In my recollection with tunnels, there have been three periods. The first was hand-excavated tunnels, begun essentially in the Roman period, with excavation by picks and shovels, with mucking by men and rolling vehicles, powered by the ‘Armstrong’ method. This continued for many centuries, with excavation mainly by slaves and lowly paid workers, augmented by pony and horses for hauling of heavier muck wagons. Some of these tunnels still exist and I have seen a few in southern Europe during my travels. It took only a little imagination to recover the scenes of deprivation and grinding work required to complete such structures. Their value has been immense for mining, utility and transportation projects over the centuries, and remains so today. The second period of tunnelling involved excavation by drill and blast, where dynamite and specialized drilling was used to excavate any underground shape that was required, from circular or horseshoe-shaped tunnels to cavities for underground powerhouses or rooms and caverns of almost any shape. TBMs might be considered the third period of tunnelling, although methods that involve all the various types of historical tunnelling will probably always be required.
My career was essentially involved in the latter part of the drill and blast period, although my first job as an engineer began on the South Saskatchewan River Project, where a large TBM was used for tunnelling of the soft, heavily over-consolidated Bearpaw Shale. This project and the following Peace River Hydro project jump-started my interest in tunnels, which has never faltered. It took me to numerous countries in almost all the continents of the world, where projects in power, utility, transportation and mining continued without hesitation during my time. In between, I had the opportunity to meet and study with many key people of the day, such as professors Ralph Peck and Don Deere, and in Canada, Don Coates, who provided guidance in the related fields of geology, soil and rock mechanics, and civil engineering. Failure to at least appreciate the wonders of this great banquet was not an option. So, I joined the table, ate heartily and enjoyed every course of the meal. All who came by were invited to sit with us.
Another remembrance is the building of TAC in the early days, immediately following Don MacDonald and professor Branko Ladanyi, who led the association with the ITA. We simply followed on with their ideas, setting chapters for TAC in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Edmonton, as we formed the Canadian entry in the international field of tunnelling, around 1980. In addition, the TAC Journal was initiated, published by Bi-Tech Publishers, under the editorship of John Gadsby and Lynn Pugh of Vancouver. The 1989 ITA Congress in Toronto was also a great success, due mainly to Jim Ramsey and Boro Lukajic. And, if you ever visit the home of Einar Broch in Trondheim, Norway, remember to inspect the granite polar bear on his mantle, a gift from TAC to the President of ITA. Maintaining and building this international connection is an important part of Canadian engineering history.
I take great pride in the Tunneller of the Year award for 2016. I have asked my old friend, Boro Lukajic, to accept it on my behalf, remembering that I will be there in spirit. I will also follow closely the development of the TAC as well as various projects across Canada. And, of course, the people who continue to build the organization. Best regards to all in the audience.
Receiving this prestigious TAC award for the Port Mann Water Supply Tunnel is an honour for Metro Vancouver as it recognizes all of the hard work by the team and the innovative features developed during the design and construction phases of the project. The successful completion of this challenging project ensures the continued resiliency of Metro Vancouver’s drinking water transmission system for future generations.
The Hatch construction management team has been privileged to be part of the successful Port Mann Main Water Supply Tunnel project, and was honored by TAC’s award of 2016 Canadian Innovation Project of the Year. All of the project partners have contributed to a collaborative and innovative effort. Many technical challenges were faced and overcome, and the team can be proud of a job well done.
McMillen Jacobs Associates are honoured to receive this award, and would like to extend our congratulations to our fellow team members. We are thankful for the opportunity to work with a first rate team of professionals from design, through to construction. Working together made this technically challenging project successful.”
The team at Golder is very grateful to receive this award. This project encountered, and overcame, a number of geotechnical challenges, while the site was located in an environmentally sensitive area. This award culminates over 10 years of work on the project by a dedicated team at Golder, but also recognizes the close working relationship amongst the design team and the broader project team. We are grateful for the opportunity to have worked on the project.
Ausenco is honoured to receive this award recognizing the creative design elements incorporated by our team of structural designers, geotechnical specialists (Golder Associates), and tunnelling specialists (McMillen Jacobs and Associates); and the acknowledgement of the strong collaboration between the Engineer, Contractor, Construction Manager and Owner to deliver a successful project.”
At McNally International we are proud to be considered leaders in the tunnelling industry. As such, we embrace opportunities to pioneer innovative techniques and approaches required to complete extraordinary projects. Our success depends on the experience and dedication of our people, and on behalf of our entire team we thank the Tunnelling Association of Canada for this recognition. It is an honour to receive the Innovation Project of the year award.
Aecon is honoured and delighted to accept the 2016 Canadian Innovation Project of the Year Award from the Tunnelling Association of Canada (TAC) in recognition of our work completed on the Port Mann Water Supply Tunnel Project. An intensive engineering feat, the Port Mann project called upon our proven tunnelling expertise and ability to provide strategic, innovative solutions in the field. Thanks to our team’s real-time ingenuity when up against onsite TBM challenges, the project was able to continue moving forward, in keeping with our client’s needs. Congratulations Team, and thank you TAC for recognizing Aecon’s contributions to the overall success of the project.
We will like to thank the TAC for this important recognition. The expertise of our people and performance on each of our projects are part of EBC’s core values. This award is an opportunity to highlight the excellence of our team which are the key elements to our success.
Pomerleau was delighted to learn it won the 2016 Canadian Infrastructure Project of the year award from the Tunnelling Association of Canada.
To be recognized by your association for our continuous efforts in tunnelling is a huge honour and we are very proud. This will give Pomerleau tremendous motivation to keep on going with tunnelling works across our country.
“The challenges in designing this type of work are related not only to its complexity, but to its intended sustainability and efficiency,” said André Beaudet, Ae com’s project manager for Romaine-3. “With more than 100 years of hydroelectricity experience, we are proud to contribute towards many of Hydro-Quebec’s projects that increase the production of clean, sustainable energy by harnessing our local resources.”
Tunneller of the Year
Ray Benson
Nomination
His experience covers projects worldwide in transportation, energy and mining involving applied soil and rock mechanics. A particular interest involves tunnelling in a wide variety of soft ground and rock; highway and rapid transit systems, pressure tunnels and highpressure penstocks, underground powerhouses, major shafts in soil and rock. It includes the design and construction of water-retaining dams and dykes of all types. He’s been a specialist consultant or member of boards of review for owners, authorities, engineering companies and international lending institutions.
Ray has been awarded the following for his contribution to tunnelling and hydro power engineering: Fellow, Canadian Society for Senior Engineers, 2005; Legget Medal CGS, 2002; Fellow, Canadian Academy of Engineering, 1993; Fellow, Engineering Institute of Canada, 1991; APEBC Meritorious Award, 1987; Engineering Institute of Canada, Past President, Current Chairman, Honours and Awards; Canadian Geotechnical Society former Chairman and or Director, B.C. and Ontario; Tunnelling Association of Canada – Past President.
Infrastructure Project of the Year
Port Mann Water Supply Tunnel
Project
The project, located 30km southeast of downtown Vancouver includes two deep shafts and a 1km-long, 3.5m-outside-diameter tunnel under the Fraser River. The shafts and tunnel will house a new water main, which replaces the current smaller, seismic and scour vulnerable, buried pipeline that crosses the Fraser River. The pipeline is a critical link in Metro Vancouver’s regional water supply network, which conveys water from the Coquitlam source to communities south of the Fraser River. This project represents the first of several bored tunnel water crossings planned for the Vancouver region. Tunnelling was complete as of June 2015, and final tunnel steel pipe installation and cellular concrete backfill was complete as of November 2015. The tunnel was constructed with an EPBM. With observed tunnelling pressures of up to 6 bar, the crews surmounted the highest pressures to date in Canadian soft ground tunnelling. The project had many challenging hurdles from design through construction but, along the way, has demonstrated Canadian expertise and paved the way for future high pressure soft ground tunnelling in Canada.
From the design stage through to tunnel construction, this project was recognised as being on the cutting edge of modern tunnelling. A strong project
team, including the owner, engineers, construction manager and contractor, worked collaboratively, sharing risks and solving issues as a team.
The design team, consisting of Ausenco, McMillen Jacobs Associates and Golder Associates, overcame many challenges in preparing the project bid package. Particularly innovative design elements include: deep unreinforced slurry wall shafts and complex tunnelshaft connections to withstand large earthquake ground displacements and strains due to soil liquefaction.
One of the major successes of the project was the collaboration in the project team to develop innovative solutions as construction progressed. Battling the high hydrostatic pressure during tunnelling was a team effort.
Examples of innovations during construction that were a direct product of team collaboration include: excavating the North Shaft in the dry, undertaking a unique in-river rescue operation rather than using hyperbaric methods, and using low strength slurry walls in the form of a large block for ground reinforcement at tunnel break-in and break-out.
Some innovative contributions lead by the contractor, McNally Aecon JV, include: a custom-built TBM with a sacrificial skin to simplify the breakthrough, custom modification to the TBM cutterhead tooling to mitigate the required number of interventions, and, an in-tunnel airlock design that would facilitate saturation dive crews for hyperbaric interventions.
McNally Aecon JV, with subcontractors Fraser River Pile and Dredge and Moretrench, also carried out a one of a kind emergency intervention to repair the TBM when it failed to advance under the river. A drilling platform was constructed in the Fraser River and a targeted liquid nitrogen ground freeze operation was undertaken. The soil and groundwater were stabilized to allow for tunnel workers to repair the TBM after damage through bouldery ground.
Innovative project of the Year La Romaine 3, Headrace Tunnel Excavation and Related Works Project The Neilson-EBC S.E.N.C. (50 per cent/50 per cent) partnership was awarded by Hydro- Québec the contract for the excavation of the headrace tunnel and surge chamber for La Romaine 3, Havre St-Pierre, Quebec. The work included blasting and excavation of the headrace tunnel (1,662m long x 16m wide and 12m high), the access tunnel (12.5m x 10m) and drainage tunnel (3m x 3m).
Also included were the excavation of two underground penstocks (7m Ø) and a 110m-long surge chamber, 28.5m diameter over 45m, and its connecting gallery, the concreting of the penstock slabs, as well as the supply and operation of a tunnel heating and ventilation system for arctic weather conditions. The complexity of this project lies in the planning of excavations simultaneously at several different locations in the tunnel. The work must be coordinated across multiple work fronts without compromising productivity and safety. At completion, the total length of all the tunnels was approximately 2.4km.
The project staff having years of experience in similar tunnel works including the survey crew team, did a detailed planning for each operation sequence. The operation crews, drillers, miners, blasters, worked in tight collaboration and received amazing support from the mechanical department. Each team member was always available to help one another in completing specific operations. Communication between engineers, foremen, and superintendents was maintained on a daily basis.
The experience and expertise of our crews helped to overcome the technical challenges of this project through careful choice of the industry standard means and methods:
¦ Installation at the crown of bolts and wire-mesh right up to the tunnel face, before the start of drilling for the subsequent round;
¦ Full-face drilling and excavation of the 12m high tunnel section;
¦ Use of a Caterpillar 365 excavator to scale the walls with a custom-made tool added to the bucket of the excavator to reach the crown;
¦ Use of digitally programmed Tamrock T12 mining Jumbo;
¦ Modified Atlas-Copco Boomer 353 drill rig used to drill mesh pins and consolidation bolts in the crown;
¦ Use a computerized Titan platform for bolts and mesh installation in the crown;
¦ Use of platforms and boom lifts to load explosives;
¦ Use of Anfo loaders to load bulk explosives;
¦ Installation of a rigid vent pipe for fresh air supply and exhaust fumes after blasting.
The performance of our work crews and our choice of means and methods allowed us to complete this project in 14 months, one month earlier than expected.
2016 Dan Eisenstein Memorial Scholarship
Sarah Cain
Sarah is undertaking graduate research in the Master’s of Applied Science program at Queen’s University under the supervision of Mark Diederichs, after completing an undergraduate B.Sc.E. degree in Geological Engineering at Queen’s University with a focus on geotechnical engineering and rock mechanics.
Sarah’s graduate research focuses on excavation-induced damage in low- and medium-level nuclear waste repositories. Her research encompasses the effects of macro-geometry choices (shape and dimensions) and details (geometry, aspect ratio, excavation sequence and staging) on excavation damage zone and highly-damaged zone development, and includes extensive continuum, 3D and non-linear modelling. The research explores the impact of structural complexities using discontinuum methods, as well as investigating the short-term impacts of excavation methodology and long-term effects of pore pressure increase and thermally-induced stresses.
Sarah’s professional and research interests in tunnelling are driven by an interest in understanding the intriguing design challenges unique to the field of geotechnical and geomechanical engineering. Sarah has benefitted from the tremendous opportunity to study under Diederichs and to learn from other world leaders in the tunnelling industry. Following graduate school, Sarah looks forward to commencing a professional career in the consulting field in autumn 2017.
Photo of the year
John Hart Generating Station Replacement Project
After around 500 blasts and removal of 60,000 cubic metres of rock, the underground powerhouse for the John Hart Generating Station Replacement Project was completed in August. The P3 project owned by BC Hydro. InPower BC (a special purpose company owned by SNC-Lavalin Group) was awarded the contract in 2014. Major contractors include SNC-Lavalin Pacific Contractors as the design-build contractor, ASL-JV (a joint venture between Aecon and SNC-Lavalin) as the civil subcontractor, and Frontier Kemper, in a joint-venture partnership with ASL-JV, is the tunnelling contractor.
Tony Dell is the lead geotechnical engineer for SNC-Lavalin. Scott Marshall is the ASL-JV project manager. Matt Kendall is the FKASL-JV project manager. The photo is by Rick Radell using a Nikon D810 with a 14-24 Nikkor lens.
“The John Hart Power Station assignment was one of the most awe-inspiring projects Aecon has ever commissioned me to photograph. The entire process of maneuvering through a series of deep underground tunnels to gain access to the massive cavern – what I called the ‘Great Room’ – left me speechless. It was challenging to truly capture the mammoth scope of the underground space and visually reveal the challenges of working safely underground, but I think I achieved it in this particular photo.” – photographer Rick Radell
Owner – Hydro-Quebec
Contractor – Neilson (now Pomerleau) – EBC S.E.N.C
Engineer – Aecom
Owner – Metro Vancouver
Engineer – FRTG (Fraser River Tunnel Group) Consisting of Ausenco, McMillen Jacobs Associates and Golder
Construction Management – Hatch
McNally Aecon Joint Venture – A Joint Venture between McNally Construction inc and Aecon Constructors
