The use of foams and polymers in Earth Pressure Balanced TBMs

F.J.Kupferroth, P.Ellenberger
Degussa Construction Chemicals - Underground Construction Group, Switzerland

Bo Anders Kalin
Degussa Construction Chemicals MBT Singapore Pte Ltd, Singapore

ABSTRACT: Earth pressure balanced TBMs (EPBM) are being increasingly used to meet the demands for excavation of urban tunnels for transportation, services and sewage systems. In some circumstances slurry machines would be the obvious choice, but with the use of foam and polymers the boundary between the two methods is becoming blurred as new polymers are developed. Polymer development is not only directed towards better performance but must also meet the needs of the environment and occupational safety. This paper discusses the role of foam and polymers with projects using EPB machines. 1 INTRODUCTION The demands for transport, water and other services by ever increasing population densities in modern cities means that Mass Rapid Transit systems, sewage and electrical and telephone cable tunnels are needed. Earth pressure balanced machines (EPBM) are becoming more favoured than slurry machines due to the ground conditions and because there is often no possibility to set up the bentonite slurry processing plants normally required. Additionally, where bentonite slurry machines are used environmental issues have reduced the number of available sites for land filling the contaminated soil. Re-use of the soil is again limited due to the bentonite content, even if this is only 2-3%. The range of use of Earth Pressure Balanced machine, and the typical conditioning requirements, in comparison to Slurry type machines is shown in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1:The approximate range of soil conditioning for EPB machines.Jancescz et.al 1999

Earth Pressure Balanced TBMs maintain pressure at the face using the soil as it is excavated, usually conditioned with water or foam (with or without polymers) depending on the prevailing ground conditions. Some of the important parameters for soil conditioning are improved stability for the tunnel face, better control of ground movements; more uniform pressures in the working chamber; better control of groundwater inflow and a reduction in clogging of the machine head. Additionally, improved material flow through the cutter head; flow of soil and water through the screw conveyor; reduced power requirements for the cutter head; reduced wear of cutterhead face, tools and wear parts of the muck removal system and more acceptable spoil, which gives easier handling of the excavated soil. 2 GENERAL BACKGROUND TO FOAM ADDITIVES Foams are surface-active agents, alternatively surfactants or tensides, consisting of long chain molecules made up from repeating structural units. The formulation and the chemistry of the foam additive will determine the quality of the foam that can be produced at the foam generator. Different products are needed as the chemistry of the foam additive may or may not work well with the soils on the project. Examples of this are clay soils and soils containing large quantities of gypsum or ironstone. Foam molecules have a hydrophobic tail and a hydrophilic head (Figure 2). When mixed with air the molecules align themselves with the hydrophobic tail in the air and the hydrophilic head in the water. Surface tension and repulsion create the bubble. Bubbles themselves actually are not round but take on the approximate form of a hexagon (Figure 3), where the thickness of the bubble wall is determined by the strength of the solution (C f) and the expansion ratio (FER). The quality of the foam is also governed to a large extent by the design of the foam generator.

Bulk Liquid

Figure 3: Close up of a bubble structure; Milligan Figure 2: Schematic of foam

The basic requirements for a foam are that it should be stable during injection and mixing with the soil, but should become unstable as soon as possible after discharge from the screw conveyor. In the first case it is important to maintain pressure and a plug in the screw conveyor, in the second to reduce the volume of soil for transportation and land filling. Breakdown of the foam can last for minutes or days, depending on the type of soil and the quality of the foam and the soil type. For instance if we measure the time it takes for foam alone to breakdown, using a simple test, this may be a matter of minutes. If we then compare this same foam but mixed with a sharp sand, breakdown may occur in several days. The rate at which the breakdown occurs is also dependant on the formulation of the product and the length of time a foam has been confined as well as the pressure of confinement. A general use of foam and polymers and polymers related to soil types and conditions is shown in Table 1 below.

Table 1 : Summary of the use of soil conditioning in EPB machines (Milligan:2000) Soil type Mining characteristics Treatment Plastic clays Tend to reconstitute with little loss of strength in machine chamber. Break up better, but still tend to re- constitute, slightly abrasive, form plug. High dosage of foam at head to keep excavated material as separate pieces Possibly none other than water to reduce shear strength to acceptable value; in stiffer clays, medium dosage of foam at head. Possibly add lubricant to foam to reduce abrasion. Add lubricant polymer at head to reduce wear; add water-absorbing polymer at screw if required to form plug and control water inflow. Foam with polymer additive to stiffen foam and provide lubrication; approximate dosage rates for polymer dependant on the polymer type 0.1% 0.25% 1 -3%

Laminated, silty or sandy clays

Clayey sands and gravels.

Flow easily, may form plug if fines content in excess of 10%; highly abrasive. Do not flow, do not form plug, allow groundwater inflow, highly abrasive; - problems increase with larger particle sizes. Tend to congregate in clumps in head and/or jam screw.

Silty fine sands Sand/gravel Gravel and cobbles Cobbles and Boulders

Large dosages of additive to keep cobbles and boulders separate in head and provide water control and lubrication.

3 POLYMERS Polymers have a relatively long history of use and are for the most part spin-offs from the oil drilling industry, which has very similar requirements to EPBM tunnelling viz.: prevention of face collapse, removal of cuttings and reduction in wear and torque. Several methods of improving lubrication and wear resistance have been used, for example adding oil or emulsifying agents to foam.(Lyon;2000) Polymers are also used to modify bentonite slurries to improve yield without increasing shear and to improve "cake formation". Polymers have the following basic functions in EPB machines: To increase the viscosity of water in the soil in the immediate vicinity of the face To bind fine particles of silt & sand to reduce permeability To increase stiffness of the ground & help form a "plug" in the screw conveyor. To stiffen or strengthen the foam to help prevent breakdown (for instance during stoppages) To lubricate the soil to assist travel through the working chamber & screw conveyor To prevent or reduce adhesion to face plates, tools and other metal surfaces. To reduce cutterhead torque for lower maintenance and increased speed of advance In slurry machines: Reduction/prevention of clay agglomeration Increase yield without increasing shear Improvement in the development of a "cake" These are some of the most important features but by no means an exhaustive list. 3.1 Polymers -a simplified model Where soil particles exist in a saturated condition the consistency of the soil is between wet and fluid as seen in the simple illustration below (Figure 4a and 4b).

Water soluble polymer Soil particle Moisture

Figure 4a. Simplified soil / water model

When a water-soluble or partly water-soluble polymer is introduced into the system water is taken from the surrounding soil. The polymer swells with the uptake of water and the soil particles are able to move closer together, increasing the inter-particle friction and so giving the impression of stiffening or 'drying'. In fact the actual moisture content remains the same and some polymers will even release the trapped water with time.
Water soluble polymer

Soil particle Moisture

3.2 Types of polymer Polymers types typically in use today range from Polyacrylamides, various gums, such as Guar & Xanthan, Cellulose Ethers , Carboxy Methyl Cellulose(CMC) being one of the most common. The basic property common to them all is that they have long polymer chains. A polymer is a repeating chain of monomers. The length of the chain is expressed as an increasingly higher molecular weight. Typical values, for these types of product, range from 10s of thousands to millions and usually these products are supplied as powders to be mixed on site into a solution for use on the TBM. 3.3 New polymer types New types of polymer being developed have no different requirements to those above, except in one particular respect, and that is the products are delivered as liquids, ready to use, instead of needing to be mixed with water on site. On first analysis it would seem to be an advantage to store powder and have a simple mixing plant to make up the solution as required. It should be noted that a simple mixing plant consists of pumps, flow-meters, storage tanks for water, the mixed product and the mixer itself. However, some powder polymers do not readily dissolve in water and the use of high shear mixers can break down the polymer chain, with a resultant loss of performance. As one of the main properties of polymers is the ability to "absorb" or bind water this can result in a loss of product if storage is not according to the manufacturers recommendations (e.g. in tropical climates). Mixing therefore, apart from being more plant to maintain, becomes an additional quality control point. The polymers currently under development have a totally different chemistry to the previously discussed polymer products. Examples of three of them are given in the case histories later in this

paper. The same polymers are not just designed for use in EPB machines alone but can also be used in slurry shield machines. One of the applications is the prevention of clay agglomeration, which can be seen in the example below. As an example, samples of clay were taken from a project where agglomeration of the clay particles in bentonite slurry was occurring. The agglomeration resulted in the clay sinking to the bottom of the cutterhead where it blocked the outlet for the slurry. In the test the clay was cut into chips of approximately 8 10mm diameter and 20 25mm long. Slurry made with the Bentonite from the site, at the same solids rate, was used in the testing. The dosage of polymer was based on the bentonite slurry volume. The clay chips (Fig 6 13) were rolled using a bottle and rolling equipment (Fig:5) for one hour and the appearance of the clay observed.

Bentonite Slurry Rolling bottle (~100mm ) diameter Clay chips Mechanised Rollers Figure 5. Schematic of the rolling bottle test

Results

Figure 6.Clay chips

Figure 7.Effect of slurry alone

Figure 8. Effect of polymer 1 at 0.05%

Figure 9.Effect of polymer 1 at 0.1%

Figure 10.Effect of polymer 1 at 0.2%

Figure 11.Effect of polymer 2 at 0.05%

Figure 12. Effect of polymer 2 at 0.1%

Figure 13. Effect of polymer 2 at 0.2%

The pictures above demonstrate the effects of two different polymers in preventing clay agglomeration. As can be seen Polymer 1 gives almost agglomeration free results at all dosages whilst Polymer 2 initially improves the agglomeration but gives worsening results as the dosage increases. This clearly demonstrates the need for testing to determine the correct polymer and dosage for each application. A third type of polymer has anti-clogging properties when used with sandy clayey soils. It acts like a dispersant to allow foam to penetrate the soil. These dispersants do not have such long chain length as the previous types used to bind soil and water.(Fig 14). They act by releasing water trapped between the clay particles, which increases the fluidity of the soil, without the need for large quantities of water to be added. Foam is, as a result, much easier to mix into the soil to provide the correct structure for EPB excavation.

Figure 14:Approximate mode of action of a dispersing type polymer

4 CASE STUDIES 4.1 A water collector running close to the sea through beach sand The first case study involved a tunnel of approximately 5km in length with a 3.85m diameter EPB TBM. Most of the tunnel was excavated through cohesionless fine silty sand under 1.5 to 3 bar seawater pressure.

Figure 15: Particle size distribution for the soil

Because of the nature of this soil it was necessary to create the correct plasticity and impermeability to hold the pressure and allow excavation of the soil through the screw conveyor. To maintain the pressure a mixture of polymers and foam were injected to the face and the screw conveyor. A foam was made from a 2.5 -3% foam solution (Cf) and expanded to an FER (Foam Expansion Ratio) of approximately 10. Polymer 2, at a rate of 0.7 litres/m3 of soil, was injected into the face and working chamber with the foam. This gave structure to the soil by helping to bind the fine soil particles and increase the viscosity of the water. This helped to reduce the permeability of the soil and increase support at the face. To add more stiffness to the soil, as well as lubrication, to form a better plug, Polymer 1 ,which replaced polymer 2, was injected at 1 litre/ m3 with the foam at the bottom of the screw conveyor. This allowed continuous advance throughout the project. 4.2 Polymer use in a sandy clay environment. In a metro project using an EPB TBM of 9.5meters diameter the contractor encountered a difficult zone of sticky sandy clay which clogged the cutterhead and working chamber.

Figure 16 :An example of a clogged cutterhead

Standard foam products were unable to prevent clogging of the cutterhead and working chamber and polymers described above also did not help to reduce the adhesion, although under normal circumstance they would have worked. (Figures 16,17 & 18)

Figure 17 & 18: Clogging of the working chamber

Typical progress was 20-30mm/min with frequent stoppages to manually to remove the clay.

After addition of the polymer, the advance rate increased to more than 70 - 80mm/min due to a reduction in torque, with no further clogging, or soil adhesion in the cutterhead and working chamber. 5 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS Certain polymers such as Cellulose Ethers are considered environmentally sound. They have a high biodegradability with no toxic by-products in the process. New types of polymers also have to be environmentally friendly. Some polymers, such as Polyacrylamides, in the light of recent problems in Europe, are now questionable as to their environmental friendliness. In low dosages they are considered perfectly safe but high contents of the products leached into the groundwater and remaining in the soil have been shown to have highly toxic effects. There are moves to ban the use of these products in Europe. There is much made of the word biodegradability in the industry as if it were the only thing to consider. Generally we are concerned with the environmental effects in soil and ground water. The whole process of wastewater management is a subject in itself, but in broad terms the following applies, certainly in Europe. 5.1 EU labelling guide - ecotoxicological properties

Aquatic environment Ecotoxiclogical Properties and Risk Phrases N, R 50 very toxic to aquatic organisms N, R 50/53 very toxic to aquatic organisms, may cause long-term effects in the aquatic environment N, R 51/53 toxic to aquatic organisms, may cause long-term effects in the aquatic environment R 52/53 harmful to aquatic organisms, may cause long-term effects in the aquatic environment R 53 may cause long-term effects in the aquatic environment Test Procedures to determine the ecotoxicological effects of foam additives and polymers are shown in Table 2 below:
Table 2 . Test methods to OECD requirements Aquatic Toxicity Acute Fish Toxicity OECD 203 Acute Daphnia Toxicity OECD 202 Alga Toxicity OECD 201 Acute Bacteria Toxicity OECD 209 Biodegradability Ready Biodegradability OECD 301 A-F Inherent Biodegradability OECD 302 A-C Coupled Units Test OECD 303 A

Relevant properties in an aquatic environment are, therefore, toxicity, biodegradability and bioaccumulation. Bioaccumulation refers to the build up up toxic substances in lifeforms which has an effect on the food chain, for instance, the build up of mercury in fish which affects humans. From the above in terms of toxicity: Non biodegradable or bioaccumulating substances have only to be classified, if: EC50 or LC50 >100 mg/L and water solubility <1 mg/L and NOEC <1 mg/L

Definitions: LC50 = Lethal concentration for more 50% of the test population: e.g. Daphnia or fish EC50 = Effective Concentration affecting more than 50% of the test population NOEC=No Observable Effect Concentration So,

Biodegradability and toxicity are always correlated.That is you cannot consider one without the other. Non-biodegradable or bioaccumulating substances have only to be classified if the above mentioned criteria are met. An exception is N, Risk phrase 50. A low biodegradability does not imply that the substance has a high ecological relevance. Suitable test procedures have to be employed to obtain the most reliable results. The test method has been shown to have a significant effect on the result.

Therefore it is necessary to have ecological information and possibly carry out a risk assessment on each project to assess the possible effects of spillage or high dosages of polymer and foam concentrates in the surrounding soil, and the effects of these products leaching into local groundwater systems. Manufacturers should be able to provide details of how their products can be assessed to meet environmental requirements. 6 CONCLUSIONS Polymers are an essential tool for improving the properties of foam and the structure of soil. Some of the properties that currently can be provided are: Better face support through binding of soil particles and modification of the viscosity of water Lubrication to allow smoother flow through the screw conveyor and at the same time form a plug Improved stiffness/strengthening to foam Anti-clogging and anti-adhesion properties Polymers are also useful in preventing adhesion of the mixed soil on to conveyor belts and rollers. New forms of polymer for EPB and Slurry machines are liquid, ready to use products with superior performance due to their chemical properties. Product research and development of new and innovative polymer products continues to find ways of meeting the needs of the industry in terms of performance and safety of use, meeting both environmental and worker safety demands, and of course cost effectiveness. REFERENCES
Janscecz,S & Krause,R & Langmaack,L. 1999. Advantages of soil conditioning in shield tunnelling: Experiences of LRTS Izmir. ITA Oslo Lyon.J. May 2000. World Tunnelling Milligan,G. 2000. Lubrication and Soil Conditioning in Tunnelling, Pipe Jacking and Micro-tunnelling. A State of the art review MBT UGC International. Internal MBT reports Acknowledgements The authors are also grateful for the information on the case studies provided by Rafael Valenzuela of Bettor MBT Spain.