土木工程英语建筑初级水平UnitTunnelconstruction.docVIP

Unit 8 Tunnel Construction Tunnels are artificial underground passages constructed for transportation purpose. They are required for highways，railways，water supply and so on. Tunneling becomes necessary when the open excavation of strata becomes uneconomical，from the consideration of initial work as well as from the point of view of subsequent maintenance and renewals The first tunnel was built in Babylon about 4，000 years ago. It was about 900 meters long with cross-section of 3. 6 meters4.5 meters. Roman Emperor built the first tunnel of 3 meters×1. 8 meters cross section and about 6km long 2，000 years ago. The first highway tunnel was constructed in Hungary in 1853. It was about 350 meters long. In the case of highway or railway project where both the methods of construction that is either taking a detour along the hill or having open cut in the hill are possible，each case has to be examined on the individual merits. In the case of highway as a general rule，if the open cut exceeds 15 meters depth tunneling may be advantageous. In the case of railway as compared to taking a detour round the hill，tunneling would be preferable. Whenever the proposed path of a road or railway is obstructed by a hillside，a waterway or some form of construction，the engineer designing the project has to decide whether or not it is practical to construct a tunnel through or under the obstacle．In making his decision，he has not only to consider the economic aspect，but also weigh up all the constructional advantages and disadvantages of both tunneling and the alternative method of either passing around or over the obstruction．In practice，it is often found that tunneling，although costly，proves to be less expensive in the long run than any alternative system．There are instances，however，where the engineer has no choice but to pass around or over the obstacle．For example，intensely hard rock might well make tunneling extremely difficult and far too costly to even contemplate． The inabi