Experimental Study on Joint Waterproofing Gasket Patterns for Deep Sewage Tunnels Excavated by Shield Machines
(1 Department of Geotechnical Engineering, College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092; 2 Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering of Ministry of Education, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092; 3 Guangzhou Municipal Engineering Design & Research Institute, Guangzhou 510000; 4 Guangdong Research Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower,Guangzhou 510610)
Abstract：
There is no precedent regarding the construction of large deep sewage tunnels in China and there are
many related technical problems. Generally, these tunnels are more than 40 m deep and have to withstand high water pressure. Usually they use dual-sealed gaskets, but a large assembling force is detrimental due to the size limit of the shield machines; additionally, there are challenges regarding water tightness since the gaskets are not thick enough or big enough compared with those used in common domestic underwater tunnels. It is particularly important to use a waterproofing test to ensure the elastic gasket is capable of a long-term and stable performance while resisting high pressure. For the Guangzhou Donghaoyong deep sewage tunnel project, the gasket and concrete test specimens were produced according to the actual engineering size. Several waterproofing performance tests were conducted using a three-dimensional loading system. The tests compared the waterproofing joints with different openings and misalignments, and verified the feasibility of the gasket scheme for deep sewage shield tunnels.
2016, Vol. 53 