|
From the Editor's Desk - 15 Apr 2010
Major infrastructure projects beneath the heart of historic cities the world over brings the fear of potential ground loss and settlement damage to the existing urban fabric. Today, as well as sophisticated TBM technology, there is an array of geo-engineering presupport techniques adopted to minimise or avoid surface settlement. These include ground freezing and compensation grouting but is there really the possibility of zero settlement associated with subsurface excavation? The new TBMs just starting metro line tunnelling in Amertserdam are going to spearhead zero ground loss settlement on the alignment where open-box station excavations have failed to avoid serious settlement damage to adjacent buildings.
|
