Bored Tunnel Lining Behaviour in Discontinuous Rock: Railway Tunnel in Middle-East

In a bored railway tunnel project in the Middle-East, difficulties in terms of ovalization, water leakages and settlement of several lining rings located in a fault zone were observed at the end of the construction stage. The present research attempted to find the cause for this lining behaviour. The determination of critical loading conditions,...

Geotechnical characterization of sediments from the Rockall Bank Slide Complex

The main reason for this research is the possibility of landslides that could trigger a tsunami together with general interest from the oil and gas industry. The goal of this thesis is to find out what the geotechnical properties are of the 7 different locations at the eastern flank of the Rockall bank which is located to the west of Ireland and...

Appraisal of Friction Coefficients Between TBM and Conditioned Soil: A Laboratory Investigation Adopting a Direct Shear Apparatus

During the advance of a tunnel boring machine (TBM), the torque applied to rotate the cutterhead must overcome the resisting moments acting on it. Hence, one of the major concerns of TBM design is to determine the torque and power requirements of the excavation machine. The first empirical approach for torque estimation was developed in the 80’s...

Geotechnical Hazards | Geological Considerations in Dams Failure

Dams and reservoirs pose safety concerns to society worldwide. In case of a disaster, the water impounded in the reservoir escapes and destroys everything in its path. Reasons for failure range from geology, hydrology and seismicity, to design problems, lack of maintenance and poor field investigation. Prior cases show that various dams gave...

Investigation of Vertical Cutter Mining for Increased Primary Resource Recovery and Decreased Environmental Impact: A VCM Study for De Beers, Victor Pipe, Canada

The purpose of this thesis is to aid in the development of vertical cutting mining as a mining method. In order to do so, the technical feasibility and viability, and environmental benefit of vertical cutting as a complementary mining method were investigated. The investigation was performed for the case of the Victor Diamond mine in northern...