Abstract
Estimates of a tunnel construction cost are among the most critical tasks during the planning stage of both road and railway projects to justify the project and allow a valid comparison between alternative solutions and perform reliable “what if” scenarios relative to the tunnel diameter and length. Numerous factors influence the tunnel construction cost, and very little information on these factors is available at the early stage of project planning. Developing an accurate cost estimate is therefore very difficult at this stage, and thus, a very limited number of cost models are available for this purpose. This paper develops early parametric cost estimating models for road and railway tunnels in the planning stage of a project based upon the application of multiple regression analysis on 25 constructed projects located in Western European countries. The developed models incorporate not only tunnel length and diameter but also the type of tunneling methods (mechanized and conventional), which are largely affected by geological conditions. The results showed high correlation coefficients (R2) of 0.968 and 0.79 for mechanized and conventional tunneling models respectively. In addition, the results of the developed models were compared against actual costs to assess their accuracy and robustness. The developed models achieved cost estimation accuracy over 75%, indicating that the models fit for their purpose and lead to fairly accurate cost estimates of road and railway tunnels.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahmed C, Nur K, Ochieng W (2020) GIS and genetic algorithm based integrated optimization for rail transit system planning. J Rail Transpt Plan Manag 16:100222
Bledsoe JD 1970. The development of a tunnel system model. Proceedings of South African Tunnelling Conference, Johannesburg, Republie of South Africa. 1970.
Bruland A (1999). Hard rock tunnel boring advance rate and cutter wear. Ph.D Thesis, Norwegian Institute of Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.
BTS. 2010. Infrastructure UK cost study tunnels. United Kingdom.
CDWR. 1959. Investigation of alternative aqueduct systems to serve southern California. Bulletin No. 78, Appendix C.
Chung TH, Mohamed Y, AbouRizk S (2006) Bayesian updating application into simulation in the North Edmonton Sanitary Trunk tunnel project. J Constr Eng Manag 132:882–894
Einstein H (2001) The Decision Acids for Tunnelling (DAT)-a brief review. Mag Korean Tunnel Undergr Space Assoc 3:37–49
Einstein, H. & Vick, S. (1974). Geological model for a tunnel cost model. Proc Rapid Excav Tunnel Conf. 1974.
Einstein HH, Halabe VB, Dudt J-P, Descoeudres F (1996) Geologic uncertainties in tunneling. Proceedings of Uncertainty in the Geologic Environment: From Theory to Practice, New York
Haas C, Einstein HH (2002) Updating the decision aids for tunneling. J Constr Eng Manag 128:40–48
Harza. (1968). High speed ground transportation tunnel design and cost data. Prepared for U.S. Dept. of Transportation.
Harza. (1970). A computer program for estimating costs of hard rock tunnelling. Prepared for U.S. Dept. of Transportation.
Hung J, Monsees J, Munfah N & Wisniewski J 2009. Technical manual for design and construction of road tunnels —civil elements. U.S. Department of Transportation -Federal Highway Administration Available: https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/bridge/tunnel/pubs/nhi09010/tunnel_manual.pdf [Accessed 19 January 2021].
Isaksson T, Stille H (2005) Model for estimation of time and cost for tunnel projects based on risk evaluation. Rock Mech Rock Eng 38:373–398
Kim E. (2001). Modeling intersections and other structures in highway alignment optimization. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.
Kim E, Jha MK, Son B (2005) Improving the computational efficiency of highway alignment optimization models through a stepwise genetic algorithms approach. Transp Res B Methodol 39:339–360
Lai X. (2012). Optimization of station locations and track alignments for rail transit lines. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.
Lai X, Schonfeld P (2016) Concurrent optimization of rail transit alignments and station locations. Urban Rail Transit 12:1–15
Lamb TJ 1971. A computer model for tunneling costs. Msc. Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts.
Maruvanchery V, Zhe S, Robert TLK (2020) Early construction cost and time risk assessment and evaluation of large-scale underground cavern construction projects in Singapore. Undergr Space 5:53–70
Min S 2003. The application of" Decision Aids for Tunneling (DAT)" to the Sucheon tunnel in Korea. Msc. Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts.
Min S, Einstein H, Lee J, Lee H (2005) Application of the Decision Aids for Tunneling (DAT) to update excavation cost/time information. KSCE J Civ Eng 9:335–346
Min S, Kim T, Lee J, Einstein H (2008) Design and construction of a road tunnel in Korea including application of the decision aids for tunneling–a case study. Tunn Undergr Space Technol 23:91–102
Naghadehi MZ, Benardos A, Javdan R, Tavakoli H, Rojhani M (2016) The probabilistic time and cost risk analysis of a challenging part of an urban tunneling project. Tunn Undergr Space Technol 58:11–29
Petroutsatou C, Lambropoulos S, Pantouvakis J-P (2006) Road tunnel early cost estimates using multiple regression analysis. Oper Res 6:311–322
Petroutsatou K, Georgopoulos E, Lambropoulos S, Pantouvakis J (2012) Early cost estimating of road tunnel construction using neural networks. J Constr Eng Manag 138:679–687
Petroutsatou K, Lambropoulos S (2010) Road tunnels construction cost estimation: a structural equation model development and comparison. Oper Res 10:163–173
Rostami J, Sepehrmanesh M, Gharahbagh EA, Mojtabai N (2013) Planning level tunnel cost estimation based on statistical analysis of historical data. Tunn Undergr Space Technol 33:22–33
Ruwanpura JY, Ariaratnam ST (2007) Simulation modeling techniques for underground infrastructure construction processes. Tunn Undergr Space Technol 22:553–567
Salazar Ledezma GF (1983). Stochastic and economic evaluation of adaptability in tunneling design and construction. Ph.D. Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Massachusetts.
Sayadi AR, Hamidi JK, Monjezi M, Najafzadeh M (2015) A preliminary cost estimation for short tunnels construction using parametric method. Eng Geol SociTerritory 1:461–465
Sousa RL, Einstein HH (2012) Risk analysis during tunnel construction using Bayesian Networks: Porto Metro case study. Tunn Undergr Space Technol 27:86–100
Špačková O, Šejnoha J, Straub D (2013) Probabilistic assessment of tunnel construction performance based on data. Tunn Undergr Space Technol 37:62–78
Špačková O, Straub D (2013) Dynamic Bayesian network for probabilistic modeling of tunnel excavation processes. Compr-Aided Civi Infrastruct Eng 28:1–21
Vargas JP, Koppe JC, Pérez S (2014) Monte Carlo simulation as a tool for tunneling planning. Tunn Undergr Space Technol 40:203–209
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Zeynal Abiddin Erguler
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ahmed, C. Early cost estimation models based on multiple regression analysis for road and railway tunnel projects. Arab J Geosci 14, 972 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-021-07359-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-021-07359-x