Finne Tunnel: Innovative targeted Resealing of Segment Bore Joints – Part 2

Injection facility arranged directly in the joint after the failure of drilling parallel to the joint

Steel element with fitted sealing strip made for the workshop test

Segment sealing strips without compression

Segment sealing strips compressed to the scheduled groove basic gap

Drilling through the segment sealing strips with a 5 mm metal drill

Drill-hole created at the centre of the joint

Small injection pipe guided into the drill-hole

Sealing strip 1 with visible exit hole (circled red). The drill channel in the contact surface at the centre of the strip. The strip shown corresponds to the strip on the right in Fig. 14.

Sealing strip 2. The point of entry for the drill-hole above in the strip is not visible.

Working step 1: Drilling the segment joint

Working step 2: Drilling the sealing strips

Working step 3: Placing the injection pipe

Working step 4: Placing the packer and injecting

Working step 5: Closing the drill-hole with wood screw

Leaking joints in the tunnel lining are being resealed in an innovative manner at the Finne Tunnel in Thuringia/D. Possible resealing methods were fundamentally described and evaluated in Part 1 [4]. The resealing methods successfully applied in the Finne Tunnel are examined here in Part 2.

7 Leaks in the Segment Bores of the Finne Tunnel

The Finne Tunnel was built as part of the VDE project 8.2 “New Erfurt-Halle/Leipzig rail route” by the JV Finnetunnel, consisting of the companies Wayss & Freytag Ingenieurbau AG, Max Bögl Bauunternehmung GmbH & Co. KG and Porr Tunnelbau GmbH on behalf of the DB ProjektBau GmbH, Projektzentrum Leipzig. Its 2 parallel running tunnel bores were driven by a shield and segment lining and subsequently linked to each other by a total of 16 connecting and technical passages.

The Finne Tunnel’s segment bores were tested for tightness jointly by the JV...

Prof. Dieter Kirschke, Beratender Ingenieur für Felsmechanik und Tunnelbau. Ettlingen/D; Dipl.-Ing. Hendrik Schälicke, Ingenieurbüro Prof. Dieter Kirschke, Ettlingen/D: Dipl.-Ing. Dirk Fraas for the Arge Finnetunnel, Max Bögl Bauunternehmung GmbH & Co. KG, Munich/D