10 Tunnelling Market in Brazil Tunnel 5/2011 the same period was the long Tunnelling Market in Brazil series of 15 tunnels in what was known as Section 2 of the Dom The following article contains a summary of the history of underground Pedro II Railroad, on the Jape- construction in Brazil as well as a summary of present opportunities in ri-Barra do Piraí line across the Serra do Mar mountain range in the industry when many infrastructure projects are at the planning stage. the state of Rio de Janeiro. Dom This happens not only because of the need due to economic growth, but Pedro II was then the Brazilian also because of the preparation for the coming FIFA World Championship Emperor. He frequently visited the construction works. Figure 1 in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. This paper was is a photograph of the visit on held at the IUT’11 – Innovation Underground – the famous trade fair in the the day of a tunnel breakthrough. Hagerbach Test Gallery in Sargans/CH. That was one of Brazil’s most re- markable engineering achieve- ments at the time: a broad gauge Tarcisio B. Celestino, Eng. Civil M.S. Ph.D, Gerente Eng. Civil I, Themag Engenharia, São Paulo/BR; Chairman of the railroad climbed about 400 m in Organizing Committee, WTC 2014 Hugo C. Rocha, Departamento de Concepção Civil, Metrô de São Paulo, São Paulo/BR; President of the Brazilian difficult technical conditions re- Tunnelling Committee www.tuneis.com.br quiring the excavation of 15 tun- nels, their lengths varying from 25 The tunnelling market in Brazil for the excavation of tunnels in only a few decades after inde- to 2,238 m and totaling 5,220 m. started to develop in the second rock. At that stage, only 3 cen- pendence, all the work was plan- Some were excavated in soil or half of the 19th century, even turies after the beginning of the ned and conducted by foreign decomposed rock, so the vault before the advent of dynamite Portuguese colonization, and engineers. Very soon the experti- was lined with masonry, while se of underground construction others were in extremely hard Visit of the Emperor to the Grand Tunnel breakthrough [1] and design started to develop rock. All were 4.2 m wide with a among local professionals. maximum height of 5.8 m. The Since those days, of course highlight was the so called Grand many changes have occurred Tunnel, 2,238 m in length. in the local tunnelling market. Work on the project as a This paper contains a summary whole started in 1858, but exca- of the history of underground vation of the Grand Tunnel was construction in the country as not concluded until June 1864, well as a summary of present op- to be inaugurated in December portunities in the industry when 1865. The contractor was the many infrastructure projects are American Jacob Humbird. The at the planning stage. This hap- tunnels in rock (including the pens not only because of the Grand Tunnel) were excavated need due to economic growth, using sledgehammer and chisel but also because of the prepara- with explosives since there were tion for the coming FIFA World no mechanical drills at that time, Championship in 2014 and the and dynamite was not invented Olympic Games in 2016 in Rio until 1866, hence the apparent de Janeiro. slowness of the works. The Swiss A thorough and interesting scientist Jean-Louis Agassiz (who report about the beginning of visited the site of the Grand Tun- underground construction in nel in April 1865) reported that Brazil was compiled by Silva Tel- the rock was so hard “that the les [1]. Excerpts are shown in the heaviest blows of the diggers following chapters. produced just a little dust”. In The first road and railway tun- order to facilitate excavation, 4 nels in the country were opened vertical shafts were sunk from 1 around 1860. But by far the most the top of the mountain (depth important engineering work at varying from 37 to 101 m) to al- Tunnel 5/2011 Tunnelling Market in Brazil 11 low work to proceed on several ted into a tunnel to avoid railway The introduction of dynamite and several viaducts and bridges faces; one of these shafts was blockages caused by constant brought a significant increase over a stretch of 40 km. Two of subsequently used for ventilati- rock falls. For the tunnel (execut- in underground construction. those bridges were world record on. About 400 laborers worked ed in 1901), the vault was built For the duplication of the Dom holders for their respective types day and night shifts. of reinforced concrete, the oldest Pedro II Railway, the new Grand of structure at that time. Underground construction work with reliable dating to use Tunnel was constructed in 11 The execution of almost all was very active at that time. Work this material in Brazil. months, while the first tunnel the tunnels was supervised by on the so called central line from Between 1877 and 1879, the with the same length had re- the Brazilian engineer Francis- Rio de Janeiro do Belo Horizonte Maritime branch of the D. Pedro quired 7 years. co T. da Silva Telles, who was began in 1865, and there were II Railroad in the city of Rio de In the early 20th century Bra- perhaps Brazil’s leading tunneller 20 tunnels, the longest with 552 Janeiro was built. It was a short zilian engineers were in charge at the time. m. One of those tunnels deserve branch connecting to the port of the major works in tunnelling special attention because it de- and work included the excava- going on in the country. For the Modern Tunnelling notes the beginning of enginee- tion of 2 tunnels, lengths 315 access from São Paulo to the Port Market ring concerns with slope stability and 86 m, to cross a hill (Mor- of Santos, the Mairinque-Santos The development of modern in that area, a problem which is ro de São Diogo). The structure branch of the former Sorocaba- tunnel engineering in Brazil still important in the same zone presented 2 important new fea- na Railroad (São Paulo) was built started in the late 1960s with nowadays. In the João Ayres Gor- tures: the use of compressed air from 1928 to 1937. The adverse the planning and construction ge in the Serra da Mantiqueira drills (the Ingersoll system, driven topographical conditions po- of subway systems in São Paulo mountain range, a cut with very by steam locomotive) and the sed difficult technical problems and Rio de Janeiro. A few under- high slopes was initially cons- use of dynamite (the Emperor and required the excavation of ground hydroelectric schemes tructed; later on it was conver- himself triggered the first blast). 31 tunnels (totaling over 5 km) had already been constructed. • Backfilling (one or two components) • Pre-excavation grouting • Post/consolidation grouting • High-Shear Mixers up to 2500 litres • Bentonite modules for microtunnelling • Grout pumps up to 200 bar • Fully automated grout plants • Pressure and flow recording systems • Backfill systems for one or • Compact grout plants two component grouts Häny AG • Buechstrasse 20 • CH-8645 Jona/Switzerland Stand B 10 Tel. +41 44 925 41 11 • Fax +41 44 923 62 45 • [email protected] • www.haeny.com 12 Tunnelling Market in Brazil Tunnel 5/2011 EPB TBM was used for the exca- million, with a significant pro- 2 vation of the soft ground section rata rate of increase of more of the double-track running tun- than 500 %. The major demand nels. The TBM is shown in Figure 3 for these new tunnels has come as an indication of the techno- from the hydroelectric construc- logical improvements adopted tion industry. Since the market since the 1970s, when compared rules for private investments to Figure 2. About this subject, a for electricity generation have hard rock TBM was used for the been established a large num- recently constructed 5 km long ber of small hydroelectric power Gastau Tunnel to convey natu- plants have been constructed ral gas from the sea level to the with underground works (Fi- economic active Vale do Paraíba gure 4). at 700 m elevation. Advances in A sample of new works to be drill-and-blast constructin have constructed in the near future Single-track open face TBM used for the São Paulo Metro Line 1 in the 1970s also been significant. is presented next. Then some of A recent partial survey carried the new projects are described. All types of construction me- between Belo Horizonte and Rio out by the Brazilian Tunnelling thods have been used recently. de Janeiro and for the Imigrantes Committee shows that the rate New Projects Line 1 of the São Paulo Metro Highway between São Paulo and of increase in underground A number of underground works was partly excavated with an Santos. Many NATM soft ground construction for civil enginee- are in different stages of develop- open face TBM (Figure 2) asso- tunnels and a few stations were ring purposes is remarkable. The ment in Brazil. This is due to the ciated with dewatering where constructed for the São Paulo total volume constructed in the lasting economic stability, con- necessary. NATM was introduced Subway in the 1980s and 1990s. 1990s was less than 4 million m3; sistent economic growth and in the early 1970s for the cons- For the recently constructed Line in the following 5 years the vo- high rate of urbanization of the truction of the Steel Railway 4 of the same subway, a modern lume jumped to more than 11 population among other factors.