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Muir Wood lecture 2019

Muir Wood lecture 2019

Tunnelling is, without a doubt, one of the most innovative disciplines
of the international construction sector. Focused on innovative and
cooperative development, the collaboration amongst researchers,
owners, designers, international construction contractors, highly
specialized machine manufacturers and suppliers, is surely one
reason for this. The second factor is the market dynamics in tunnelling,
driven by a globalized world and increasing urbanization: Around the
globe, emerging economies are expanding the infrastructures in their
urban and regional centers, promoting the interlinking of individual
economic hubs by means of new traffic, supply and disposal
systems. In addition, they are investing in new water and sewage
systems to enhance living comfort and provide supply services
in the growing or newly built cities. Existing infrastructures have
to modernize and expand their limits. More than ever we need to
implement smart cities with smart links between them, optimizing
not only time and resources, but use of the available space in a
sustainable development.
The general worldwide trend in industry towards mechanization
and automation clearly demands a similar development in
tunnelling. There are challenges ahead and we need to improve
our excavation methods to overcome them, learning from our past
tunnel experiences, always inquiring which innovations are needed
to overcome the current technical limitations. The new technological
tools developed in areas other than tunnelling can be of great support
when such technology could transferred to our field. In the past
tunnelling history, inventors created eccentric machines in shapes
and functions that were not always functional or economically viable,
many times ending up having a short existence. Therefore, we need
to always remember to keep our feet on the ground, because not
all the inventions will fulfill the holistic set of requirements requested
in such a multidisciplinary and technical demanding sector as the
tunnelling one.
And, we are overall succeeding in many ways. New records were
set, such as excavating long tunnels – for example the construction
of the Gotthard Base Tunnel. The crossing underneath the Bosporus,
the Eurasia Tunnel, at a depth of more than 100 m, mastering safely
high pressures of 11 bars, is an example of a breakthrough in the
tunnelling technology. Large traffic tunnels were driven in Hong Kong
by the record-breaking TMCLK TBM with a diameter of 17.63 m.
Added to this, inner-city megaprojects such as Crossrail and Doha
Metro with huge logistical challenges and demanding time schedules
have been successfully completed. They all lay the foundation for
even more ambitious high-impact projects in the world of tunnelling
in the future.
The next generation of international lighthouse projects is being
implemented, which in turn leads to profound innovations in terms
of planning, design, and realization. The 64 km long Brenner Base
Tunnel will establish a new length record. In Paris, metro tunnels for
the Grand Paris Express project will create more than 200 km of
high-capacity, inner-city mobility, a palpable step towards a smart
city set up. In the area of utilities, Singapore is building a highly
effective wastewater infrastructure for the city-state with a Deep
Sewer at a depth of 55 m. In Asia, the trend towards ever-larger
tunnel diameters continues unabated. All around the world, the
potential for innovation and optimization in the construction of highcapacity
tunnel infrastructure are being seized and actively realized
in ways never seen before. Presumably, we are at the beginning of
a golden age for underground areas used and developed by people
and societies.