The sediment infill of subglacial meltwater channels on the West Antarctic continental shelf

Subglacial meltwater plays a significant yet poorly understood role in the dynamics of the Antarctic ice sheets. Here we present new swath bathymetry from the western Amundsen Sea Embayment, West Antarctica, showing meltwater channels eroded into acoustic basement. Their morphological characteristics and size are consistent with incision by subglacial meltwater. To understand how and when these channels formed we have investigated the infill of three channels. Diamictons deposited beneath or proximal to an expanded grounded West Antarctic Ice Sheet are present in two of the channels and these are overlain by glaciomarine sediments deposited after deglaciation. The sediment core from the third channel recovered a turbidite sequence also deposited after the last deglaciation. The presence of deformation till at one core site and the absence of typical meltwater deposits (e.g., sorted sands and gravels) in all three cores suggest that channel incision pre-dates overriding by fast flowing grounded ice during the last glacial period. Given the overall scale of the channels and their incision into bedrock, it is likely that the channels formed over multiple glaciations, possibly since the Miocene, and have been reoccupied on several occasions. This also implies that the channels have survived numerous advances and retreats of grounded ice.     

Brittle Rock Failure in the Steg Lateral Adit of the Lötschberg Base Tunnel

Summary  During the crossing of brittle rock formations at the L?tschberg base tunnel, failure phenomena have been observed both at the tunnel face and at the walls. A detailed analysis has been undertaken to explain these behaviours, based on the recent developments of Canadian research on brittle failure mechanisms. At the tunnel walls, a very good agreement is found between the calculated and observed damage and between two prediction methods, i.e. a semi-empirical failure criterion and elastic calculations with the “brittle Hoek-Brown parameters.” Near the face, due to the 3D nature of the stress conditions, some limitations of these approaches have been highlighted, and the growth of wall failure has been analysed. This research allowed a better understanding of the brittle rock mass behaviour at the L?tschberg base tunnel and showed that brittle failure processes dominate the behaviour of deep, highly stressed excavations in massive to moderately jointed rock. It also illustrates where improvements to the adopted approaches are required.     

The safety distance of a tunnel under-traversing a slope body with a landslide-prone zone

At present, substantial scientific research achievements have been made in the research on landslide occurrence, movement mechanism, mitigation measures, and structural stability during tunnel excavation. However, the interaction mechanism of a tunnel under-traversing a slope body with potential landslides is still not well understood. Based on the field data provided by previous investigations in the study area, six sets of 1:100 laboratory experiment model tests were conducted to study the stability of the landslide-prone zone of the slope body with an under-traversing tunnel. The selected distances between the tunnel and the sliding surface are 1.5, 3, and 5 times of the tunnel diameter, respectively. The experiment results show the interaction between the landslide-prone zone and the tunnel, elucidating the effect of potential landslides during the tunnel excavation process and the reaction of the landslide slip on the tunnel structure. Several conclusions are obtained: ① During the process of tunnel excavation, the vertical displacement of the tunnel vault decreases with the increase of the buried depth. ② The vertical displacement of the sliding surface increases with the increase of the buried depth of the tunnel. The horizontal displacement of sliding surface decreases with the increase of the buried depth. ③ After the occurrence of a rainfall-induced landslide, the vertical displacement of the tunnel vault in the 1.5-diameter-distance case is 57.29% greater than that in the 3.0-dismeter-distance case.④ For a two-cave tunnel, it is suggested that the cave farther from the landslide toe should be firstly excavated since it may generate less structural deformation.     

矿山巷道三维建模数据组织与算法研究

巷道作为矿山的重要组成部分,在矿山开发建设过程中发挥着重要作用,基于虚拟现实技术的巷道三维模拟能够为采矿工程、安全生产、施工、人员及设备管理等提供直观的数据展示和决策支持,其精确程度直接影响着矿山的工程质量与采选能力。本文主要探讨巷道三维建模数据组织方法,直壁拱形断面巷道三维建模的关键算法,并基于实验数据,利用OGRE三维引擎技术完成巷道三维自动建模,验证了数据组织和算法的有效性和优越性。     

桥梁与隧道GPS网的设计与应用

计算了江阴公路长江大桥GPS网所能达到的精度,阐述了隧道GPS网布设的一般规律,对长梁山13km隧道实测GPS网进行了计算。从比较分析可以看出:1)GPS网能够满足桥梁和隧道工程的精度要求;2)在GPS网中适当加入一些高精度的边长有利于提高GPS网的精度和可靠性,并使得最后GPS网的尺度与施工测量时保持一致;3)GPS用于隧道与桥梁工程测量具有精度高、工期短、效益高等特点。     

西园隧洞引水工程对滇池CODMn的影响分析

本文在滇池湖流特性研究的基础上,建立了滇池平面二维ＣＯＤＭｎ输移扩散数学模型, 模型对污染物进入滇池水体后的输移扩散规律进行模拟分析,对滇池周围西园隧洞引水工程第一系列污染控制工程措施对滇池主要污染指标ＣＯＤＭｎ的影响进行评价,为综合治理滇池提供了理论依据。     

不同顶管组合方式的管幕冻结温度场模型试验

拱北隧道作为港珠澳大桥珠海连接线的关键性工程, 在国内外首次成功运用了管幕冻结技术。以此为背景, 为更加全面地掌握饱和软土地层中管幕冻结温度场的分布特点, 开展了不同顶管组合方式下的管幕冻结温度场模型试验研究。试验结果表明： 各测点温度曲线在积极冻结期前4 h急剧下降, 随后逐渐减缓, 降至砂土冰点后趋于平稳, 三种布管方式均满足冻结设计要求; 冻结管中低温盐水提供的冷量首先传递给顶管管壁, 再以“面”的形式均匀地传递给周围土体; 积极冻结21 h后, 采用四根空顶管组合的C区冻结壁竖向范围最大, 空管管壁正上方冻结壁平均厚度约为105 mm, 在满足管幕刚度设计要求的前提下, 可采此布管方式以达到快速形成冻结帷幕的目的。限位管开启后的4 h内, 实顶管中线垂直距离100 mm范围内测点温度曲线虽有明显回升但仍维持在冻土冰点以下, 超出此范围后温度变化影响逐渐减弱, 且顶管间冻结壁稳定存在, 表明限位管在满足管间有效封水的条件下, 能在一定范围内起到定向限制地层冻胀的作用。优化后的双圆形冻结管在满足冻结设计要求的同时, 更加便于安装且经济环保。     

The tunnel seismic advance prediction method with wide illumination and a high signal-to-noise ratio

Tunnel seismic prediction is widely used in the field of tunnel seismic advance detection. The illumination of the target and the signal-to-noise ratio of the data are two key factors affecting the precision of data interpretation. Current seismic prospecting has shortcomings on sites: (1) The lighting shots are solely towards one side of the tunnel wall, (2) the geophones are placed far away from the tunnel face and (3) the surface waves from the tunnel wall dominate over the reflection waves, lowering the signal-to-noise ratio of the data at the tunnel wall. This paper proposes a tunnel symmetrical geometry to tackle the above challenges. The arrangement is to place 12 sources uniformly on each side of the tunnel wall and six geophones on the tunnel wall and face. Results of simulated data and measured data show that the proposed method enables (1) broad illumination of the target body, (2) the enhancement of illumination energy of the target body, and (3) higher data signal-to-noise ratio. The proposed symmetrical geometry method provides better interpretation in terms of broader coverage, higher quality and greater distance of investigation.     

Major Features of Topography,Geology, and Crustal Stability in the Taiwan Strait: A Scientific Approach to the Problem of the Taiwan Strait Tunnel Project

This article discusses briefly the major features of topography, geology, and crustal stability of the possible Taiwan Strait Tunnel Project (TST Project) area. Any one route of the conceived TST Project is larger than either of the English Channel Tunnel or the Seikan submarine Tunnel (Japan) by at least three times in length, and the topographic and geologic conditions are rather more complex and complicated than those of the former two projects. Moreover, the Taiwan Strait is a seismic risk area. Hence, the selection of the route of the submarine tunnel should take advantage of the favorable conditions in the topographic, geologic, seismologic, and other fields to avoid the unfavorable circumstances. At the end of the article, two supposed by comparable routes, especially the south one of TST Project are discussed.     

“Transverse Action” – A model benchmark exercise for numerical analysis of the Callovo-Oxfordian claystone hydromechanical response to excavation operations

The Callovo-Oxfordian claystone (COx) is considered as a potential geological formation to host an industrial radioactive waste repository in France. A detailed understanding of the thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) behavior of the COx is a key issue for design of different repository structures and the safety calculations of the project. More particularly, numerical modeling of induced fracture networks around drifts excavated at the main level of the Andra’s Meuse/Haut-Marne Underground Research Laboratory (M/HM URL) and short and long term behavior of the COx around these drifts are of great interest. Several constitutive models have been developed/used in the framework of the R&D and simulation programs of Andra. A model benchmark exercise has been launched since 2012 to provide an overall view of the developed models regarding the in situ observations. In this view, two series of test cases, respectively at material point scale and at drift excavation scale are defined. Different kinds of constitutive models based on the elasto-visco-plasticity concept, continuum damage mechanics, the rigid block spring method and two-scale computational homogenized model (CHM) are used within this exercise. The obtained results show that accounting for material anisotropy and strain localization treatment techniques can improve the obtained results when elasto-visco-plastic models are used. Damage mechanics based approaches and methods accounting for discontinuities through discrete elements provide also interesting insights especially when fracturing processes must be modeled. However, more efforts are necessary to improve the robustness of these kinds of approaches in the complex context of COx response to excavation works.