Assignment No 1 –

Submitted By – Chandan Vaidya

Question No 1 - Write a note on applications of underground space in ancient times

It is probable that the first tunneling was done by prehistoric people seeking to enlarge their caves.
All major ancient civilizations developed tunneling methods. In Babylonia, tunnels were used for
irrigation; and a brick-lined pedestrian passage some 3,000 feet (900 metres) long was built about
2180 to 2160 BC under the Euphrates River to connect the royal palace with the temple.
Construction was completed by diverting the river during the dry season. The Egyptians developed
techniques for cutting soft rocks with copper saws and hollow reed drills, both surrounded by an
abrasive, a technique probably used first for quarrying stone blocks and later in excavating temple
rooms inside rock cliffs. Abu Simbel Temple on the Nile was built in sandstone about
1250 BC for Ramses II .

The Greeks and Romans both made extensive use of tunnels to reclaim marshes by drainage and for
water aqueducts, such as the 6th-century-BC Greek water tunnel on the isle of Samos driven some
3,400 feet through limestone with a cross section about 6 feet square. The largest tunnel in ancient
times was a 4,800-foot-long, 25-foot-wide, 30-foot-high road tunnel between Naples and Pozzuoli,
executed in 36 BC. For the excavation of this tunnel plumb bobs & string lines were introduce for
survey, and tunnels were advanced from a succession of closely spaced shafts to provide ventilation.
To avoid the lining, most of ancient tunnels were located in reasonably strong rock, which was
broken off by fire quenching, a method involving heating the rock with fire and suddenly cooling it
by dousing with water.  In AD 41 the Romans used some 30,000 men for 10 years to push a 3.5-mile
(6-kilometre) tunnel to drain Lacus Fucinus. They worked from shafts 120 feet apart and up to 400
feet deep. Far more attention was paid to ventilation and safety measures when workers were
freemen, as shown by archaeological diggings at Hallstatt, Austria, where salt-mine tunnels have
been worked since 2500 BC.

Question 2 : Why underground space is good option for Nuclear Waste Disposal

Nuclear waste storage is one of the most controversial issues in the nuclear power industry, and
storage of spent fuel is a major concern for many industrial countries with nuclear power. At
present, the safest way to store nuclear waste is in deep geological disposal sites in underground
formations that are inert, so that there is no danger of an impact on groundwater, disruption by
seismic activity, or any other potential contamination of the environment.

Question No 3 : Explain the conceptual design of a nuclear waste disposal facility

Answer : Nuclear waste disposal is composed of a surface facility to receive the waste. Surface
facility is necessary for conducting required inspections and encapsulation the waste in an over-
pack. Underground facility is constructed to emplace nuclear waste forms. An underground facility
is composed of access shafts which connect the surface facility with the underground facility,
disposal tunnels for emplacement of waste forms, connection tunnels and infrastructure for
transportation, construction of tunnels and maintenance of the safety of all operations. Following
conditions are required for a disposal facility
 1. To provide mechanical stability of underground openings (tunnels, galleries, waste rooms
etc.) during construction, operation and closure of the facility. –
2. To provide radiation protection of workers and minimize incidental releases.
a. To provide measures to handle heat
3. To provide the measure to handle the heat generated from nuclear waste forms
a. To avoid damage to the host rock and
4. To avoid the damage the host rock & groundwater level lowering

1. Central Access Tunnel - The central access tunnels will be used as the main travel-ways from
the shafts to the repository placement panels. These tunnels will be developed with widths
to accommodate rubber-tired transport and foot traffic simultaneously, without requiring
safety bays for people. Normally they have 7 mts width & 5 mts ht.

CAT PAT
2. Panel Access Tunnels : Panel access tunnels would be developed similar to the central access
tunnels except with dimensions of 9 m wide by 4 m high
3. Perimeter Tunnels : Perimeter tunnels, established as part of the initial repository
construction phase, and subsequently used during operations for ventilation and
development access purposes, would measure 5 m wide by 5 m high to facilitate equipment
traffic and ventilation requirements
4. Truck By-Pass Tunnels : Truck by-pass tunnels will be developed soon after the main access
tunnels are completed to provide a return route to the Service Shaft during development of
the perimeter tunnels and the panels.

Question 5: Why is it necessary to use underground space in urban areas?

Answer 5: Necessity of underground space for urban area

 1. The use of underground space allows a facility to be built in a location where a surface
facility is not possible, either because of lack of space or because building a surface facility in
that location is not acceptable to the community. There are many types of facilities that are
best or necessarily placed underground because their physical presence on the surface is
unwanted, for example: public utilities, storage of less-desirable materials, and car parks.
2. The underground solution also allows one to build in close proximity to existing facilities or
on otherwise unbuildable sites, thus offering better services to the users.
3. Underground space use helps provide safe, environmentally sound, fast, and unobtrusive
urban mass transit systems; Also, there is often the need to separate conflicting transport
activities. Grade separation of corridors is often desired and placing one corridor
underground generally impacts far less on the existing community.
4. Several levels of transport facilities can be brought together in important city transport
hubs, thus providing easy connections among them.
5. Underground car parks and shopping malls leave room for recreation areas and playgrounds
above ground.

Question 5 : Explain ‘Use of underground space for strategic utilities’ with suitable examples

Answer 5: From ancient time Underground space is well use for the strategic utilities, during world
war one & two all the nations have used facilities build underground. In current time technology has
improved, more & most of strategic utilities such as operation room, missile-launching station,
hangers for aircraft, cyber warfare set up, repair facilities for aircraft, dockyard, submarine facilities
& classified R&D facilities.
Question No 6 : Enumerate the types of services in which underground spaces are put to use with
suitable examples.

Answer 6 : Underground space can be used for following services :

1. Transportation: Metro, highway tunnels & railways tunnels. There are so many underground
projects where tunnels has been used for transpiration purpose throughout the world . In
our country currently Delhi metro, Kolkata metro (Metro projects), Jawahar tunnels, Atal
tunnel (Highway tunnels) & Pir – Panjal tunnel (railway tunnel) are few examples .
2. Hydro power : In hydro power tunnels are mainly used to transport water from dam to
power house (head race tunnel ) & from power house to discharge water into river back
(Tail race tunnels ) . Nathapa Jhakri HEP , Parbati HEP & Tala HEP are a few examples which
our country has built in last twenty years .
3. Cavern & utility tunnels : Cavern are widely used for power houses of HEP , storage (crude
oil storage , defence forces ) , radio active waste disposal ,parking , museum & library .
Power house of Nathpa jhakri , parking of louvre museum , Tokyo underground shopping
mall , Manglore crude oil storage , are few example of cavers.
4. Irrigation & sewer disposal: Tunnels can used to transport water from one part to other part
– 42 km long AMR water tunnel (under construction) in Andra Pradesh is good example from
our country.
In urban cities, tunnels are also used to transport sewer from city to treatment plant. In our
country Mumbai Mumcipal, cooperation has built many sewer tunnels in city.

Question No 7 - Write a short note on ‘Brief history of underground occupation’

Answer 7 :
 A rich legacy of fossil records and ancient tools, art, and structures suggests that human’s has
complex and intimate association with the subsurface ever since evolving into modern Homo
sapiens. Human remains , shells & animals bones discovered on the klasies river mouth cave – south
Africa is a clear evidence that modern human lived their more than 120,000 years ago. Engineers of
the ancient world skilfully exploited the underground space with available technology to promote
the growth of emerging cities and commerce. The first water supply technology in Jerusalem was an
underground water system constructed during the Middle Bronze Age (2000-1500 B.C.) for both
domestic and agricultural purposes. 1,036 meter long Eupalinos – Tunnel is the first-known deep
tunnel in history & was part of the water supply system of the island of Samos in Greece .This tunnel
was named after the engineer who designed and constructed it in 530 B.C

Question No 8 : What are the potential benefits associated with developing underground space?

Answer 8:

Properly planned and maintained, underground infrastructure can contribute to sustainability by

preserving natural surface resources (e.g. land, water, and biodiversity), reducing air pollution ,
sound pollution related to transportation, ease of movement , save time , opportunities for less
energy use and waste generation, and build structures more resilient to any (natural /manmade)
disaster.

Question No 9 : What are the challenges associated with developing underground space?

Answer 9 –

Challenges associated with underground construction:

1. Lack of Policy - In India the land/Space underground is not the property of the land owner. if
any resource is available underground it is government property. In developed countries this
underground space unless until discovers valuable resources is the property of the
landowner itself. law of compensation is applicable for the underground spaces also. A
similar policy which designates the right of underground property could facilitate the
utilization of underground space
2. Cost of Underground Construction –
Underground construction is a costly as per compare to surface construction. But there are
two types of costs, one is the direct cost and other is the sustainable cost associated with
the project. If sustainable cost is taken into account other factors such as – Augmentation,
Extension and Expansion, Cost of Land acquisition and compensation, Safety and
Reliability in Disaster, Construction related congestions and associate time & money lost are
considered then high of Cost Underground projects can be justify.
3. Integration of aboveground and underground activities –
The cities of the world have a planned built-up and effective implementation of landuse
planning. Indian cities do not have this benefit. Our cities are mostly organic and has
tremendous violation of landuse so how it is possible to correlate between underground and
aboveground activities is a major challenge for planning spaces underground.

4. Mind-set
Underground space planning is a multi-disciplinary subject and mind-set of the people
should be rational towards the effective utilization of land resource and regulate the
pressure on different land use typologies.

5. Lack of skilled manpower

 Availability of skilled manpower for underground work is less . It is important to establish
specialized institutes, which would focus on R & D and act as training to generate skilled
manpower in the field of underground construction.

Question No 10. Justify the statement ‘underground facilities can have low environmental impact.’

Answer No 10 :

1. Underground space inherently conserves energy. As they hardly affected by climatic

influences therefore underground facilities provide significant energy savings and
conservation of energy.
2. Underground space is inherently energy efficient. Severe fluctuations of temperature are
non-existent allowing more efficient control of temperature and energy.
3. Underground space requires little maintenance. Underground space generally has a very
long life; some have been in continuous use contributing to sustainable development for
centuries .Long life & little maintenance not only reduce life-cycle costs but also reduce
demand for renewable & non-renewable resources .
4. Use of the underground permits preservation of open space for habitat, environmental, and
scenic values . The Underground provides strong protection from natural hazards

Question 11: Write a note on ‘Hydropower tunnels in India’

Answer No 11: Hydropower tunnel in India : Tunnels are used to divert water from Dam to
powerhouse & then back to rivers. Tunnels involved in hydropower projects mainly know as :

1. HRT – Head rail tunnel – Tunnel connects dam to power house

2. Desilting Chambers – Long cavern in between dam & HRT used to remove silt partial from
diverted water
3. Flushing tunnel – used to clear the site removed in desilting chambers.
4. Connecting tunnels – Connect desilting chambers to HRT .
5. Diversion Tunnel – Tunnels constructed to divert river water for the construction of Dam
6. TRT – Tailrace tunnel – Tunnel constructed to add water back to river from power house.

Some of the know HEP tunnels in India are:

- SJVNL – Nathapa Jhakri (1500 MW ) HEP has involved a head race tunnel of 27.14 Km long &
700 mts long 4 desilting chambers
- Teesta-5 Project (510MW) involved a Head Race Tunnel of 17.70Km long operated from 10
faces, Surge Shaft pressure shaft and Tail race tunnels.
- The Baglihar hydroelectric project Stage II involved a head race tunnel, surge shaft, three
steel-lined pressure shafts, and a tail race tunnel. The project cost was Rs 31.13 billion.
- NTPC’s Kol dam hydroelectric project included the construction of 1.85-km-long horseshoe-
shaped diversion tunnels with a 14 m diameter. The project cost was Rs 56.4 billion.
- NHPC’s Chutak hydroelectric project included a 4.79-km head race tunnel, a 37-m-high
pressure shaft, a 59-m-high surge shaft, a 50-m-long tail race tunnel, 610-m-high adits and a
320-m-high intake tunnel. The project cost was Rs 9.13 billion.
 - NHPC’s Uri Stage 2 hydroelectric project involved a 4.24-km-long HRT, a 3.62-kmlong TRT, a
96-m-high pressure shaft, a 96-m-high surge shaft, a 340-m-long diversion tunnel, and 858-
m-long adits. The project cost was Rs 20.81 billion.
- NHPC’s Parbati Stage 3 hydroelectric project, involved a 0.83-m-long diversion-cum-spillway,
a 905-m-long intake tunnel, a 7.88-km-long head race tunnel, a 133.8-m-high surge shaft, a
970-m-high surge shaft, a 1.1-km-long approach tunnel, and a 2.7-km-long tail race tunnel.
The project cost was Rs 27.16 billion.

Question No 12 : What are the challenges in construction of hydropower tunnels?

Answer 12:

Challenges in the construction of HEP tunnel :

1. Inadequate Investigations
Almost every aspect of a tunneling project, from its conception to commissioning, is
influenced by the geology of the area. Reliability of the predicted geology, therefore, plays
an important role in the success of the project. Inadequate geological/geotechnical
investigations and poor anticipation of the nature and the magnitude of problems may result
delays and cost overruns.
2. Site Clearances issue :
In some of the projects site Bids are invited before obtaining the statutory clearances. Even
the Letter of Award of works is issued incorporating the completion period say 45 - 60
months stating that the period of completion starts from the day of receipt of the letter of
award by the contractor. In such situations contractual problems arise resulting in delay and
cost over-runs. Efforts be made to ensure the statutory clearances are available before
awarding of works
3. GEOLOGICAL PROBLEMS :
The difficulties during tunnelling posed by the geological features like thrust zones, shear
zones, folded rock sequence, in-situ stresses, rock cover, ingress of water, geothermal
gradient, ingress of gases, high level of seismicity etc. have been experienced on different
project sites .
4. Ingress of Water
Tunnelling through rock mass which is highly charged with ground water faces major
problems such as:
a. Heavy ingress of water in tunnel hampers the construction activities inside.
b. The saturated rock mass looses its strength as the shear strength (cohesion and friction)
gets reduced due to lubrication, and failure of rock mass occurs from the crown and
above spring level. Virtually it is flowing ground condition.
c. The high pore water pressure behind the tunnel periphery adversely affects the support
system resulting to distress.
5. Deficiencies in Contracting
Practices Practically, all the tunneling projects in the country are executed through
contractors only and it has been experienced that there are invariably time and/or cost
 overruns on almost every such project due, among other things, to deficiencies in the
contracting practices which is generally found to be indifferent to the project needs
6. Delayed Decisions
Large delays in decision making often result in delaying the completion of the projects. The
case of Kadabagatti tunnel in Karnataka may be cited here. After a collapse in the tunnel, the
work was held up for 7 years for want of a decision while several alternatives for
rectification of the collapsed zone were being examined and discussed. However, once the
decision was taken, the rectification was completed within a couple of month.
7. Delayed Financing
It is often seen that finances for the tunnelling projects if not provided in time are leading to
delays in construction of tunnels resulting in increase in completion cost.

Question No 13: Discuss various applications of underground space in urban areas.

Answer 13 –

1. Water convening system

Tunnels play a vital environmental role by conveying clean water to urban areas and by
conveying waste water out. Most major urban areas depend on tunnels for these services,
which function with a minimum of maintenance.
2. Metro Tunnels:
Metro tunnels provide safe, environmentally sound, very fast, and unobtrusive
transportation for people in all walks of life in both developed and developing countries.
3. Traffic tunnels :
Congestion and traffic jams in urban areas have been reduced by the use of the
underground metros and road tunnel networks.
4. Utlity / storage Space :
Underground space is being used increasingly for industrial, office and even residential
facilities. Underground space for bulk storage of food, liquids, and gas has gained increasing
acceptance in various areas of the world. In cold regions, the cost of heating underground
facilities is reduced significantly. There is no leakage of heat as in super-structures.
5. Digester Management:
It has been demonstrated by several recent earthquakes that tunnels behave very well in
earthquakes. If urban planners want an important life-line to survive an earthquake, they
should go out of their way to use tunnels

Question 14: Explain the benefits of use of underground spaces with reference to transport
infrastructure in metro cities.

Metro Tunnels: Metro tunnels provide safe, environmentally sound, very fast, and unobtrusive
transportation for people in all walks of life in both developed and developing countries.

Traffic tunnels Congestion and traffic jams in urban areas have been reduced by the use of the
underground metros and road tunnel networks.

Question no 15 : Discuss various elements of Underground nuclear waste repository.

Answer 15 : Parts of underground nuculear repository :

1. Surface Facilities : For security purposes, certain areas of the surface facilities will have
restricted access. These restricted areas include the Used Fuel Packing Plant, Main Shaft
complex, Service Shaft complex and Ventilation Shaft complex. Security and double
perimeter fencing will be required to prevent unauthorized access into these areas. Other
surface areas outside the restricted area (also called the Protected Area) would include the
Administration Building, Sealing Materials Compaction Plant and a concrete batch plant. A
management area for excavated rock from the underground repository would also be
required. Its location (on-site or off-site) and footprint would be determined in collaboration
with the community. Key DGR Surface Facilities External facilities, located outside the DGR’s
perimeter fences, will be required to support the DGR facility. Such facilities include a Centre
of Expertise and accommodation for construction personnel.
2. Used Fuel Packing Plant (UFPP) : The used nuclear fuel will be received at the UFPP from the
interim storage sites located at the source reactor storage sites. The used fuel will be
transported in certified road transportation packages (Used Fuel Transport Package or
UFTP). The UFTPs will be received at the UFPP where the contained used fuel bundles will be
transferred to the UFCs. The filled UFCs will then be sealed, inspected and inserted into
buffer boxes. The buffer boxes will contain blocks of highly compacted bentonite (HCB) with
a cavity machined in the blocks to hold the UFC. The combined UFCs / buffer boxes would
then be dispatched for placement in the underground repository. There will also be
provisions for recovering any UFCs that do not fulfill the requirements for long-term
disposal. The UFPP will incorporate multiple processing lines for receiving and unloading
used fuel from the UFTPs and for safely processing and handling the UFCs.
3. Sealing Materials Production Plants : Concrete batch and Sealing Materials Compaction
(SMC) operations are required to produce repository sealing materials for encapsulation of
the placed UFCs. Imported aggregate will be stockpiled and then used to support the
material needs of a concrete batch plant and the SMC plant. At the concrete plant, the
aggregate would be blended with binders and a water reducing admixture to produce low
heat, high performance (LHHP) concrete for the bulkheads at entrances of the UFC-filled
placement rooms. At the SMC plant, highly compacted bentonite (HCB) blocks for the buffer
boxes will be manufactured and directed to the UFPP. In addition, the SMC plant will
manufacture dense backfill (DBF) blocks comprised of aggregate, clay and bentonite. The
SMC plant will also produce 100%-bentonite gap fill that will be placed around the stack of
buffer boxes inside each placement room. The plant will employ custom designed presses
and moulds for manufacturing the blocks with specialized lifting devices in place to handle
the formed materials.
4. Underground Facilities The underground facilities are comprised of the following two main
areas: a) Underground Services Area located at the base of the Main Shaft and Service Shaft;
and b) placement area comprised of eight panels of rooms. The following figure illustrates
the layout of the underground repository (for the crystalline rock design concept).
Underground Repository Layout (Crystalline Rock) viii The Underground Services Area would
provide a range of facilities to support DGR operations. Such facilities include:
 Underground Demonstration Facility
 Refuge stations, offices, washrooms;
 Maintenance shop and warehouse;
 Battery charging station (for battery-powered forklifts for placing buffer boxes);
 Underground diesel fuelling station and equipment / material storage areas;
 Explosives and detonators magazines;
 Main electrical substation; and
 Truck dump equipped with grizzly and rock breaker.
Question 16 : Write a note on ancient underground structures in India

Answer 16 :

The earliest examples of underground structures in India were in the form of dwelling pits cut into
the compacted loess deposits in Kashmir around 3000 B.C. and 500 B.C. This was brought to light by
the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) during excavations in 1960. These pit houses were found to
provide excellent protection against cold and severe winter as well as heat of summer. They also
offered protection against external attack. Dwellings belonging to 1600 B.C. were also noted at
Nagarjuna Konda in Andhra Pradesh state. The world's most beautiful and elaborate rock tunnels,
the rock temples in Maharashtra state, cut out of the hardest rock and having a length of some
kilometers, indicate early experience in underground engineering by humans. The tunnels of Ellora
alone add up to 10.8 km in length. In medieval India, forts and palaces were provided with fountains,
underground Use of underground space for the development of cities in India pathways, basement
halls for storage, meeting halls, summer retreats and water tunnels. The underground constructions
in Daulatabad fort, Man Mandir in the palace of King Man Singh, and the 17 basement chambers
below the famous Tajmahal, are outstanding constructions of medieval kings of India. The
mythological story of Ramayana mentions the town of Kishkindha, which was built completely
underground and thus enabled its King Bali to win all battles. These are some of the historical
underground space use.

Question 17: Write a note on ancient underground structures out of India.

Answer 17 :

Valley of Kings – Luxor (erstwhile Thebes) - Egypt. Dating to 1600 BC – burial chambers of kings
excavated in lime stone.The most famous Ramases IV and Tutankhamun.
Underground cities in Turkey along silk route dating back to 1 st Millenium BC – going upto 5 levels
below ground with complete arrangements for storing food, community kitchens, ventilation shafts,
wineries etc.

Question 18: Discuss various methods of constructing underground spaces.

Answer 18 : Choice of construction methods will depends upon the nature of the strata & dimension
of the tunnel. Below three are the commonly used method for underground development :

1. Cut & cover Method : Suitable when overburden is less

A. Bottom up Method: Main site is excavated with ground support as necessary & tunnel is
constructed within. These kind of tunnels are supported by cast in situ lining , precast
elements or steel areches.
B. Top down method: In this method side support walls & cap beams are constructed from
ground level with slurry walls or secant pilling. After stabilizing sides tunnel roof is
excavated & supported by steel beams or cast in situ lining. Once the roof is supported
properly, then bottom excavation stated & base slab is constructed.
2. Conventional Tunnelling (D&B) - This method involves drilling & blasting of the tunnel face .
Conventional Tunnelling is done by following methods :
a. Full face tunnelling - full face drilled & blasted in one go , suitable for good rock
condition
b. Heading & Benching – In this method 1st a small tunnel ( crown of the tunnel) is
excavated, after excavated crown benching will be done.
3. Mechanized Tunnels : Tunnel boring machines are used to excavated tunnels by this
method. More suitable for areas where drill & blast is not possible due to population , green
area or reserved forest.