Underground space may be unseen mostly but is part of the fabric of life.
Dreaming up, designing, excavating, engineering, crafting and adding finishes touches are all important, whether for performance reasons in those tunnels and voids that go largely unseen, such as sewer drains or power cable tunnels; or, the expansive aesthetics sought for spaces that are to be well travelled by tens of thousands daily, such as for transport, or occupied by hundreds or thousands in cold region survival retreats or to gain respite in hot zones.
All need highly effective structural performance and endurance. Resilience.
Without breaking the bank – financially or, as also factored in the current era, in terms of sustainability to reduce the carbon footprint, at all stages of design and construction.
Features in this issue look at a number of these many factors, such as: the development of an early section Hamburg metro’s U5 Line factoring in sustainability across the board; and, excavating power cable conduit tunnels as key linkages in expanding electricity transmission grids in different countries.
Support of tunnel excavations is also looked at over a few feature articles, including rock tunnel support design with hybrid approaches from lessons with layered rock masses; and, both sprayed and segmental concrete tunnel linings, respectively – the former including a new testing system for panels, the latter being the focus of an upcoming workshop in Salzburg.
As ever, the supporting systems to the development of underground space are the obvious – the physical. But what also supports is the knowledge and sharing within the engineering community to get there, telling of experiences and advances and insights. These are powerful steps and have always been so.
Lectures and conferences are coming up, those via BTS, and others across the UK, Europe and internationally. And, there will be refreshments. Win-win.
