Design and Construction of Tunnels: Analysis of Controlled Deformations in Rock and Soils (ADECO-RS)

This work illustrates how the Analysis of Controlled Deformation in Rocks and Soils (ADECO-RS) is used in the design and the construction of tunnels. The ADECO-RS approach makes a clear distinction between the design and the construction stages and allows reliable forecasts of construction times and costs to be made. It uses the advance core (the core of ground ahead of the face) as a structural tool for the long and short term stabilisation of tunnels, after its rigidity has first been regulated using conservation techniques. Tunnels can consequently be driven in difficult stress-strain conditions to predetermined safety standards with operations industrialised and scheduled precisely. Thanks to this approach design engineers have been able to employ industrial criteria in tunnel excavation, even under extremely difficult stress-strain conditions.