Worldwide Sprayed Concrete: State-of-the-Art Report

Dr. Gustav Bracher, Sika Schweiz AG, STM (*)

1. Abstract
This paper is regarded as an introduction to the second day of the International symposium on Waterproofing for
Underground Structures 2005 in Sao Paulo (Brazil), as an overview of worldwide shotcrete technology, like
warming up before going to gymnastics. It covers the whole development from the history to the presence. Most
of the annual consumption of approximately 10 mio m3 applied shotcrete is for underground support work, for
rock- and soil consolidation. Therefore the main emphasis of this article will be focussed on shotcrete technology
for tunnelling. Here one of the most important parameters is the strength development, mainly the Early Strength
behaviour, using suitable accelerators. A detailed discussion of Early Strength measurements is included. An
ITA (International Tunnelling Association) working group (WG 12) has been active since 1989 with annual
meetings during the ITA congress with the main task to describe the worldwide practice and define future trends
of shotcrete technology.

Key words: shotcrete, sprayed concrete, dry process, wet process, thin stream, dense stream, superplasticiser,
stabiliser, accelerator, durability, single shell tunnelling method, sulphate resistance, Early Strength
measurement, steel fibres, structural polymer fibres, shotcrete on hard rock TBM’s,

2. Introduction
Shotcrete has become an important component of modern tunneling technology, underground mining, slope- and
rock consolidation, repair of concrete structures and artificial rock structures.

Figure 1: Ecological Parc, Vietnam: dry process shotcrete with alkali-free powder accelerator

The annual consumption of worldwide applied shotcrete can only be estimated, but is definitely in the range of
10 millions m3
The rapid technological development that we have seen during the last 20 years is quite impressive: Dry process
has been replaced by he wet process, and actually the dominant conveyance is by dense stream, using suitable
shotcrete pumps. The wet process by thin stream as well is rapidly disappearing due to high wear costs with the
introduction of steel fibers in shotcrete. Modern shotcrete is applied with robotic arms, either assembled on the
spraying rig, or as separate self driving manipulators. This together with the introduction of steel fiber reinforced
shotcrete for tunnel support has the advantage, that no personnel has to be anymore under unsupported ground or
rock, and a >30% reduction in time of rock support installation could be achieved.

(*): Dr. Gustav Bracher, Sika Schweiz AG, Phone: +41/56 649 32 57, Mobile: +41/79 357 29 89
E-Mail: bracher.gustav@ch.sika.com

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Figure 2: From History to actual tunnel sites: Metro Sao Paulo Line2 (Brazil) and Gotthard Base tunnel
(Switzerland)

Switzerland always has been the pioneer country regarding the development of sprayed concrete, with only one
exception, that the first applications and patents are coming from the States. To understand this development, it
is justified to go back into History of tunnelling construction, where again Switzerland plays a dominant role
with the construction of the Alpine tunnels. Sprayed concrete replaced wooden timber support and originally was
used as a temporary support, and with the development of new accelerators it was possible to change with
modern sprayed concrete technology to permanent support, using the single shell tunnelling method with one
single shotcrete lining including a permanent rock bolt and drainage system.
Traditionally, the performance of sprayed concrete has been a compromise between early strength and final
quality, flexibility, practicality and economics. This is particularly so in overhead applications, where very early
setting is required in order to achieve early shotcrete strengths for support and a satisfactory thickness of
shotcrete in one or several succeeding passes of the nozzle, also under nasty rock- or soil conditions and in the
presence of water. In the wet process the output capacities of sprayed concrete have constantly been increased,
requesting for better and more reactive shotcrete accelerators. Early setting has been achieved in the past by the
addition of accelerators, based upon alkali silicates or aluminates, at the spraying nozzle. Unfortunately, both of
these types of chemicals are detrimental to the ultimate strength of the shotcrete. A more worrying aspect,
however, has been the Health, Safety and Environmental hazards created by the use of these highly alkaline
materials. In the past few years, much attention has been focused on the development of alkali-free accelerators
for shotcrete in order to eliminate the above mentioned hazards, as well as the potentials for alkali-aggregate
reactions. Alkali free accelerators is the clear trend for the shotcrete of today and tomorrow. The indicator for
this is, that Italian contractors outside of Italy start to spray with alkali-free accelerators, although in Italy almost
all the shotcrete is accelerated with waterglass. The same is true for the Japanese contractors working outside of
Japan, while in Japan the most common accelerators are still cement based powder accelerators.

Figure 3: Wet process shotcrete with alkali-free liquid accelerators at the Karahnjukar Project (Iceland) with
Italian contractor Impregilo and at the Hai Van Pas tunnel project (Vietnam) with Japanese contractor Hazama

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 3. ITA, WG12: Shotcrete for Rock Support
The International Tunnelling Association (ITA) Working Group 12 on Shotcrete Use was formed in Toronto in
1989 with the animator Tomas Franzen from SveBeFo, Stokholm, followed by Knut Garshol from Degussa, and
during the last ITA-05 congress in Istanbul Prof. Tarcisio Celestino from THEMAG Engenharia, Sao Paulo took
over the lead of WG12. The Group’s first task was to issue a status report on shotcrete technology in different
countries. A comprehensive report on national codes, standards, guidelines and recommendations was ready end
of 1992 covering 15 countries. With the rapid development within several aspects of shotcrete technology the
WG12 meeting held in Durban in 2000, decided to produce a new State of the Art report to supplement the now
more than 10 years old first reports. The main aspects to cover under the above heading are:
• Temporary and permanent tunnel linnings
• Method of reinforcement
• Method of application: including type of equipment, manipulators, accelerator dosage systems, concrete
batching and transport, accessories like nozzles, compressors, hoses, etc.
• Materials technology: All concrete components including accelerators, admixtures, and additives with
concrete property parameters achieved from batching through to the hardened state. Information regarding
shotcrete durability.
• Nozzle men certification procedure
• Codes and standards: Which specification documents are being used, are there new under development,
experience made, comments about suitability and suggested improvements.
• Design: rock and shotcrete interaction, established limitations of usage

.
An overview report on synthetic structural fibres for shotcrete has to be prepared. It was decided to carry out a
test programme to check and extend the results under controlled conditions. Synthetic structural fibres have been
promoted at international conferences during the past years. The members of WG12 are very much interested to
support this testing programme and to get the necessary Know How to promote structural polymer fibre
reinforced shotcrete.

Figure 4: Toughness testing of macro-synthetic fibre reinforced shotcrete(5kg/m3) giving similar results as for
high quality steel fibre reinforced shotcrete (35kg/m3)

The test programme is expected to start in October 2005, using the facilities of the testing gallery Hagerbach,
Switzerland, where the complete infrastructure is available to carry out this type of 1:1 scale tests. The
preliminary report is expected for the WG meeting at ITA 06 in Seoul. The fibre suppliers will cover the cost of
the testing programme.
A proposal was made to increase the frequency of working group meetings. Most of the members feel that
meeting only once a year is not enough. A tentative WG meeting has been scheduled for the occasion of tests for
the evaluation of shotcrete reinforcing fibres. Possibility of a post-conference meeting in ITA 06 Seoul is also
open. Another possibility is a meeting during the Shotcrete conference scheduled for September 2006 in
Whistler Creek, Canada.

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 4. Equipment
It is now no longer possible to talk of shotcrete or concrete additives without consideration at the same time of
the pumping and shotcrete equipment, and the same is true in reverse. Application and development of shotcrete
equipment cannot take place in isolation, separated from simultaneous concern and development of additives.
Hydraulic Pressure (bar) Cylinder Position (mm)

6
35
2 7 800

30 700

25 1 600

500
20 Cylinder 1
400
15
300
5
10
4 200
5 100
Cylinder 2 3
0 0
3 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8 5
Time (seconds)

Figure 5: Pumpability testing for optimisation of shotcrete superplasticiser using measuring technology

This has been a reality in the industry for some time and most of the major admixture producers have developed
their own range of shotcrete equipment . Sika’s long term association with, and subsequent take over of, the
Aliva range of shotcrete equipment – from the ever popular dry mix rotor pumps, to accurate dosing units,
efficient nozzle and boom technology and integrated mobile robot units – has been highly successful.
Development of a wet mix pump however was a more complex undertaking. Finally, through a series of
unsuccessful partnerships with other wet mix pump manufacturers, Sika has established an alliance with leading
concrete pump manufacturer Putzmeister. Rather than competing with each other, the Sika, Aliva, Putzmeister
alliance, to cover all essential components of modern, high production, high quality wet mix shotcrete
application is a powerful combination, that will serve the needs of the industry with the best available in the
three specialized but inseparable categories.

Figure 6: Sika-Putzmeister alliance: resulting in newly developed spraying equipment for wet process
Due to the introduction of the hard rock TBMs mechanically automatic spraying systems from the Back Up of
the TBMs are getting more and more common. This development started with the Vereina tunnel project in
Switzerland for wet process shotcrete and the Manapouri project in New Zealand with an in situ produced dry
mix with all the components and a simple manipulator. Today only wet mixes are used anymore.

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Figure 6: Shotcrete on theBack Up of the hard rock TBM: from Manapouri (New Zealand) with in-situ-
produced dry mix shotcrete to the TBE highway project Uetliberg tunnel (Switzerland) with a 360 o robot and the
hydrel project San Francisco (Ecuador)

5. Admixtures for Shotcrete

The clear development over recent years in shotcrete additive technology is the introduction and advance of
alkali-free accelerators. Replacing the caustic aluminate-based accelerators is now a requirement not only in
developed ‘high-tech’ countries but also in ‘low-tech’ developing countries. Such aluminate-based accelerators,
unless handled very carefully, caused severe skin burns and blindness if splashed into the eyes. They were also
caustic to the environment and markedly increased the alkalinity of the concrete causing alkali reaction
deterioration of the shotcrete lining with time, but they were very fast – reacting within the first half hour at low
dosages. It was the search to produce an alkali-free accelerator with comparable properties that drove research.
Today there are two generations of alkali-free accelerator – the first are less expensive products but these can
prove more expensive in the long run through the need for high dosage rates and a higher rebound rate due to
slower reaction times. The second generation products are more expensive but provide higher early strengths,
use lower dosages and therefore can save time and money in the long run. Liquid alkali-free accelerators are
available worldwide.
Another significant consideration when choosing a shotcrete accelerator is its compatibility with
superplasticisers. The development and application of specially for shotcrete designed superplacticisers do
improve workability and extend the ‘useful life’ of concrete has taken a high profile.

Workability
1 4 7

2 5 8

3 6 9

Time
Figure 7: Shotcrete Workability of the base mix: Workability time of the base mix has to be defined by the
applicator and opitmised by the admixture supplier

At present there are superplacticisers that will extend concrete mix life up to 4 hours or so, but after that two
products are needed - the superplacticiser and a stabilizer to increase workable life to 6 or more hours. What we
are all searching for at the moment is a single product that will do the work of both additives for longer term life
without any negative effect to the strength development in the early age. Extending the life of wet mix concrete
is all a function of the particular logistics of the contractor and of the job site set up, as well as a result of mixes
with the quality of the cement being used and other mix ingredients. When asked to supply superplasticisers

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specific site tests are performed, using local cement and aggregates, to achieve the most appropriate mix to meet
the needs. Often today, contractors are making efficient use of mobile batching plants, which greatly reduce the
uncertainty of delivery times through congested urban areas and the logistics of long distances from the batching
plant to the tunnel site, so superplasticisers to extend life to very high numbers of hours is not now a general
requirement. The bigger concern is producing a wet mix shotcrete concrete at the batching plant that is
efficiently and effectively compatible with the accelerator introduced at the nozzle. An extended life of 8 to 12
hours without a relevant slump loss and using a single product is the primary wish of most contractors.

6. Fibre Reinforced Shotcrete

Steel fibre reinforced shotcrete (30-40kg/m3 of high tensile strength >1200MPa, high aspect ratio >65) has been
introduced during the last 20 years and belongs to the state of the art of modern shotcrete technology in wet
process. References are available throughout the whole world for all major tunnels with some exceptions of hard
rock TBM tunnels, where steel meshes can be erected automatically, giving an overhead protection directly after
the cutter head.

Figure 8: Steel fibre reinforced Shotcrete: State-of-the-Art of most worldwide tunnelling projects

One of an interesting development to occur over the last 5 years has been the promotion to use of structural
synthetic fibres in shotcrete to replace steel fibres and reinforcing mesh.
Data regarding performance exists still to a less extent, and as well references of key tunnelling projects are
missing. It is the period of the pioneers and goodwill of the owners to start with this new technology. However,
several independent studies have shown advances with synthetic macro-polypropylene fibres in recent years,
reaching a structural performance adequate a reinforcement compared to steel fibres. Macro-polypropylene
fibres are high strength, high modulus fibres, specially designed to improve the post crack performance.
Addition rates of synthetic macro-polypropylene fibres are in the range of 5-15kg/m3 , depending on the
toughness specification. These fibres have particularly found benefit in the mining industry as they can perform,
better under high deformation rates compared to steel fibres.

7. Early Strength Measurements

Shotcrete for tunnel support has to be sprayed in thick layers (>10cm), and therefore high early strengths are
required. The weight of a 10cm shotcrete layer is >235kg/m2 . Early strengths can be obtained by adding an
accelerator at the nozzle to the sprayed concrete with a defined dosage. If the shotcrete does not stick to the wall,
also in overhead application, there will be no progress of the excavation beside dangerous situation of falling
down parts of shotcrete or even loose rock. Therefore the shotcrete must be pre-qualified before starting a
project, mainly regarding the early strength behaviour. The easiest way is to spray panels in overhead position.

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Figure 9:Early Strength Testing of Shotcrete: Defined Mix Design of the base concrete, checked dosage of the
accelerator: no discussion about High Early Strength behaviour

The Austrian Guidelines define three curves J1, J2 and J3 regarding strength gain of shotcrete. Shotcrete for
tunnel support should always be above the J2 curve. To be able to spray thick layers of >10cm with a minimum
amount of rebound, the High Early strengths in the first minutes should be very close to the J2 line.

Increase of rebound

Risk of falling down

Figure 10:Early Strength Testing of Shotcrete: The Austrian strength development ranges: J1, J2, J3

Early strengths of shotcrete can only be measured by actual spraying process with the cement, aggregates and
correct dosage of the accelerator to be used on site. Do forget all the laboratory trials. It has never been possible
to correlate the laboratory test results with the real shotcrete trials. The target of the pre-qualification is to show,
that the shotcrete sticks on the wall in thick layers of >10cm and fulfils the requirements of strength
development, specified by the project engineer

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Figure 10:Early Strength Testing of Shotcrete: Visual test by spraying overhead

According to the Austrian Guidelines testing of the strength development of shotcrete can be divided into 5
different measuring ranges:
Strength class (MPa) Method
Capability of spraying Visual test by spraying overhead without moving the nozzle, but keeping
thick layers: >10cm constant the nozzle distance
0-1 Penetration needle d=3mm*

1-8 Bolt driving method: HILTI 450”L” white cartridge**

3-16 Bolt driving method: HILTI 450”L” green cartridge**
>10 Conventional strength measurements using drilled cores***

* ** ***
Figure 11:Early Strength Testing of Shotcrete: Methods for different strength classes

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*This method is used to measure the force required to push a needle with a diameter of 3mm penetrate into
sprayed concrete to a depth of 1.5cm. A Proctor penetrometer according to ASTM C 403-95 or a digital
measuring device. There is no need to spend too much time for calibration purposes. Normally it is sufficient to
divide the measured penetration resistance (N) by 500 to get the strength (MPa) results.
**Bolt screws are shot into the sprayed concrete and the depth of penetration is determined. The penetration
depth is the parameter used to determine the compressive strength. Then the pull-out force is measured to
remove the bolt again. The pull-out strength again is in a direct function of the compressive strength. To reduce
scattering and obtain more reliable values, the ratio of pull-out force to penetration depth is calculated, and
compressive strengths determined according to a relevant calibration curve.
*** Cores of suitable dimensions obtained either from placed sprayed concrete (structure) or from test panels are
used as test specimens for sprayed concrete. In case of drilling cores from test panels, the sprayed test panels
should not be removed or transported before achieving a compressive strength of >10MPa. The
test panels should have the same curing conditions as the sprayed concrete to be tested.

The above described method has been approved from all the different standardisation committees, but for a
contractor’s mentality those tests are far too academic, and many times a much easier method was looked for.
Analyses the HILTI testing showed, that the scattering of the pull-out tests were much bigger than the scattering
from the measured penetration resistance, which automatically leaded to the question, whether it was really
necessary to do both measurements. If for a certain site 12 hours early strengths are specified to be 7MPa, a
tolerance of ±1MPa can easily be accepted. Within those accuracy limits the early strength testing can be limited
to the determination of the penetration resistance. This simplification additionally permits that also site people
and not only lab people can determine in situ strengths and react accordingly. A careful analysis was organised,
using statistical results from several tunnel sites.
The obtained curve was verified with a lot of calibration curves using different types of aggregates, which were
provided by the Technical University of Innsbruck, and the obtained results integrated as well into the obtained
calibration curve and shown in the following graph:

20
Compressive Reference Sika
18
Strength (MPa)
Aarau 0-16
16
Crusehed 0-8
14
Natural 0-16
12
Diabas 0-16
10

4 HILTI
Penetration
2
(mm)
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Figure 12:Verification of simplified HILTI testing

The correlation to the calibration curves from the Technical University of Innsbruck indicate, that the proposed
simplified HILTI measurements give reasonable results.
Early age testing should not be used to make a PhD thesis. The accuracy of Early strength measurements
(>3MPa) are accurate enough, if the obtained result are within ±1MPa. The applied method with green cartridges
gives only strength values >3MPa, which means, whenever the bolt does not completely disappear into the
sprayed concrete, compressive strength implies to be >3MPa. Measuring the pull out strengths are quite tricky,
because the direction of pulling out the bolt has to be perpendicular to the substrate and as well parallel to the
bolt. Therefore the scattering of the pullout out forces is x times higher than the that from the penetration length
measurements. The comparison of Early strength measurements (Standardised method versus simplified method)
can easily be verified in the range of 10-20 MPa, because in this range it is possible to compare the results with
direct compression tests from cores

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 25 25
compressive strength (MPa) Geo-Bau compressive strengths (MPa) Geo-Bau
penetration depth
20
pullout force
20
HILTI method versus
Sika method
15 15

10 10

5 5

penetration depth (mm) relative standard deviation (%)

0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

25 25
compressive strength (MPa) VSH compressive strength (MPa) penetration depth VSH
pullout force
20 20
HILTI method versus
Sika method
15 15

10 10

5 5

relative standard deviation (%)

0
penetration depth (mm) 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 0 5 10 15 20

Figure 13: Analysis of relative standard deviation of penetration depth and pullout force from two different
independent laboratories

The simplified method gave much closer results compared to the actual core strengths. My personal conclusions
are: Why complicated standardised Early strength measurements, when much simpler tests can give the required
information?

8. Durability Design of Shotcrete

Nowadays there are unnumbered underground structures in soil and in rock built by the NATM (New Austrian
Tunnelling Method), using shotcrete as a temporary support, but as well many shotcrete structures with
permanent shotcrete lining. Worldwide references for single shell tunnels are available. The most famous single
shell tunnelling project is the 19km long Vereina tunnel near Klosters, a railway tunnel in the Swiss Alps,
constructed in the early 90th .
The main aspects for the monocoque construction method are:
- composite structure
- immediate rock support and lining are joined together
- monolithic sprayed concrete lining with good adhesion to the rock support
- no separation of the lining by a waterproofing membrane
- proper installation of drainage system
- high demands on durability of sprayed concrete lining (durability design: >100 years)

For the construction of permanent shotcrete linings higher demands on quality and quality control have to be
defined:
w/c ratio <0.45, impermeability DIN 1048:penetration <20mm, compressive strength for rock support: >40MPa
and for final lining: >50MPa, sulphate resistance
Economical aspects (Mix Design, output capacity, rebound) have to be considered for the total cost of the
project and not for the individual components. Additionally all the ecological aspects (dust, alkali-free setting
accelerators, leaching) have to be respected.
If we accept, that today shotcrete is sprayed concrete, and we apply the same rules as for regular concrete,
“durability” may be defined by proper specification and quality assurance, including fresh concrete properties,
rebound and hardened concrete properties. In contrast to concrete structures we will never have the chance to
look backwards and analyse shotcrete structures with the aim of making it better today for the future.
The two Alpine base tunnels Lötschberg and Gotthard with a total length of approximately 240km are specified
with a design life of >100years.

9. Conclusions

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The main shotcrete application has become the tunnelling support, using the wet process dense stream system
with appropriate workability time of a low w/c ratio concrete mix containing steel fibres. Alkali-free accelerators
have now almost everywhere become state-of-the-art, and most of the shotcrete applied is by using a spraying rig
with a manipulator or a ring spraying system in case of using a hard rock TBM for tunnelling excavation.
Nobody wanted to believe, a couple of years backwards, how quick shotcrete technology would develop from
dry process to wet process, from thin stream to dense stream and from alkaline accelerators to alkali-free
accelerators. The same fast change will occur for shotcrete applications from temporary to permanent support.

Amsteg Faido
Sedrun Bodio

Figure 14: Shotcrete impressions from the Gotthard Base tunnel

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