Inland Feeder Water Project
Continuing on my blogs on big civil engineering projects, We have the Inland Feeder Water Project a massive tunnel project being constructed in California. The purpose of this tunnel is to provide water supply for home use and irrigation in Southern California. The length is about 45 miles with 15 miles of bored tunnels. What I would like to focus on here is the 15 miles of bored tunnels and the engineering difficultly associated with it. The tunnels are at a dept of about 1200 ft below ground level with a diameter of 12 ft.
How long has this project taken? 7-8 years and over 1 billions dollars. They have a large bore with the diameter of 12 ft just like the one you see in the movies (remember Men In Black). As you might guess it is not a straight forward job. The engineers do have to worry about the strength of the ground above and water pockets which makes it an extremely dangerous job for the construction workers. To find out what is ahead of them, they bore small hole ahead and test the ground. If it is rock, well and good, they can continue boring. If not they are in trouble. If there are water pockets, they pump in grout to strengthen the area around the tunnel and ahead before they can bore further. Once they dig a few feet, they put in the pieces of the pipeline 8 of them forming the cylinder and seal them. And they repeat the process 1000s of times to complete the pipeline.
It does not end there. Digging at 1000 ft below the ground is not as simple as construction on the ground. You need to pump out the dug material, water and also supply air and construction material. They have pipelines and a rails to supply these. And they have to extend the supply system as they dig. They have to follow strict safely guidelines to prevent any mishaps. BTW the tunnel passes through a fault line. All the material needed for the tunnel is build and cast nearby and shipped via truck and finally using the rail system.
I am really amazed at the several aspects/people involved with the project. The one who envisioned this project, the engineering difficulty, the construction worker's skill and persistence.
Before I sign off, I would like to ask a simple question :-). Why are the tunnels being dug as a circle instead of a arch and straight line ( like a rotated D. 90 deg anti-clockwise ).
Ref: http://www.ita-aites.org/cms/322.html
Discovery/National Geographic Channel
Continuing on my blogs on big civil engineering projects, We have the Inland Feeder Water Project a massive tunnel project being constructed in California. The purpose of this tunnel is to provide water supply for home use and irrigation in Southern California. The length is about 45 miles with 15 miles of bored tunnels. What I would like to focus on here is the 15 miles of bored tunnels and the engineering difficultly associated with it. The tunnels are at a dept of about 1200 ft below ground level with a diameter of 12 ft.
How long has this project taken? 7-8 years and over 1 billions dollars. They have a large bore with the diameter of 12 ft just like the one you see in the movies (remember Men In Black). As you might guess it is not a straight forward job. The engineers do have to worry about the strength of the ground above and water pockets which makes it an extremely dangerous job for the construction workers. To find out what is ahead of them, they bore small hole ahead and test the ground. If it is rock, well and good, they can continue boring. If not they are in trouble. If there are water pockets, they pump in grout to strengthen the area around the tunnel and ahead before they can bore further. Once they dig a few feet, they put in the pieces of the pipeline 8 of them forming the cylinder and seal them. And they repeat the process 1000s of times to complete the pipeline.
It does not end there. Digging at 1000 ft below the ground is not as simple as construction on the ground. You need to pump out the dug material, water and also supply air and construction material. They have pipelines and a rails to supply these. And they have to extend the supply system as they dig. They have to follow strict safely guidelines to prevent any mishaps. BTW the tunnel passes through a fault line. All the material needed for the tunnel is build and cast nearby and shipped via truck and finally using the rail system.
I am really amazed at the several aspects/people involved with the project. The one who envisioned this project, the engineering difficulty, the construction worker's skill and persistence.
Before I sign off, I would like to ask a simple question :-). Why are the tunnels being dug as a circle instead of a arch and straight line ( like a rotated D. 90 deg anti-clockwise ).
Ref: http://www.ita-aites.org/cms/322.html
Discovery/National Geographic Channel
