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When design a deep water tunnel in urban area, the tunnel structure is required to select firstly,
and the liner design is commonly the key issue. An example of urban water tunnel is presented
to illustrate the work, in which the tunnel structure selection and liner design is mainly
discussed. Also, the general design procedure for a water tunnel is described.
As for the design external pressure Po, the special consideration is required. Generally for deep
water tunnel, the external pressure can use the hydrostatic pressure directly estimated from the
groundwater table. However, groundwater level change with reason should be taken into
account. Moreover, the non-uniform part of hydrostatic pressure can be disregarded based on
the discussed in Chapter 3. Therefore, the design external pressure can be obtained by using the
hydrostatic pressure at liner bottom. Where, the external pressure is obtained as 0.625 N/mm2.
Moreover, for bucking design, the safety factor Fs =1.5 is taken into account. As the result, the
design external pressure is obtained as Po=0.95 N/mm2.
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Chapter 5 Water Tunnel Liner Design
G.L.0.0 P0
5~15 m
W.L.
40~60 m
30~45 m
00
.25
O.D.
I.D
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Chapter 5 Water Tunnel Liner Design
The tunnel structures are considered the conventional type and new type in terms of the
integrated-type structure and separated-type structure, as shown in Fig. 5.3. As for the steel
liner, only the plain steel pipe is considered for conventional type structure, whereas for the
separated-type structure, both plain steel pipe and the ring-stiffened pipe are investigated. In
addition, the gap of steel liner back is considered, the maximum gap 1.5mm is applied for
integrated-type structure on account of the material shrinkage due to temperature changing
during the backfill process, 10mm is for the separated-type structure on account of steel liner
construction capacity. Moreover, the stiffened liner is investigated as the free pipe and
restrained pipe, corresponding to the uniformly supported case and locally supported case. The
water tunnel structure can be obtained once the steel liner thickness is determined for plain steel
liner, the stiffeners for stiffened pipe.
Tunnel lining
125
(RC Segments)
t 300
t
Steel liner
O 2500
2500
Gap 1.5mm
t
300
Backfill layer
125
125
t+tr
t
t
tr
(2750~2770)+2(t+tr)
2500
O2500 O2500
125
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Chapter 5 Water Tunnel Liner Design
Pi Di
t= (5.1)
2σ a
Substituting the design internal pressure, inner diameter and allowance stress into Eq. (5.1), the
steel liner thickness is then obtained.
1.6 × 2500
t= = 9.3 mm
2 × 215
Where, the thickness t=10mm is adopted for structural design of steel liner, considering the
industrial standard of steel plate. Moreover, the steel erosion for long time should take into
account, where, the extra 2mm is considered. As the result, the steel liner with thickness 12mm
is used for practical construction.
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Chapter 5 Water Tunnel Liner Design
The tunnel structures are considered the integrated-type structure and separated-type structure
and the plain liner and stiffened liner. As for the buckling of liners, the theoretical equations
discussed in Chapter 2, 3 are used in terms of Amstutz’s and Jacobsen’s buckling equations for
the liner encased in integrated–type structure and locally supported liner in separated-type
structure, two-stage method and new analytical solution for uniformly supported and locally
supported stiffened liner in separated-type structure, respectively.
2
Design external pressure
1.8
Critical pressure Pcr (N/mm )
Jacobsen
2
1.6
Amustuz
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2 14
0
0 5 10 15 20
Steel liner thickness t (mm)
As discussed, the Jacobsen’s results is relative conservational can be found from Fig. 5.4.
Since the water tunnel is vital infrastructure, the conservational result is always used for
deciding the thickness of steel liner. From Fig. 5.4, the steel liner thickness should be larger
than 14mm if the steel liner buckling resistance capacity satisfies the design requirement of
beyond design external pressure. Here, the thickness takes 15mm taking into account some
un-predicated elements such as the underestimating gap, backfilling defaults etc..
In addition, some facts presented in buckling accident of Naka water tunnel4) have to be taken
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Chapter 5 Water Tunnel Liner Design
into account. The defaults of backfilling for a horizontal water tunnel always occurs, and the
defect region formed at crown of steel liner vulnerably induce a fatal buckling problem. This
has been discussed in the report on buckling accident of Naka water tunnel. Therefore the defect
region should be investigated, where the schematic view and notations on defect region and the
relation between critical pressure of the designed steel pipe and the defect region are presented
as shown in Fig. 5.5 and Fig. 5.6, respectively.
As shown in Fig. 5.5, the defect region is inevitably formed when fill the void between the
liners and linings, particularly is easily formed in the vicinity of crown because of the
α
α
O2500
15
Steel liner
Backfill layer
2
Design external pressure
1.8
Critical pressure Pcr (N/mm )
2
1.6 Jacobsen
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Backfilling defect region α (°)
Fig. 5.6 Relation between critical pressure and defect region (t=15mm)
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Chapter 5 Water Tunnel Liner Design
downward flowability of backfill material. The mortar will flow down when the backfill
material is poured into the void, and only the aggregate will left at the crown. The quality of
backfill work may be improved if use the multi-step pouring procedure. However, the backfill
in tunnel is rather difficult, the completely backfill is impossible for overall long water tunnel,
even using the present high backfilling technology. Figure 5.5 shows that the buckling of steel
liner is affected by the defect range greatly. Also the steel pipe can be considered the safety if
the radial angle of backfilling region is not beyond about 50 degrees, or the single-lobe buckling
can be considered possible. However, as the surveyed results of Naka water tunnel accident, the
largest radial angle of defect region is about 60 degrees, and the backfill region with about 120
degrees at crown has relative little stiffness. How to predicate the defect region may be a vital
subjective for study on buckling of steel liner encased in integrated-type structure. In the current
study, the designed thickness is adopted without considering the defect region, because the
exact region can not be known at present.
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Chapter 5 Water Tunnel Liner Design
2.1 × 105 t 3
0.95 =
4(1 − 0.32 )12503
The thickness of steel liner can be obtained as t=31.8mm. Herein, the steel liner with thickness
32mm is adopted.
On the other hand, the buckling equation of local buckling can just use the existing forms
presented in Chapter 2. The design procedure is shown as follows, where the design external
pressure Po is used, and the safe factor is taken into account for the imperfection of pipe and
hydrostatic pressure.
a) Estimate the stiffened spacing S using local buckling equation (Eq. (2.45)) and the
evaluated steel liner thickness from the design for internal pressure.
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Chapter 5 Water Tunnel Liner Design
Et ⎡t 2 (α 2 + n2 −1)2 α4 ⎤
Po = ⎢ + ⎥ (5.5)
(n2 −1)R ⎢⎣ 12(1−ν 2 )R2 (
α 2 + n2 )
2
⎥⎦
b) Calculate the critical pressure of local buckling with respect to the evaluated stiffener
spacing S and pipe thickness designed for internal pressure.
Et ⎡t 2 (α 2 + n2 −1)2 α4 ⎤
PcrL = ⎢ + ⎥ (5.6)
(n2 −1)R ⎢⎣ 12(1−ν 2 )R2 (
α 2 + n2 )
2
⎥⎦
c) Determine the size of stiffener by estimation of the limit flexural stiffness using the general
buckling equation of infinite pipe,
Et 3 3EI r
PcrL = + (5.7)
4(1 − ν ) R
2 3
SR 3
Where, the evaluated flexural stiffness should be enlarged a little to ensure the local buckling.
Substituting the estimated thickness t=10 mm and the design variations into Eq. (5.5), the
stiffener spacing S can be obtained as about 1500 mm, where the buckling waves is calculated
by Eq. (2.46) as n=8. The corresponding critical pressure is calculated as PLcr=1.01 N/mm2
through Eq. (5.7), hence the flexural stiffness is estimated and the corresponding size of
stiffener is obtained. However, the stiffener size should be calculated using Eq. (2.24), because
the estimated flexural stiffness is effective flexural stiffness. As the result, the stiffener used for
the steel liner has the cross section with thickness tr=20mm and height hr=85mm, and the
spacing S is 1500mm. The pipe designed for internal pressure is used with the thickness
t=10mm.
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Chapter 5 Water Tunnel Liner Design
3 Jacobsen (Δ=10mm)
Critical pressure Pcr (N/mm )
2
Amustuz(Δ=10mm)
2.5 Jacobsen (Δ=5mm)
2 Jacobsen (Δ=1mm)
1.5
0.5
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Steel liner thickness t (mm)
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Chapter 5 Water Tunnel Liner Design
spacing S=1500mm are adopted. The stiffened steel liner is designed only to ensure the
single-lobe buckling occurs after the local buckling of inter-stiffener shells. Similarly to the
design for uniformly supported liner, only the size of stiffener is required to determine, where
the thickness of stiffener is considered 20mm based on the requirement of stiffener size defined
by Eq. (2.11).
From Fig. 5.8, the abnormal behavior happened for results calculated by the Amstutz’s and
Jacobsen’s bucking equations can be found. For the identical gap of 10mm, the decreasing
incline and a sharp increasing incline are expressed in the relationship of critical pressure and
stiffener height. On the other hand, the relation of critical pressure and stiffener height obtained
by presented solution are expressed with a gentle incline for all cases of gaps. This may identify
the invalidation of the existing buckling equations for stiffened steel liner again. Therefore, the
estimation of the stiffener thickness uses the results of presented solutions. Similarly to the
design of plain liner above, the different value is available with respect to the gap, here, the
most conservational result is used, as the hr=100mm. As the result, the designed stiffened steel
liner has the pipe thickness t=10mm, and the stiffener with the spacing 1500mm and the cross
section 20×100 mm in terms of the thickness and height.
Jacobsen(Δ=10mm)
2
1.5
0.5
0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Stiffener height h r (mm)
Fig. 5.8 Relationship between critical pressure and stiffener height (t=10mm, S=1500mm)
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Chapter 5 Water Tunnel Liner Design
The steel liner design for water tunnel has been carried out through an example. The design
result is summarized in Table 5.1, where the equivalent thickness for stiffened pipe is given in
bracket. In the following paragraphs, the water tunnel structure and steel liners are discussed in
terms of its functional and economical requirements through the example.
From Table 5.1, it is found that the thickness of a steel liner is always determined by the
design for external pressure if use the plain pipe, no matter for which tunnel structure and
support condition. The thickness determined by internal pressure is only 10mm, while the
thickness 15mm for liner of conventional integrated-type structure, 32mm for uniformly
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Chapter 5 Water Tunnel Liner Design
supported liner and 21mm for the locally supported liner of new separated-type structure, are
required from the design for liner buckling under the external pressure. If someone want to use
the thinner steel pipe designed for internal pressure, the pipe must be stiffened. The stiffened
liner cannot only meet the requirement of buckling under external pressure, but also can bring
great economical effects. The equivalent thickness of stiffened liner used for uniformly
supported and locally supported liners are only 11.1mm and 11.3mm respectively. Meanwhile,
the stiffened pipe can be designed using the local buckling design method, by which the steel
liner only buckles in inter-stiffener shells locally.
As for water tunnel structure, since the stiffened liner is difficult to use for the conventional
integrated-type structure because of the backfill work, while can easily be used for the new
separated structure, the application of conventional structure for deep urban water tunnel should
not be recommended. Moreover, the inevitable defect region in backfill layer is also another
great limit to utilize the conventional structure because of its unpredicted feature and the
decisive effect on the buckling resistance capacity of a steel liner. Therefore, the construction of
deep water tunnel should use the separated-type structure on account of the safety and other
advantages mentioned in Chapter 1.
However, for new separated type water tunnel, the steel liner should be discussed in terms of
installation method and liner type. From the designed results as shown in Table 1, for plain liner
the locally supported liner is rather prevail over the uniformly supported liner in terms of the
economic reasons, the thickness of former one is only 21mm, while 32mm for the later one. On
the other hand, for stiffened liner, there is no distinctive difference between the uniformly
supported and locally supported liner, both the equivalent thickness is about 11mm.
Accordingly, the installation should use the locally support if use a plain liner, the same
recommendation is also given to stiffened liner considering the extra work of setting supports
around the liner in the case of uniformly support.
Conclusively, the deep water tunnel should adopt the new separated-type structure, and the
stiffened pipe should be used and installed with locally support.
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Chapter 5 Water Tunnel Liner Design
References
1) Tunnel Engineering Committee (TEC): Standard Specifications for Tunneling: Shield Tunnel,
2006 Ed., Tunnel Engineering Committee, JSCE, Tokyo, 2007.
2) JSCE: Design Standard for Steel structure,PART B Special structure,JSCE Pub. 1987.
3) Japan Water Research Center: Rep. Study on the cost reduction of deep water tunnel
construction,2003.
4) Kanto Regional Development Bureau: Rep. Investigation of Naka Water Convey Tunnel,
2004.
5) Kendrick, S.: Design for external pressure using general criteria, Int. Jour. of Mech. Sci., Vol.
24, Issue 4, pp. 209-218, 1982.
6) ASME: Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code –Nuclear components, Code Case N-284, New
York, 1980.
7) British Standards Institution: BS 5500, Specification for unfired fusion welded pressure
vessels, London, 1997.
8) DNV: Recommended practice DNV-RP-C202, Buckling Strength of Shells, Høvik, Norway,
2002.
9) DNV: Rules for the Design, Construction and Inspection of Offshore Structures, Appendix C:
Steel Structures, Høvik, Norway, 1982.
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