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 Trends of the Highway Tunnel Building in Slovakia
by Alojz Kopáčik
 Key words: tunnel building, lay-out, control measurement, 3-D
          model building 
 Abstract1. Introduction A multitude of railway tunnels in the Slovak
          Republic on the one hand and total absence of road-tunnels on the
          other hand is a paradox which is a result of political and
          economic development in the post-war period. A comeback to the
          market economy in the last decenium of 20th century has
          been connected not only with economic and political changes but also
          with the decision to eliminate the retardation of traffic
          infrastructure development. 2. Structure of the traffic network in SlovakiaIn connection with the above fact the necessity has
          arisen to update the national traffic routes. The Slovak Road
          Administration has elaborated the "Concept of the Traffic Network
          Development in the Slovak Republic" which re-evaluates the used
          network classification as well as the importance of individual routes
          and their classification under new conditions. The most important
          traffic routes are included to the network of transeuropean routes, in
          a volume of 852,8 km. Particular part of the conception are as
          follows: evaluation of the road network capacity reached, evaluation
          of traffic safety as well as of ecological conditions and
          a proposal for the gradual modernisation, including higway
          construction. Design and construction of highways are in the last
          years connected to the more demanding parts of the routes D1 and D18.
          The various geological and morphological conditions of the Karpaty
          mountains can be not overcome without tunnels. To determination of the
          number of tunnels and their situation on the highway, are very
          important the results of the multicriterial evaluation of the region.
          In connection with this evaluation are designed 17 tunnels, with
          common longitude of 39 km, on a new highway parts. 3. Driving methods used for tunnel construction in SlovakiaIn present time exist two different groups of
          methods for the driving of transport tunnels. The first of them is
          conventional tunnelling on the lines of the principles of the new
          Austrian tunnelling method (NATM) and the second group is tunnel
          driving with using tunnel boring machines (TBM). The NATM use for the
          hard rock excavation conventional mining explosive materials. For the
          soft rock excavation are used boring machines with cutting head or
          excavators. Tunnel driving by TBM is more impalpable to the rock and
          the surrounding of the tunnel is fewer affected. The both of
          excavation method are know in Slovakia, but the using of TBM for
          excavation of tunnels with large profiles (highway tunnels) are to
          this time not used. 4. Management of geodetic works connected to the tunnel
          constructionThe realisation of large building constructions
          need the very "hard" participation of surveyors. The
          surveyor participate on the all of tunnel construction phases –
          geological investigation and preparation, design and realisation. From
          the viewpoint of surveyors is very demanding, if the geological
          investigation is realised by prospect drift. In case of the both
          largest highway tunnels in Slovakia (tunnel Branisko and Višňové)
          are driven the prospect drift. For drift excavation were used both of
          the named excavation method (NATM, TBM). The design of tunnel required
          ortophotomaps, conventional maps or3-D models of terrain in the surrounding of the designed tunnel
          portals. Very important is the preparation of the documents for the
          land property.
 The basic assumption of successful realisation of
          the surveying tasks during the tunnel construction, is the existence
          of a reliable control network. The configuration and type of
          network are dependent on the required accuracy of measurements,
          terrain requirements and lay-out methods, which are used. The largest
          amount of surveying tasks is connected to the tunnel construction. The
          surveyor groups make "daily service" for the tunnel
          (lay-out, deformation measurement, measurement of overbreaks, etc.). The divergent accuracy requirements, the necessity
          of measurements realised in a common system of co-ordinates and
          their explicit connection to the tunnel construction, results in using
          of new integrated technology of control measurement. This technology
          use the modern measurement systems (lasers, electronic theodolites and
          totalstations) and conventional surveying methods (polygonal method,
          polar method, free station, etc.). Important part of this conception
          is the automated storage, transfer and processing of data. To this aim
          local computer networks on the site, connected by modems, are build.
          Important part of control measurement is the group of measurement they
          are oriented to the tunnel surface determination. The aim of this
          measurements is the determination of the 3-D model of the tunnel
          surface, which is for volume determination of the overbreaks, of the
          used materials, etc., used. The model can be the base of the tunnel
          information system, after their completion by data from another
          systems (signalisation, cameras, phone, ventilation, etc.) and
          implementation in a appropriate software. The existence of that
          system would be the first step to the efficient daily service and the
          high safety of the future tunnel. 5. ConclusionThe base of the successful realisation of tunnel is
          the high quality of tunnel lay-out and control measurements. The
          quality of geodetic works is given by the quality of the control
          network, the measurement technology used and the professionality of
          the geodetic personnel. 
 Assoc.Prof. Alojz Kopáčik, PhDDepartment of Surveying
 Faculty of Civil Engineering
 Slovak University of Technology, Bratislava
 Radlinského 11
 SK-813 68 Bratislava
 SLOVAKIA
 E-mail: kopacik@svf.stuba.sk
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