Thames River Crossing & Flood Barrier Project
Contents
The methods and techniques used in tunnelling activities 3
Section method 4
Shield method 5
Method for the project 5
The methods and techniques used in hydraulic structures 6
Method for the project 8
Methods and techniques used in marine works 8
Caisson method 9
Barges 9
Cofferdam 9
Solution for the project 9
Methods and techniques used in highway construction and railway works 10
Complex civil engineering activities 12
Resource and management plan 12
Conclusion 13
References 13
Since ancient times, there have been many floods in London, which brought huge material losses. To solve this problem Thames Barrier was built. The precondition for the creation of the barrier was the catastrophic flood of 1953. The idea of constructing protective structures was expressed in 1966. The construction of the barrier was conducted from 1974 to 1982, the work coordinated by the Council of Greater London. The grand opening with the participation of Queen Elizabeth II took place on May 8, 1984. The service life of the structure will be until 2030. Also on this barrier there are no transport connections. This is the reason that the Thames River Crossing & Flood Barrier Project is developing.
The methods and techniques used in tunnelling activities
For this project, it is worth considering only the underwater tunnels. Underwater tunnels are constructed by unique huge machines, can work hundreds of years and are needed when bridges over rivers interfere with intensive navigation. The soil under water, as a rule, is unstable. Therefore, building an underwater tunnel is much more difficult and dangerous than making the same structure in dense soil.
Building bridges is much easier and cheaper than tunnels. Indeed, in most cases, it is useless to dig into the ground. After all, sometimes ocean liners must pass under bridges, and for this, they need to be raised 70 meters above the water level. Here, in such cases, the underwater tunnels help out.
There are a lot of ways to construct a tunnel under the water. Each new construction presents special conditions for engineers and builders. Often they have to develop unique equipment and change their familiar technologies. However, all the variety of techniques can be reduced to two main ones: sectional and shield methods. These are two fundamentally different methods of work. The sectional method provides for the assembly of a tunnel from the finished elements at the bottom of the water, and the shield method is just regular boring of the main tunnel line in the soil deep beneath the water.
Section method
Crane vessels, which are used for transporting tunnel segments, are capable of handling loads weighing of thousands of tons. This is only possible if the cargo is partially submerged in water, this is how the Archimedean force is used, without which the transportation of …
