Summary
The application of various criteria and certain new approaches to design is illustrated by the example of the Lower Collierville Pressure Tunnel of the North Fork Stanislaus River Hydropower Project in California. With a maximum internal water pressure of 72 bar, Lower Collierville Tunnel will be, when commissioned in 1989, the highest stressed pressure tunnel in the world not situated in granitic rocks.
The geological conditions and the results of the geotechnical investigations are described briefly. For the steel-lined portion of the tunnel, the approach for determining the bearing capacity of the rock mass and the load sharing between steel and rock is discussed. The required length of steel liner was determined on the basis of rock mechanical (hydraulic jacking) and rock hydraulic (seepage losses and extension of saturated zone due to seepage) criteria. The use of a new theory allows the effects of mechanical-hydraulic interaction to be taken into account. Finally the methods of estimating the expected water losses and the sealing effect of the consolidation grouting are described.
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Schleiss, A. Design criteria applied for the Lower Pressure Tunnel of the North Fork Stanislaus River Hydroelectric Project in California. Rock Mech Rock Engng 21, 161–181 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01032578
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01032578