Excavation of large rock cavern adjacent to an existing underground powerstation and its rapid construction using newly designed

hybrid arch concrete

Masahiro Iwano
Taisei Corporation, Okutadami Powerstation Expansion Site Office, Japan

Minoru Ishii
Taisei Corporation, Okutadami Powerstation Expansion Site Office, Japan

Osayuki Hashimoto
Electric Power Development Co., Ltd., Okutadami - Otori Hydro Project Construction Office, Japan ABSTRACT : For the Okutadami project in Japan, a 46m extension of an underground powerstation was started in July 1999 for the expansion of maximum power output of 200,000 kW. The rock cavern is 20m in width and 41m in height, and the maximum cross section is about 800m2. In the sequence of excavations, the controlled blasting technique was extensively used to avoid damage to the adjacent existing underground powerstation. In this study, the details of the controlled blasting technique are reported and the results of monitoring are closely examined. Then, for rapid construction under the demanding environmental conditions, a newly designed hybrid arch concrete using steel ribs and bars was proposed. Its role was closely examined in design and its performance was verified by the field measurements. It was also verified that hybrid arch concrete was very efficient for rapid construction. Excavation of the rock cavern was completed in September 2000 and no damage was done to the adjacent existing underground powerstation.

1 INTRODUCTION The Okutadami project site is situated in EchigoSanzan -Tadami Quasi-n a t i o n a l P a r k i n a mountainous area in Niigata and Fukushima prefectures, Japan. Existing main civil structures are as follows : Okutadami dam (straight gravity concrete dam, 157m height, 480m crest length and 1,63 6 , 3 0 0 m3 volume), Okutadami reservoir (Tadami river of Agano river system, 595.1 km 2 catchment area 601,000,000 m3 gross storage capacity, 458,000,000 m3 effective storage capacity a n d 1 , 5 0 0 m3/s design flood discharge) and powerhouse (Units No.1, 2 & 3, 249 m3/s maximum power discharge, 170m effective head and 360,000 kW maximum output). Technical features of Okutadami unit No.4 construction works are as follows ; 1) The construction period is about 4 years (19992002). Parts of construction activities are restricted to only 4 months a year (July-October) avoiding the breeding season of the golden eagle which is registered as one of the endangered species. Therefore the actual construction period is short.

2) The construction works are to be done without stopping operation of the existing Units No.1,2 & 3. 3) The construction works of waterway structures except intake and outlet are done underground. 4) Intake works are done in dry condition inside semicircle-shaped cell of double steel sheet pile and in between thin concrete. 5) Concrete excavation of Okutadami dam is done for installation of steel penstock. 6) Underground cavern for Unit No.4 is excavated just next to the existing underground powerhouse. 7) Existing equipment such as intake gantry crane, access tunnel , overhead travelling crane and cable tunnel is also used for Unit No.4 operation. 8) In the construction activities, various measures for environmental protection are implemented. The main component is the extension of the powerhouse cavern 46m long, 20m wide and 41m high, which has a mushroom-shaped profile and an excavation volume of approximately 30,000 m3 . Figure 1 shows the outline of Okutadami hydro project.

The exis ting underground powerhouse is extended to provide a cavern for Unit No.4. Unit No.4 i s installed in an underground cavern excavated just

Figure 1 Outline of Okutadami Hydro Project

next to the existing underground powerhouse. This arrangement of the extension of an underground powerhouse is rare and is the first case in Japan. First of all in this paper, the concept of rapid construction of an arch section using the newly designed hybrid arch concrete is described. Next, the details of the controlled blasting for the bulk excavation of main cavern are indicated. Finally, the behaviour of the rock cavern and supports during excavation is summarised. 2 GEOLOGY AND SUPPORT DESIGN The host rocks surrounding the powerhouse are gabbros and the overburden is about 180m in depth. During the investigation phase, primary stress measurements were performed in boreholes. These stress measurements indicated a maximum principal stress of 5 MPa with ratios of other two principal stresses of 0.94 and 0.77 respectively. The original design of the supports is as follows : 1) 1.0m thick arch concrete 2) densely spaced fully grouted rock bolts with a length of 3m (in the roof) and 5m (in the walls) 3) a pattern of prestressed anchors in the wall for the reinforcement of abutment portion of an arch concrete 4) fibre reinforced shotcrete in the roof and the walls. Figure 2 shows the typical rock support in the powerhouse cavern a n d the configuration of excavation of the cavern. 3 RAPID CONSTRUCTION OF ARCH SECTION The excavation was performed by dividing the powerhouse into the arch section and the main body. The stages of excavation are shown in Figure 2. The

basic policy for the excavation was to 1) form smooth finished surfaces and 2) perform an early support. Excavation was performed mainly by drill and blast method. For the rapid construction of arch section, the design of arch concrete was changed from the ordinary 1.0m thick RC (Reinforced Concrete) structure to the newly designed 0.6m thin SRC (Steel Reinforced Concrete) structure, which was a hybrid concrete structure reinforced by steel rib and bars. By this change, the double bar reinforcement was not needed in all sections of arch concrete except in the abutment portion. Due to both the simplification of placing reinforcement bars and the elimination of concrete formwork, the actual construction time has been shortened to about one month which was about half of the originally scheduled time. Figure 3 indicates the outline of the hybrid SRC arch concrete. The sequence of operations in the arch section including the lining of arch concrete is as follows; a) Pilot excavation (7m width, 7.5m height) followed by shotcrete and rock bolting b) Enlargement excavation (up to 25.6m width)

followed by shotcrete and rock bolting c) First benching excavation (1.8 m height) d) Arch abutment base concreting (0.8m RC) e) PS anchoring for the reinforcement of rock abutment f) Erection of 61 sets of steel rib support (H-250) at the space of 75cm by using special erector g) W e l d i n g z i n c g a l v a n i s e d s t e e l p l a t e s (t=1.2mm) between steel rib supports h) Placing of reinforcing bars and shoring i) Placement of 1.5m high concrete at both foot sides j) Placement of arch concrete divided into 7 blocks k) Grouting between arch concrete and rock Figure 2 Rock support and configuration of excavation of powerhouse cavern Figure 4 shows the condition of the arch section at the completion of excavation. a) Structure of arch section

Figure 4 View of arch section at the completion 4 CAVERN BULK EXCAVATION USING ADVANCED CONTROLLED BLASTING The bulk excavation of the cavern was performed by the bench cut method with 3m deep benches. Before starting operations, the details of blasting technique were examined to minimise the influence of blasting vib ration to the existing power units, which are located at a distance between 7m to 42m from the blasting area. The Nonel blasting system, which is a non-electric detonator system based on a signal line, has been adopted because of its safety, reliability and controllable function. Using the monitoring results of first bench blasting (No.5 bench shown in Figure 2), the vibration data were analysed to obtain the relation among the vibration velocity, distance and explosive weight per blasthole. Figure 5 shows the results of correlation analysis and the correlation formula is shown below. The vibration velocity was required to be less than the criteria of 2 kine (cm/sec) at the centre of Unit No.3. v=102.376*w 0.75/r 1.538 v (kine or cm/sec) : Vibration velocity r (m) : Distance w (kg) : Explosive weight per blasthole Figure 6 shows the plan view of the blasting area, and vibration monitoring points in the existing powerhouse. The blasting area was generally divided into 4 blocks, with the area adjacent to the existing powerhouse divided into 8 blocks. Therefore, each blasting area in bench was divided into 11 blocks . The slurry explosive was used for primer cartridge and Ammonium Nitrate and Fuel Oil (ANFO) was extensively used for main explosive. All blasts were performed after the daily operation of Unit No.1,2 and 3. The total number of blasts for the main body excavation was 50 and the observed maximum vibration velocity was 1.99 kine.

b) Plane view of arch concrete

c) Detail of SRC arch concrete

Figure 3 SRC structure of arch concrete

Figure 5 Results of correlation analysis The maximum explosive weight per blasthole was designed to be below 0.2 kg/delay in the block adjacent to the existing powerhouse. Figure 7 shows the view of powerhouse cavern at the completion of excavation.

Fig u r e 7 V i e w o f t h e p o w e r h o u s e c a v e r n a t t h e completion of excavation

maximum displacement in the cavern walls on the order of 20mm. Typical behaviour of rock cavern and supports is summarised as follows : 1) During excavation of the arch section, settlement occurred at the arch crown up to a maximum of 5mm. Then arch crown heaved by the arch concrete placement up to a maximum of 20mm. Following concrete placement, the induced axial force in arch concrete was compression with the maximum of 980kN. The induced bending moment was not significant. There was no sign of distress observed. 2) During the main body excavation, the cavern contracted inside and the arch crown heaved due to the convergence of cavern sidewalls. Therefore the induced axial force in arch concrete slightly reduced and some bending moment was induced especially in the abutment portion of arch concrete. But the induced stresses in concrete, steel ribs and bars were not significant and were still at allowable levels below set criteria. 3) Following the excavation of eight respective benches, wall displacement gradually increased and the accumulated convergence up to the eighth stage at the centre section of cavern exceeded the second criteria (23mm). The rockmass in that area was

Figure 6 Plan view of blasting area and vibration monitoring points in the existing powerhouse

5 BEHAVIOR OF ROCK CAVERN AND SUPPORTS DURING EXCAVATION The behaviour of rock masses surrounding powerhouse cavern and supports during excavation was monitored in real time by embedded instruments in addition to direct observation, i.e. multi-stage borehole extensometer, load cell on PS anchor, axial force in rock bolt and stress of reinforcing bars in arch concrete. These monitored data were carefully checked to find out any unanticipated behaviour as soon as possible and to verify the adequacy of the support through the comparison between the data and the management criteria as well as the prediction analysis results. Monitored values generally corresponded to the predicted values, which were obtained by the 2-D FEM elasto-plastic analysis and 3D FEM elastic analysis, with the

thought to be somewhat fractured. For the reinforcement of rock support, five additional prestressed rock anchors were installed on the cable tunnel side wall as shown in Figure 1. After this installation, the rate of displacement was carefully observed and it was confirmed to be stable. 4) The behaviour of the newly designed arch concrete using the hybrid composite structure with steel ribs and bars was carefully observed during excavation. It was shown that the hybrid arch concrete played its part as a main support of arch section to ensure the large rock cavern during excavation and that its application in the field of underground rock engineering was proven. 6 CONCLUSION For rapid construction under the demanding environmental conditions, the newly designed hybrid arch concrete using steel ribs and bars was proposed. Its role was closely examined in design and its performance was verified by the field measurements. It was also verified that the hybrid arch concrete was very efficient for the rapid construction of arch concrete. In the series of main cavern excavation, the advanced controlled blasting technique was adopted to minimise the influence of blasting vibration which might cause some damage or disruption to the electro-mechanical equipment in the existing underground powerstation. Excavation of the rock cavern was smoothly carried out without any interruption and was completed in September 2000. No damage to the adjacent existing underground powerstation was caused. The construction sequence and method for main cavern excavation is very valuable as a case study of construction adjacent to the existing underground structures. Due to the extension of the existing underground powerhouse the existing overhead travelling crane, access tunnel and hauling shaft can be used for the installation of Unit No.4. Effective use of existing facilities will reduce the volume of construction activities, environmental impact and construction cost. In the near future, similar types of redevelopment projects are expected. It is hoped that this paper may help to provide a rational framework for such future projects and that it will give some aid to the engineers in this field. 7 REFERENCES - Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. (1999) : Outline of Okutadami and Otori Powerstation Expansion Project