Excavation of Tunnels for Flood Control in Buenos Aires, with a TBM

Oscar Alberto Vardé, Rodolfo Eduardo Guidobono

In the proceedings of: GEO2011: 64th Canadian Geotechnical Conference, 14th Pan-American Conference on Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, 5th Pan-American Conference on Teaching and Learning of Geotechnical Engineering

Session: Buried Structures & Subsurface Systems

ABSTRACT: The city of Buenos Aires planned the construction of a hydraulic system to control the floods in the Maldonado Creek basin, which is part of the City Hydraulic Master plan. The project comprises the construction of two tunnels of 6,90 m internal diameter, 4,5 km and 10 km long, access shafts and connecting and discharge chambers. The tunnels alignments intersect a heterogeneous soil profile with hard silts, stiff plastic clays, silty sands, and sands. The shorter tunnel is already finished and the other one is still under construction, both of them bored with TBM and EPB procedures. The geotechnical challenge due to the presence of a semiartesian aquifer was solved with a substantial change in the design of the main access shaft. There are described herein the main features of the project and the construction methods which have taken into account the ground conditions, the obstacles to be found in the excavation of the tunnels and environmental impact.

RESUMEN: La construcción de los túneles aliviadores del Emisario Principal del Arroyo Maldonado es la obra más importante encarada por el Gobierno de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, siendo un elemento fundamental del Plan Director Hidráulico. Consta de 2 túneles de 6,90 m de diámetro interno, de 4,5 km y 10 km de longitud, excavados con dos máquinas tuneleras TBM utilizando procedimientos EPB, cámaras de descarga y conexión y pozos de acceso. Se describen en este trabajo las características fundamentales del proyecto, explicitando los métodos constructivos, adoptados en función de las características geotécnicas, las condiciones existentes edilicias, las interferencias y el impacto ambiental.

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