Underground Singapore 2018
Challenges in the Supervision of Cross Island Cable
Tunnels
S.S. Soh
AECOM, Singapore
R. Wong, S. Seah,
SP PowerGrid Pte Ltd, Singapore
ABSTRACT: The Singapore Power Transmission Cable Tunnel Project is one of the longest, deepest
and tightest radii tunnels to provide a sustainable solution for the future of the island electrical power
supply network. This paper presents the challenges faced in the supervision of the construction of
deep shafts, adits and bored tunnels from May Road to Holland Road. The cable tunnel works include
the undercrossing of the Kampong Java Flyover, undercrossing of North South Line at Newton Road,
undercrossing of Downtown Line 2 at Bukit Timah Road, the face to face docking of two slurry
TBMs, advanced grout blocks for cutter head interventions, cut-off grouting for CHI with high water
ingress, chamber grouting, overcoming overbreaks during tunneling and the dismantling of TBM. A
real-time Integrated Data Management System implemented to capture and correlate instrumentation
& monitoring system together with the TBM operating parameters will be discussed. The Cross Island
Cable tunnel when completed will enhance Singapore’s economy and improve quality of life by main-
taining the country’s electricity grid as one of the best performing networks in the world.
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Cross Island Cable Tunnel Network
Singapore Power’s next generation power network comprised of 2 ultra-deep transmission cable tun-
nels located from the North to South and East to West. The North-South cable tunnel route stretches
from Gambas to May Road and the East-West cable tunnel from Paya Lebar to Ayer Rajah. The con-
ventional method of laying 230 kV and 400 kV from the road surface will cause further congestion of
underground utilities. By installing the transmission cables in 40 m to 60 m deep tunnels with 6 metre
internal diameter, the power supply will have minimum disruptions and inconveniences.
1.2 East-West 2 Cable Tunnel from Holland Shaft to May Shaft
The total length of the East-West cable tunnel is approximately 16.5 km and its alignment is general-
ly designed to follow the public road system. In view of the total length of the tunnel, construction
management, supervision and time aspects, the proposed project is divided into 3 sections. Section
EW1 stretches from Ayer Rajah Ventilation Shaft to Holland Ventilation Shaft, Section EW2 is from
Holland Road Shaft to May Road Shaft and Section EW3 from May Shaft to Paya Lebar Shaft.
This paper presents the challenges faced in the supervision of the construction of bored tunnels Sec-
tion EW2 from Holland Road shaft to May Road Shaft.
The EW2 tunnel spans along Holland Road up to Napier Road and Tanglin Road before turning to
Orange Grove Road, Anderson road and Balmoral road and then back to the eastern direction along
Dunearn road and Kampong Java road. After the Kg Java Flyover, the tunnel follows the Central Ex-
pressway to Rangoon before reaching the end of May Road adjacent to the Whampoa Canal.
Figure 1. Distances between shafts.
Figure 1 shows the distances between all the shafts for the East-West Cable tunnel network. The depth of the
shafts for EW2 from May Road shaft to Holland Road shaft varies from 49.3 m to 63.8 m from the ground sur-
face level.
1.3 Cable Tunnel Details
Figure 2a. Shaft, adit & tunnel enlargement. Figure 2b. Cable tunnel installations.
The tunnel length for EW2 is 6.82 km and the internal diameter is 6.0 m with 300 mm thick precast
ring segments. The configuration for each ring comprised of 5 segments plus 1 key segment. Figure
2a shows the arrangement of cable tunnel shaft, adit and tunnel enlargement for locations at Holland
Rd and Rangoon Rd.
Figure 3a. Tunnel with C-channels installed. Figure 3b. Schematic diagram showing cable trays.
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For Dunearn Rd shaft, the tunnel enlargement for the 2 tunnels is connected to the shaft whereas the
shaft at May Road has 3 tunnel enlargements connected to the shaft. In the cable tunnels, the runway
beam installed near the tunnel crown is for maintenance purpose. Lighting points are also installed
together with water mist piping for fire-fighting. The C-channel brackets to support cable trays are
mounted at the lower and upper sides as shown in the figures 3a & 3b. At the lower part of the tunnel
are the invert precast concrete troughs.
1.4 TBM Details
The slurry tunnel boring machines were designed and manufactured by Kawasaki Heavy Industries.
Three Slurry TBMs were used for EW2 with the excavation diameter of 7000 mm. The TBM body
length is 11,650 mm with an outer diameter of 6900 mm for the front body and 6880 mm for the rear
body. The tail inner diameter is 6660 mm and tail clearance is 60 mm.
The TBM maximum thrust is 51200 kN with 32 jacks. The stroke is 2150 mm with a maximum jack
speed of 70 mm/min. The TBM has 4 sets of front gripper with a load of 2000 kN and extension of
150 mm. The rear has 2 sets of gripper. The TBM has a maximum cutter head rotation of 6 revolu-
tions per minute and a torque of 6250 kNm. There are 6 electric motors with 280 kW each producing
a total of 1680 kW. In the TBM, there are 2 man-locks each with cross section of 1612 mm x 1810
mm to accommodate 3 persons.
Figure 4. General assembly of Slurry TBM
At the face of the 8 armed cutter head, there are 48 numbers 19 inch diameter roller disc cutters. The
roller discs comprise 36 normal cutters, 8 centre cutters, 2 gauge cutters and 2 over cutters. The limit
wear value for centre cutters & gauge cutters is 25 mm and 30 mm for the others.
2 GEOLOGICAL CONDITIONS
A review of the borehole records together with reference to DSTA Geology of Singapore 2nd edition
indicates that the East-West Transmission Cable Tunnel will encounter major geological series.
These are the Bukit Timah granite, sedimentary rocks of the Jurong Formation, soils of the Old Allu-
vium and the recent deposits of the Kallang Formation.
TBM1 route starts from the Holland Shaft near to Holland Road/Dempsey Road junction and ends at
the Docking location at Orange Grove Rd/Anderson Rd junction. This section mainly composed of
fill which is underlain by Kallang Formation soils up to 10 m in depth in some locations. The over-
burden soils are underlain by variably weathered granite rocks of the Bukit Timah Formation. At the
tunnel level, the cutter head had to mine through full face granite of mainly grade G-II, G-III and G-
IV.
Figure 5. EW2 cable tunnel from Holland Road Temporary Shaft to May Road Shaft.
TBM2 route runs from May Road to Dunearn Road. In between, the TBM broke into the Rangoon
Shaft and was relaunched towards Dunearn Shaft. The geological formation at May Road Shaft to the
Rangoon Rd Shaft is the Old Alluvium. As the tunnel alignment approaches Norfolk Road that runs
along part of CTE, the Old Alluvium meets the Jurong Sedimentary Formation. Beneath the Kam-
pong Java Flyover, the tunnel alignment meets another transition to the Bt Timah Granitic Formation.
There are 14 different layers of different soils and rock types at this transition.
TBM3 route 3 runs from Dunearn Shaft to the Docking location at Orange Grove Rd. The Bukit Ti-
mah Granite Formation is encountered mainly along the tunnel alignment. The rocks are variably
fractured, fresh to moderately weathered rocks classified as grade G-II, G-III and G-IV. The Granite
bedrock is described as strong to very strong, and is abrasive on cutting tools. This will pose poten-
tial maintenance problem to the TBM's cutter heads. The unconfined compressive strength of the
rock can be up to 200 MPa. The permeability within granite rock can be high and is often related to
preferential flow paths through the joints and fissures.
3 TUNNELING PERFORMANCE & CUTTER HEAD INTERVENTIONS
The total number of rings for the EW2 tunnel length is 5187. The tunnel ring segment types are 1.4 m
and 1.0 m panels. In the planning for the alignment and the locations of the ventilation shafts, it was
decided to have 3 TBMs to carry out the mining to minimize the tunneling period. Due to the longer
length of 3.88 km between the Holland Rd Shaft and Dunearn Rd Shaft, it was necessary to imple-
ment the face to face docking at the location beneath Orange Grove Rd. This location is highly urban-
ised and it was rather difficult to find available land area for a temporary shaft.
For the EW2 tunneling work, there were 236 numbers of cutter head interventions (CHI.) 90 CHIs
were carried out for TBM1 (Holland to Docking) and 73 CHIs for TBM 2 (May to DUN) & TBM3
(DUN to Docking.) The performance and CHIs for each of the 3 drives are described in detail in the
following paragraphs.
3.1 TBM1 Performance (Holland Rd Shaft to Docking)
There are 1625 number of rings for the 2.6 km length of cable tunnel from Holland Shaft to the Dock-
ing location at Orange Grove Rd. The initial drive started on 30th Jun 2014 and stopped on 16th Dec
2016. The reason for the stoppage was due to damage to the main bearing that drives the cutter head.
Of these 897 days or 128 weeks, the performance was an average of 55.4 rings per month. The maxi-
mum number of ring installed as 103 rings in one month. Figure 6 shows the TBM1 progress, the
number of rings per month and the number of CHIs carried out.
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Figure 6. TBM1 from Holland Shaft to Docking - Progress and CHIs.
The maximum number of rings installed between CHI is 41 in the final drive. The average number of
rings installed before CHI is 18.4 rings and the total number of CHI for this run is 90. The number of
taken to carry out the cutter head intervention varies from 3 to 17 days. The works carried out during
a cutter head intervention normally involve inspections and replacement of roller discs, bit cutters
and the housings. Other works could be the removal of blockages, welding or removal of grizzly bars,
welding of bolt covers, repair or replacement of front crusher and repair of other unforeseen damages.
The chart also tracked the number of days took in the preparation for CHI. On one particular CHI in
November 2015 at the location near to the Tanglin Post Office, it took 30 days to prepare for a cutter
head intervention. During the mining, highly weathered Bt Timah Formation G-IV granite were en-
countered near to the top of the rock face. The slurry discharge pipe was choked and the mining was
disrupted. Attempts to resolve the chokage were not successful and resulted in further over break of
the weathered granite immediately above and front of the cutterhead. Grouting of the over break from
the ground surface was carried out to resolve this issue. The detail of this grout block is discussed in
this paper under 8.0 Excavation Management Control.
As shown in the chart, it took about 50 days to install one 1.4 m ring due to this over break. The per-
formance of the tunneling was also affected by the time taken to carry out grout blocks for CHI, the
presence of G-IV weathered granite and the damage to the TBM earlier due to the higher UCS.
3.2 TBM2 Performance (May Rd Shaft to Dunearn Rd Shaft)
The distance from May Rd Shaft to Rangoon Rd Shaft is 796 m and 615 rings were installed in 205
days from 1st Aug 2014 to 21st Feb 2015. Continuing from Rangoon Rd Shaft to Dunearn Rd Shaft,
Ring number R625 to R2125 were installed in 589 days from 16th Mar 2015 to 26th Oct 2016 over a
distance of 2.015 km. The total distance from May Rd Shaft to Dunearn Rd Shaft is 2.8 km and the
average number of rings installed per month is 80. The maximum number of rings installed is 153 per
month. The total number of days for TBM2 is 794 days which include the conversion duration from
initial drive to final drive, preparation for TBM breaking through at Rangoon & breaking in at
Dunearn Shaft, changing the cutters to roller disc cutters during the transition from soil to rock and
the removal of temporary rings at Rangoon to facilitate supply of ring segments.
The maximum rings installed before a CHI is 153. This was achieved after the conversion to main
drive in the Old Alluvium Formation from May to Rangoon. The total number of Chi is 73. The ma-
jority of the CHIs were carried out in free air and the duration for each CHI varies from 4 to 23 days.
There were 7 CHIs where compressed air was applied and the locations were in Bt Timah Granite
formation.
Figure 7. TBM2 from May Shaft to Dunearn Shaft – Progress & CHIs.
The TBM encountered a transition of OA to an “isolated” Jurong Formation beneath Norfolk Road in
June 2015 and another transition to Bt Timah Formation in Jan 2016 along the same road. From Nov
2015 to Oct 2015, the 36 CHIs carried out involved the clearing of clay clogging. The TBM under-
crossed the Kg Java Flyover in Nov 2015, the NSL MRT line in June 2016 and the Newton Flyover
in Aug 2016.
3.3 TBM3 Performance (Dunearn Shaft to Docking)
The tunnel length from Dunearn Rd Shaft to the Docking location at Orange Grove Road is 1.275 km.
There were 1437 rings installed from 3rd April 2015 to 17th February 2017. This took 685 days or 98
weeks and the average number of rings per month is 62.5. The maximum number of rings completed
in a month is 110.
Figure 8. TBM3 from Dunearn Rd Shaft to Docking – Progress & CHIs.
In the main drive, the maximum number of rings installed before a CHI is required is 54. The total
number of CHIs carried out was 73 and the duration varies from 2.5 to 15 days for each CHI. The
mining from the breaking out to the docking location is full face Bt Timah granite of G-II and G-III
type. From a 150 m from breaking out, the tunneling route was within the influence zone the Down-
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town Line C920 stacked tunnels. From July 2015 to Jan 2016, the CHIs carried out under compressed
air had an impact on the settlement of the C920 upper tunnel. In May 2016, the repair of articulation
seal to minimize leakage affected the production rate for the installation of segmented rings. The
number of rings installed in that month was 26. After the repair of the articulation seal, the produc-
tion rate improved between 73 and 110 rings per month.
4 UNDERCROSSING OF EXISTING MRT TUNNELS & ROAD FLYOVERS
4.1 Undercrossing of DTL2 C920 at Bt Timah Rd/Balmoral Rd
The Downtown Line 2 C920 was not yet in operation when the cable tunnel undercrossed the tunnels.
The soil profile at the undercrossing location is shown in figure 9a. The C920 stacked tunnels are in
Bt Timah G-VI and G-V residual soils. The upper tunnel at certain location is in fluvial sand (F1) and
has a clearance of 30 m from the cable tunnel crown. The lower C920 tunnel has 20 m clearance.
Figure 9b. Upper tunnel track settlement.
Figure 9a. Undercrossing C920 at Bt Timah Rd/ Balmoral Rd Figure 9c. Piezometric pressure changes
During the breaking out of TBM3 in the tunnel adit, the tunnel eye seal was damaged and rather high
water ingress occurred up to 400 L/min. The location of the break out is about 50 m from the MRT
tunnels. The C920 upper tunnel settled as much as 18.4 mm (figure 9b.) The piezometer readings also
recorded significant drop (figure 9c.) At that time, it was not possible to inject tail seal grout as the
tunnel eye seal plates were obstructing the grout nozzles. After moving the TBM and recharging the
area, the upper tunnel settlement recovered significantly.
Figure 10a. Average face pressure. Figure 10b. Changes in level vs Date.
From the main drive to Balmoral Road after crossing the DTL tunnels, there were 15 CHI with 9 CHI
carried out under compressed air. This stretch of tunneling from July 2015 to Jan 2016 is under the
influence zone of the C920 tunnels. Monitoring of the settlement on the C920 tunnels during mining
and cutter head intervention was rather crucial. Figure 10a and 10b shows the effect of the reduction
of face pressure during CHI on the MRT tunnels. The upper tunnel settled as much as 6 mm. During
the CHI, steps were taken to minimize the water ingress by cut-off grouting and compressed air. The
compressed air applied was as high as 2.35 bar. Initial water ingress of 255 L/min was reduced to 95
L/min in one CHI.
4.2 Undercrossing of Kg Java Flyover
For the undercrossing of the Kg Java Flyover, advanced grouting was carried out at predicted CHI lo-
cations. The crown of the cable tunnel is about 2 tunnel diameter beneath the flyover foundation pile
toe level.
Figure 11b. Flyover settlement during undercross-
ing
Figure 11a. Soil profile at Kg Java Flyover. Fig 11c. Loose rock fragments found in chamber.
Due to the transition of the Jurong Formation to Bt Timah Formation (figure 11a), the risks of high
water ingress during CHI could be rather high as it will affect the heavy traffic plying the CTE. In
addition to the grout blocks, deep recharge wells were installed and implemented during CHI. The
flyover settlement breached the alert level but recovered after each CHI (figure 11b.) Figure 11c
shows the type of material observed in the excavation chamber. Without the advanced grouting and
deep recharge wells, the flyover foundation settlement may breach the work suspension level.
4.3 Undercrossing of NSL at Newton Road and Newton Flyover
The cable tunnel undercrossed the NSL tunnel at Newton Road. Before the approach, advance grout-
ing was installed at about 20 rings interval for the purpose CHI to minimize water ingress. Deep re-
charge wells were also installed to mitigate against the NSL tunnel settlement during CHI.
Figure 12a shows the soil profile, the existing NSL tunnels and the cable tunnel. The cable tunnel had
to mine though G-IV highly weathered granite with RQD = 0. This layer is highly permeable and may
cause a drainage path to the F1 fluvial sand nearer to the surface. High water ingress during CHI may
cause the NSL tunnel to settle. Figure 12b shows the relationship between the changes in face pres-
sure against the tunnel settlement. The maximum settlement recorded during the undercrossing and
the few CHIs was 4 mm.
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Figure 12b. NSL movement vs face pressure
Figure 12a. Soil profile at Newton Flyover/NSL Figure 12c. Advanced grout blocks (in green)
5 TUNNELING ISSUES
5.1 Tight Turns
As the cable tunnel alignment is generally designed to follow the public road system unlike the MRT
routes, the radius of curvature is much tighter. Radii of 120 m, 135 m, 140 m, 175 m, 200 m, 250 m
and 300 m are required at many road junctions.
Figure 13a. Steps due to inadequate tailskin clearance Fig 13b. No Gap vs Sufficient Gap
At the junction of Anderson Road and Orange Grove Road, the required radius is 79 m. At this loca-
tion, the rock type at the tunnel level is Bt Timah granite of grade G-II. The TBM will have difficulty
in overcutting the rock at 79 m radius of curvature. In 2015, an Act to amend the State Land Acts
concerning subterranean space to -30.0 m from the Singapore Height Datum was gazetted. This Act
permitted the change of the 79 m radius to 140 m as the tunnel alignment could be shifted to the pri-
vate property.
The tight turns of the tunnel alignment require the careful ring selection of tapered rings as insuffient
gap between the tailskin will cause the precast ring segments to crack. This is illustrated in figures
13a and 13b. The clearances of the tapered ring segments were taken for every ring build. The limit
for the step is 5 mm and it was not easily achieved without clear understanding of ring selection.
5.2 Segment crack issues due to ring building
In the supervision of the ring building of the tunnel, it is important to understand the mechanism dur-
ing the stage when the ring leaves the TBM body. The adjoining ring outside the tbm is subjected to
radial unbalanced loads and is ovalised. With the TBM jacks against the newly built ring, there is the
friction resistance at the lateral joints. When the TBM moves ahead, the non-ovalised ring will be
loaded in the radial direction. There will be a 3-dimensional deformation at this stage. The crown of
the new ring will deform downwards whilst the sides deform outwards. The supports at this situation
will be non-uniform as the axial forces are not centred. The segments will experience deformation
and the longitudinal joints will not compress uniformly.
Figure 14. Torsion mechanism and the ovalisation of
tapered rings.
Tapered rings will provide vertical and horizontal alignment rather well while undergoing ovalisa-
tion. Ring build selection is critical to avoid segment cracking. After many ring building, unequal
supports in the lateral joints may result in non-uniformly distributed stresses in the segments. The
segment will experience torsion with the crown deforming downwards and the sides deforming out-
wards. There will be high torsional stresses and non-uniform axial forces. Cracking to the segments,
steps and lips will occur as the ring undergoes ovalisation.
5.3 Chamber grouting
In EW2 all the three TBMs implemented chamber grouting to reduce the high water ingress during
cutter head intervention. It usually started with slurry replacement with water (about 30m3) and OPC
(usually about 15m3) at hydrostatic face pressure. After replacement, the chamber was pressurized up
to a calculated chamber pressure and injected with micro fine cement (MFC 1:3) continuously de-
pending on the site condition and flow rate. OPC can be used after a certain volume limit of MFC.
Figure 15. Cut-off Grouting & Chamber
Grouting
The initial pumping rate was about 200L/min and it stopped when the water ingress rate reduces be-
low 15 L/min. This chamber grouting was implemented successfully in conjunction with cut off
grouting through the front body ports and secondary grouting in the segments.
5.4 Clogging Issues during mining from RGN-DUN
During June to November 2015, the tunneling encountered slow advance speed due to soil clogging
inside the cutterhead. Frequent CHI was required to remove the clogged cutters. A mitigation meas-
ure was to inject additives (Clay-Encap/Polythene 2000) inside the cutterhead during mining or ring
building to disperse clogged soil. CMC was used to increase viscosity. The chamber was opened after
mining a few rings and the cutterhead cleaned. Another alternative to minimizing the clogging of the
cutters was to inject water through the nozzles in the cutter head.
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5.5 Other Tunneling Issues
One of the major issues affecting the performance of the tbm is the articulation seal leakage. The tbm
would not be able to keep to the alignment as severe leakage from the articulation seal would make
the tunneling operation difficult. Down time would increase as water ingress would disrupt the ring
building. Another major issue is the cutter seal grease temperature affecting the main bearing. Con-
tamination from the excavated material in the slurry into the cutter seal affected the grease. The tem-
perature would increase which implies that the grease was not performing its lubricating function.
The friction in the bearing increased the temperature and affecting the rotating cutter. Grease samples
were collected periodically to check the level of contamination. The design life of the TBM main
bearing is about 10,000 hrs. However, TBM 1 while mining over 2.2 km of hard granite rock ceased
functioning due to the damage to the main bearing.
6 OVERCOMING OVERBREAKS & ADVANCED GROUTING
TBM1 from Holland Rd Shaft encountered G-IV highly weathered rocks near to the tunnel crown
near to the Tanglin Delivery Base at Napier Road in November 2015.
Figure 16b. Overbreak material in excavation chamber
Figure 16a. Overbreak during mining at Napier Road Figure 16c. Rock cores near to overbreak location
Figure 16a shows the rock profile at Napier Road and Figure 16c shows the rock cores at the 3 loca-
tions from Tanglin Mall to the Tanglin Delivery Base. Cutterhead interventions were aborted due to
very high water ingress in spite of cut-off grouting from within the TBM body. An over break was
discovered when the slurry discharge pipe was blocked. Bypass of the slurry was carried out to clear
the blockage but the overbreak was worsened. To prevent any road settlement, surface drilling of 16
grout piles were carried out. The CHI was carried out under compressed air of 2 bars with 75 dives to
replace the disc cutters and removing the blockage. This mishap affected the progress of tunneling
such that one ring took 50 days to install. The percussion drilling and grouting from the surface to
about 60 m took about 3 days to complete one grout point. Figure 17 a and 17b show the plan and
sections of the grouting from the surface level. Following this incident, advance grout blocks were
carried out to facilitate CHI for the 3 drives.
Figure 17a. Grouting proposal at overbreak location Figure 17b. Grouting section.
7 TBM DOCKING AT ORANGE GROVE ROAD
The original plan for docking location was to be at Anderson Road after TBM1 negotiated the turn at
Orange Grove Road. TBM1 starting at Holland Rd/Dempsey Rd had a head start in June 2014 and
TBM3 at Dunearn Rd Shaft in April 2015. However, due to the hard granite mining along Holland
Road, TBM1 sustained some damage to the cutter head. Further to this, there was also the overbreak
situation at the Tanglin Post Office and the slow advance speed thereafter. Finally with the main shaft
bearing undergoing rather high wearing, the tunneling ceased at Orange Grove Road.
Figure 18a. Docking location with revised R140 curvature. Figure 18b. Docking location with original R79 curvature
The docking location is in front of 6C Orange Grove Road (ORION Bldg.) The main concern at the
docking location was water ingress through the fissures in G-III granite that is about 25 m away. The
tunnel spring line is at about 65 m below ground level. Secondary grouting, cut-off grouting and
chamber grouting were first carried out for TBM1 (from Holland Rd Shaft) and later for TBM3 (from
Dunearn Rd Shaft.) The rock face stability was not an issue as the full face is G-II.
8 CONCLUSION
Mining for the cable tunnel network at depths deeper than 60 m with rather tight turns at 120 m radi-
us of curvature in granite G-II & G-III requires good tunnel management and supervision. Cutterhead
interventions carried out in compressed air with high water ingress could be replaced with effective
secondary grouting, cut-off grouting and chamber grouting in free air CHI. The importance of ad-
vance grout blocks showed that proper planning can contribute to shorten delays and to overcome de-
formation to MRT tunnels or road flyovers. Finally, a good IDMS (integrated data management sys-
tem) can contribute to effective supervision of tunneling and ring building.
REFERENCES
1. DSTA 2009 Geology of Singapore, 2nd Edition, Defense Science & Technology Agency.
2. Blom C.B.M, Delft University of Technology, Thesis - Design philosophy of concrete linings for tunnels in
soft soils.
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