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The Corrib Gas Tunnel >>> Contents > The Corrib Tunnel > The Aughoose and Glengad sites > BAM Civil/Wayss & Freytag Joint Venture > A brief history of tunnelling > ‘Fionnuala’ – the Corrib TBM > Tunnelling traditions > How does the TBM work? > The TBM operator > Maintaining the tunnel > Installation of the pipeline & reinstatement 1 The Corrib Tunnel The onshore pipeline is the final phase of the Corrib gas project to be completed. The onshore pipeline section is 8.3km long and 4.9km of this will be installed in a tunnel, 5.5m the majority of which will run under Sruwaddacon Bay, in north Mayo. The tunnel will have an external diameter of 4.2m and an internal 12m diameter of 3.5m and will run at depths of between 5.5m and 12m under Sruwaddacon Bay. The building of the tunnel requires 4.2m 3.5m the use of a large tunnel boring machine (TBM). “This will be the longest tunnel in Ireland and 2 the longest gas pipeline 3 tunnel in Europe” “The rock, sand and gravel from the TBM is pumped back through the tunnel to Aughoose” “The compound has been surrounded by a visual barrier and an acoustic fence” The Aughoose and Glengad sites Excavation of the tunnel is in one direction, starting at a launch shaft The compound at Aughoose contains all of the services and Aughoose compound was designed and constructed to limit its site water treatment plant where the water discharges into on a SEPIL-owned site in the townland of Aughoose and running to a materials needed for the tunnelling process. The compound has environmental impact. The compound has been surrounded by Sruwaddacon Bay. The TBM commenced excavation of the tunnel reception site in Glengad where the offshore pipeline reaches land. been designed and constructed to minimise its environmental impact, a visual barrier and an acoustic fence. All of the lower buildings in early January 2013. The entire tunnelling operation, which particularly the impact on Sruwaddacon Bay which is a designated have been painted green and taller structures are grey to reduce is 24 hours per day seven days per week, is expected to take The construction of the tunnel and the installation of the pipeline conservation site, a candidate Special Area of Conservation (cSAC) the visual impact of the compound. Taller structures have been approximately 15 months to complete. A smaller site, at which require the construction of two temporary compounds – the launch 4 and proposed Special Protection Area (pSPA). Peat removed during fitted with lights for the protection of birds. The acoustic fence is the TBM will be recovered when tunnelling is complete, is being 5 shaft site at Aughoose and the recovery shaft site at Glengad. construction was stored either on site or removed to the Bord na one of the measures implemented on site to reduce noise from constructed at Glengad. Móna peat deposition site at Srahmore, near Bangor-Erris. The construction activities. Surface water is treated at the established BAM Civil/Wayss & Freytag Joint Venture “Temperatures can The contract for the 4.9km Corrib tunnel under Sruwaddacon Bay was and development of tunnels using TBMs. Founded in 1875, Wayss & reach over 35 degrees awarded to a joint venture between BAM Civil and Wayss & Freytag, Freytag has developed many of the techniques used today in tunnel in the tunnel” group members of the Royal BAM Group. construction world-wide. BAM Civil (formerly Ascon) is one of the largest civil engineering and This partnership brings together the vast tunnelling experience and 6 public works contractors in Ireland while Wayss & Freytag, one of expertise of Wayss & Freytag with BAM Civil’s expertise in civil 7 Germany’s largest construction companies, specialises in the construction engineering and its experience in the Irish construction industry. Well-known tunnels around the world >>> The longest Irish tunnel is the 2.6km Dublin Port Other well-known Irish tunnels are the 675m The world’s longest tunnel carries water 170km The Channel Tunnel, completed in 1994, Tunnel, which links the M1 and M50 motorways Limerick tunnel under the River Shannon and to New York City from the Delaware River in the connects Great Britain to Europe through 3 4 1 2 around Dublin. the Jack Lynch tunnel under the River Lee in Cork. United States. three, 50km long tunnels. 37km of this tunnel are underwater. A Brief History of Tunnelling Tunnelling as part of major infrastructure The modern precursor of today’s TBMs were scrapers. As the cutting wheel/head rotates, projects has a long history. Early versions of developed for dam construction in the US hydraulic cylinders attached to the spine of the the TBM were used to excavate the Thames in the 1950s and since then tunneling has TBM propel it forward a few feet at a time. Tunnel, London in the 1820s. been a major part of the construction of As well as excavating the tunnel, the TBM also transport, service and energy infrastructure By 1870 tunnelling technology had already provides support by putting in place segments projects around the world. The TBMs used advanced for the construction of the Tower of tunnel lining as it moves along. in tunnel construction today are highly Subway under the Thames where a new sophisticated machines that bring together The rotation of the cutting head breaks up the design for a circular tunnel, which was both the latest advances in safety, engineering and ground in front of the TBM, loose material is simpler in construction and better able to technology. scooped up by openings in the cutter head 8 support the weight of the surrounding soil, was Seikan is currently both the longest and the deepest 9 and the debris/slurry mixture is then pumped operational rail tunnel in the world but the Gotthard Base used for the first time. At the front of the TBM is a large rotating 5 back to the surface for treatment or disposal. Tunnel in Switzerland will be longer when it opens to traffic in cutting wheel, equipped with cutting discs and 2017. It is also the longest undersea tunnel in the world. “The number “Fionnuala is over of trailers 149m long and weighs that link to 500 tonnes” 14 Fionnuala” ‘Fionnuala’- the Corrib TBM The TBM for the Corrib tunnel was designed and built in Schwanau, The 28-tonne cutter head drills under the bay using a combination of Germany, by Herrenknecht, one of the world’s largest makers of TBMs. cutter discs, scrapers and buckets and requires two 400kw motors to turn it. The Corrib TBM took more than a year to design and build. 10 Following in a long tunnelling tradition of naming TBMs, the Corrib 11 The single shield TBM is 140m long, weighs almost 500 tonnes and TBM has been named ‘Fionnuala’ after the female of the Children of comprises 14 sections. Lir, one of the legends most closely associated with the Erris region. Tunnelling Traditions Since medieval times St Barbara has been considered the patron saint of mining and then tunnelling. That tradition continues today and a small statue of the saint is placed at the entrance of tunnelling projects to provide good luck and safety during construction. According to tradition, all TBMs need a name before work begins, and, as with ships, the name must be female. The world’s largest hard rock TBM – The feast day of with a diameter of 14.4m – was used to build the Niagara Falls Tunnel and was named ‘Big Becky’. TBMs used in the St Barbara falls on construction of the Channel Tunnel were named ‘Brigitte’, December 4th ‘Europa’, ‘Catherine’, ‘Virginia’, ‘Pascale’, and ‘Severing’. 12 13 How does the TBM work? The entire TBM comprises of 14 trailers, including support A naturally-occurring, inert clay called bentonite is used for and back-up services for the main TBM head. lubrication and cooling of the cutter head, and to assist in the transportation of the arisings to the surface. The cutter head at the front of the TBM breaks the rock, sand >>> and gravel that it meets while tunnelling. This material is As the TBM moves forward, a series of 1.2m wide concrete pumped in a suspended mixture back through the tunnel to rings made up of precast interlocking concrete segments 14 the surface at Aughoose where it is later separated. is erected. These concrete rings, which are fabricated in 15 Ireland, will eventually line the entire tunnel. The TBM operator The TBM is controlled by an operator, who sits in a control is correct; manual surveys are also conducted routinely. The cabin at the front of the machine. The operator’s role is TBM is kept on course by a laser guidance system which to ensure the TBM stays on course. There are two other recalibrates itself every second to guarantee complete monitors on the surface to ensure the trajectory of the tunnel accuracy throughout the process. As the cutter head rotates, hydraulic cylinders attached to the All this sludge and aggregate material is pumped back spine of the TBM propel it forward a few feet at a time. through the tunnel to the surface at Aughoose where it is later separated. Some of this material is reused in the tunnelling Behind the cutter head the entire TBM has 14 trailers which process and site reinstatement, while the rest is removed from transport the tunnel segment erector and all of the support >>> the site. and back-up services needed for the excavation and tunnel building. Personnel, tools and materials, including the concrete segments, are brought from the tunnelling compound to the The TBM advances forward and the cutter head breaks the front of the tunnel using a small train.
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