements are completed.

One of the most complex sections of the project is the reach between the two deep temporary reclamation cut-and-
cover sections in the Causeway Bay district where only a mined solution was possible. In this section the subsurface
alignment passes adjacent to the Ex-Police Officers’ Club and the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, which are influential
construction-site neighbours indeed, and, more importantly, on a wider scale, beneath the portal structure of the first
cross-harbour immersed tube highway tunnel crossing between Causeway Bay and Kowloon. Tunnelling under the portal
structure and through the hard granitic bedrock would be a challenging operation.

The four-lane cross-harbour immersed tube, built in the 1970s, carries an average 120,000 vehicles/day and its service
cannot be interrupted in anyway. Engineer to the Highways Department for the new HK$36 billion Central-Wan Chai

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2018/7/4 Rock splitting solution on Hong Kong bypass
Bypass project is AECOM Asia. As well as preparing
the conforming design for the re-measurement
contracts, AECOM is also Resident Engineer on site
to supervise the works.

Following planning and design, construction of the

bypass was divided into ten construction packages
with China State Construction Engineering being
awarded the cut-and-cover sections either side, and
the short 167m long mined rock tunnel section in
between, in September 2010 and March 2013
respectively. Chun Wo and Leighton have cut-and-
cover tunnel approach ramp sections further to the
east and west of the bypass tunnel and Leighton
has the M+E fit out and communications contract.

Alignment of the bypass project with the Causeway

Bay on-ramp tunnel and the Cross Harbour Tunnel (in
light blue) and the Shatin-Central Metro Line (in grey)

Urban rock excavation

From the earliest planning stages, the short 167m mined section of the project presented significant challenges.

First, when it came to investigating the

original design and construction of the
existing harbour tunnel portal
structure (Fig 1), there was a lack of
as-built details or records. Information
was very limited, explained Tim Leung,
Senior Resident Engineer for AECOM
for the project. “One of the best we
had was a technical article written by
the consulting engineering company
and published in a magazine in 1971.
From it we gathered some information
about support of the portal structure
by a series of tie-down rock anchors
for anti-floatation, but actual
engineering detail was not available.
Blasting was therefore prohibited, due
to the expected sensitivity, and the Fig 2. Geological section of the mined tunnel and its path under the
lack of detailed construction records, anti-floatation ground anchors of the cross harbour tunnel portal
structure
of the existing cross harbour tunnel
structure. We had to design to a high
degree of safety and to the most balanced of assumptions, and then to monitor the structure intently during
construction.”

As an alternative, the relatively rarely used rock splitting excavation method had to be adopted.

Added to that, the mined rock tunnel had to accommodate an on-ramp slip road for traffic into the east-bound
carriageway. There are only four slip roads on to the 4.5 km long new bypass project and all are into the underground
alignment: an on- off-ramp at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre and the on-ramp at Causeway Bay to entre
the bypass and merge to the mined rock tunnel. With the two, three-lane carriageways either side and the slip road on-
ramp in the middle, the cross-section of the mined underground structure is exceptional at some 50m wide x 11m high

and 460m2 in total (Fig 2). “This cross section we divided into three headings and call it our trinocular configuration,”

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2018/7/4 Rock splitting solution on Hong Kong bypass
explained Leung.

Working access point for progress of the mined rock tunnel

heading

To add to the complexity of the

Causeway Bay section of bypass
highway, the site also has TBM
tunnelling works as neighbours. “In
fact we built our temporary
reclamation section on the east of the
mined tunnel section large enough for
construction of our cut-and-cover
tunnel and also to provide the working
access site for launch and operation of
the two Herrenknecht TBMs used on
the approaches to the immersed tube
harbour crossing of the new
underground Shatin-Central metro
line. The metro contractor is working
alongside us and they will remove the
temporary reclamation and restoring
the sea bed to its natural state as
required after completing their work.” Fig 3. Additional steel weights on the cross harbour tunnel portal
structure
Work on the bypass project contracts
started from 2009, and excavation of the rock tunnel from within the temporary reclamation cut-and-cover works either
side started in March 2013 and completed in May 2015. This section of the new underground bypass highway runs
about 40m below ground surface at invert level and ground surface is about +3.7m above mean sea level. For the
excavation process of its mined rock tunnel, China State Construction Engineering (CSCE) engaged Atkins as its
temporary works engineer.

Protection of the portal structure

Ahead of excavation, and starting in 2011, extra measures were installed to protect the cross harbour portal structure.
“Because we were not sure the exact depth of the tie-down ground anchors or their exact position,” said Leung, “nor of
the installation of ground anchors to prevent floatation of the structure, the first operation was to add additional weight
to the structure to counter balance any potential of encountering ground anchors during the new excavation as
precautionary measures” (Fig 3).

Secondly, a wide array of

instrumentation to monitor any
movement of the cross harbour tunnel
portal structure was installed. Prisms
on the portal structure itself were
monitored by three automatic
monitoring stations on the roof of the
Ex-Policy Officers’ Club building next
door to provide constant real-time
data of any movement every hour and
minute of every day. Instrumentation
Operation of the drilling jumbo with its added guide rod or included strain gauges in the invert of
plunger
the existing highway tunnel.

Also installed was a grout curtain along either side of the cross harbour tunnel portal and a standby system of
dewatering and recharging groundwater wells as contingency measures. “This was an anticipation of

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2018/7/4 Rock splitting solution on Hong Kong bypass
dewatering/recharging needed during excavation of the new rock tunnel,” explained Leung. “Recharging of the
watertable might be needed at the same time to prevent any settlement of the soils above and prevent any damage to
the harbour tunnel portal within them” (Fig 3).

Excavation setup
To get started with excavation, CSCE equipped itself with drill jumbos from Atlas Copco and hydraulic splitter units from
Yamamoto of Japan mounted on Hitachi EX120 chaises and hydraulic breakers from Sandvik, Montabert and Soosan.

The rock splitting method combines

the drilling of a continuous row of
interconnected drill holes around the
tunnel profile to provide the necessary
as free face slot or cut holes, a pattern
of holes in the face for inserting the
hydraulic splitter tool for forcing the
rock to break back and be removed.
With the core of each round
excavated, with the Sandvik,
Montabert and Soosan breakers for
tunnel excavation and prepare the
heading for installation of immediate
support temporary shotcrete and and
the final in-situ concrete lining.
The hydraulic splitters operated at up to 500 bar
Getting to grips with the rarely used
excavation method proved a challenge for the CSCE crews and required much trial and error of the many different
operations and their integration and interrelationship with the rock conditions and its behaviour under the excavation
forces.

“Initially there were issues with breaking the

splitters,” said Leung. “Understanding exactly why
that was took much research and experimentation
and the engagement on site of method experts
from Yamamoto. It became evident that
understanding the rock characteristics and of each
new face proved vital as was the drilling of very
straight holes. Slight deviations in the long splitter
holes would damage the splitter. Higher breaking
pressures on the splitter tools also damaged the
seals and caused contamination of the hydraulic
operating oils and added to significant downtime in
the early days.”

As part of the design strategy and ahead of

excavation start, AECOM specified two horizontal
directional drill holes through the full 167m length
of the tunnel. From this, geologists confirmed rock
strengths of up to 120MPa and tough, massive rock
conditions with few joints or cracks. This also
confirmed that the potential for high water ingress
through fissure connecting to overlaying
sedimentary deposits or to the surface would be
less than anticipated or predicted. NGI Q-mapping
Fig 4. Multi-drift excavation of 50m wide, 460m2 face
of each new face however became a vital
requirement for planning the pattern of splitter drill holes. Repeating the same drill pattern into each new face,
regardless of Q face mapping, was not the way forward.

After many rounds spent perfecting all parts of the process, an optimum was achieved that limited the length of the
split holes to 3m and using a 102 mm diameter drill bit. The optimum splitter tool was 1.5m long and slightly less in
diameter than the drill hole. Hydraulic pressures on the splitter tool ranged for averages of 350 bar up to a maximum of
500 bar.

Vital also to optimum splitting was true parallel alignment of the interconnected slot cut-holes around the perimeter.
The holes had to connect along their full 3m. To keep the drill boom steady and on-line, a guide rod or plunger was
attached to the drill-jumbo booms and inserted deep into parallel cut holes. This helped prevent the natural tendency of

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2018/7/4 Rock splitting solution on Hong Kong bypass
long drill holes to deviate with depth. The same guide rod or plunger was used to help maintain true parallel and
horizontal splitter holes into the face as deviation of these holes proved equally detrimental to the splitting tools and
effective splitting.

After completing the profile cut holes, working from the outside edges of the invert towards the apex crown position,
the two booms of the jumbo completed the face splitter holes. The splitter had the face to itself for breaking out the
core of the new round of advance.

NATM excavation sequence

To progress excavation of the wide span and section, the cross section was excavated on top heading and bench drifts
with the top headings advancing with a maximum of 5m of unsupported length per round and the bench following at a
distance of about 30m to accommodate a ramp and space for the drilling jumbo on the bench (Fig 4).

In sequence, the centre slip road tunnel (SR8) and

the outer sections of the eastbound and westbound
(EB and WB) carriageways were excavated first and
supported with steel ribs at the portals and layers
of steel-fibre reinforced shotcrete. A single round of
10m-long x 273mm diameter pipe umbrella pre-
support was also installed at each portal beneath
the shallow rock cover to overlaying sedimentary
deposits (Fig 2).

Advance of the first three headings was separated

by rock pillars of about equal span of the headings.
Once excavation of the SR8 heading was through
and its permanent base slab and rebar reinforced
in-situ concrete lining installed, excavation of the Fig 5. Estimated and as-mapped Q-values of the better
inner rock-pillar sections of the eastbound and than expected rock conditions
westbound carriageways was then advanced.

“Under this arrangement, multiple headings and installation of temporary rock support could take place simultaneously,”
said Leung. “Early completion of the central permanent lining of SR8 also acted as temporary support to the trinocular
structure and facilitated excavation of the inner eastbound and westbound tunnels to full span, with the maximum axial
load and shear force at the inner end of the temporary lining of the eastbound and westbound tunnels transferred to the
permanent SR8 lining.”

Excavation of the mined tunnel was a first in Hong Kong for such a large span and passing at an oblique angle beneath
the portal of the cross-harbour tunnel portal. “As excavation progressed there was about 20m clearance between the
invert of the portal structure and the crown of our tunnels,” said Leung. “Taking into account anti-floatation ground
anchors of the portal structure, the clearance was much less” (Fig 2).

Fig 6. Optimised installation of tunnel support versus the original support strategy
Original Design Optimized Design
Qmapped
EB SR8 WB EB SR8 WB Rationale

1 ≤ Q ≤ 12 No change for Q < 12 Ongoing

review rock
face mapping
400mm 400mm 400mm records
thick thick plain thick Retain
shotcrete shotcrete at shotcrete reinforcement
with B785 5m max. with B785 at critical
400mm 400mm
steel mesh steel mesh locations
thick 400mm thick Use of fiber
12 ≤ Q ≤ OR 400mm OR 400mm
shotcrete thick shotcrete reinforced
18 thick FRS at thick FRS at
with B785 plain with B785 shotcrete
5m 5m
steel mesh shotcrete steel mesh (FRS)
OR 400mm at 2.5m OR 400mm Control the
thick FRS at max. thick FRS at required
2.5m max. 2.5m max. timing for
temporary
support
Q ≥ 18
installation
300mm 250mm 300mm
Maximize the
thick FRS at thick FRS at thick FRS at
unsupported
5m 5m 5m distance

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As excavation of the mined rock tunnel progressed, production reached a peak of 465m3 per day in April 2015 when
excavation was progressing on the six fronts of the east- and westbound inner headings, the east- and westbound outer
benches, and the east- and westbound inner bench concurrently (Fig 4). This was equivalent to achieving a pull length
of about 1m/day if drill+blast had been adopted.

Observational method savings

By adopting the observational construction method and of all observational and monitoring systems in place, the design
of temporary rock supports was reviewed and adjusted as necessary (Fig 5). “Because the actual ground conditions
were than that assumed during the design stage, we were able to optimize the conservative temporary rock support
elements and to relax the maximum distance unsupported face advance,” said Leung, “and this resulted in significant
benefits to the overall project” (Fig 6).

The drill+break excavation lasted about two years, excavating a total of some 80,000m3 of hard rock and reaching
completion ahead of programme. “This was only possible by using the proper plant and equipment, good site planning
and tight site coordination and control for working on multiple work fronts concurrently,” said Leung.

As multiple-heading excavation was

progressing in front, the final lining
installation progressed also on a
rolling programme about 60-70m
behind. The rolling sequence was led
by installation of a full hydrostatically
sealed plastic membrane water
proofing system, followed by a station
for fixing steel rebar reinforcement,
and closed out behind with concrete
casting into 5m long shutters.

After stating excavation of the

trinocular mined tunnel from both
ends in March and August 2013, CSCE
completed all excavation and lining
works and reached substantial
completion of the mined tunnel in Fig 7. Daily excavation progress rates illustrating that advance rates
could have improved had excavation continued into a longer tunnel
September 2015 and cut-and-cover in
length
March 2016. With M&E and TCSS
installations now progressing, a grand opening of the new underground highway in late 2018/first quarter of 2019 will
be a tremendous celebration.

The experience of building this short, intricate and challenging section of mined rock tunnelling has been the subject of
several technical conference papers and presentations including at the 2016 World Tunnel Congress at San Francisco
last year. Greater details of the full process are available in these records.

To recognise the expertise required to plan, design,

Tim Leung, Senior Resident Engineer for the client’s
consulting engineer AECOM, hosted the visit by
TunnelTalk
manage, excavate and build the mined tunnel, the
parties entered the project into the category for
best tunnel project to a value in excess of €500
million and US$500 million in the 2016 industry
excellence awards and was awarded highly
commended in the ITA Tunnelling Awards in
Singapore in November 2016 and took top honours
in the same category Tunnelling Project of the Year
at the UK international tunnelling awards in London
in December 2016.These are the leading categories
in the two prestigious series of internationally
recognized tunnelling awards. In addition, the
project was shortlisted in the UK Awards in the
Specialist Tunnelling Project of the Year and the
Community Engagement category.

The parties involved take pride in the safe, well

managed, and well executed construction of the project as a whole, and the trinocular mined tunnel section in
particular.

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Project references
1. Performance of NATM hard rock tunnelling for large span mined tunnel underneath cross harbour tunnel; Conrad Ng,
Peter Poon, Tim Leung, Lawrence Tsang – World Tunnel Congress 2016, San Francisco, California, USA
2. Instrumentation monitoring for tunneling of large span trinocular cross section tunnel underneath cross harbour
tunnel; Peter Poon, Tim Leung, Lawrence Tsang, Conrad Ng – Eastern European Tunnelling Conference 2016, Prague,
Czech Republic
3. Construction challenges of large span highway tunnel in Hong Kong urban area by drill-and-break; Peter Poon, Tim
Leung, Jin-hui Chen, Lawrence Ho – IOM3 Underground Design and Construction Conference 2015, Hong Kong
4. New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) tunneling in Central-Wan Chai Bypass; Y C Lam, Tim Leung, Peter Poon,
Lawrence Ho – IOM3 Underground Design and Construction Conference 2015, Hong Kong

References
Shatin-Central Link progress in Hong Kong – TunnelTalk, February 2016
Winners of the 2016 series of ITA Awards – TunnelTalk, November 2016
UK salutes excellence from across the globe – TunnelTalk, January 2017

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