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Overcoming Multiple Caverns: Successful TBM Tunneling in Karst Geology at Galerie des Janots

In April 2019, a 3.5 m diameter open-type, Main Beam TBM and its crew broke through at the Galerie des Janots Tunnel in La Ciotat, France after encountering two large, uncharted caverns.  The 2.8 km long tunnel, excavated in limestone known to have groundwater, karstic features, and voids, took two years to complete due to the challenges encountered.    Limestone and powdery clays made for slow going early on in tunneling, until a cavern measuring 8,000 cubic meters in size was encountered on the TBMs left side at the 1,035 m mark. The crew had to erect a 4 m high wall of concrete so the TBM would have something to grip against—a process that took about two weeks. The first cavern, while the largest, was not the most difficult void encountered. At the 2,157 m mark, crews encountered a 4,500 cubic meter cavity extending directly below the bore path. This cavern required stabilization, filling, six bypass galleries, and four months of work to get through.

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