Eivind Grøv

SINTEF | Stiftelsen for industriell og teknisk forskning · Department of Infrastructure

Many rock engineering projects today may face rock mechanics challenges such as (a) particularly complicated profile or excavation plan, (b) located near to existing infrastructure and thus pose a high risk to such structures, and (c) complicated geological conditions. In such situations, there may be no similar existing experience to lean on. Empi...

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) has since the early 1970s published prediction models for estimated production rates, time consumption, and costs for rock works. Since the early development of the NTNU models the tunnelling industry has continuously improved and the models have been updated on several occasions. The NTNU m...

"Many rock engineering projects today may face rock mechanics challenges such as particularly complicated geometry or excavation plan, and complicated geological conditions. There may be no similar existing experience to lean on. Thus, empirical methods have limitations and uncertainties in such cases. Therefore, SINTEF has developed a reliable roc...

Hydraulic fracturing is one of the most common methods to determine in situ rock stress. The interpretation of the shut-in pressure to determine the minor principal stress is an important element of this method, and many different methods to interpret shut-in pressure have been studied and developed throughout the years. Each method has its advanta...

Increase of knowledge and further development of sprayed concrete technology to enbale increase use for permanenet tunnel lining purposes

The paper reviews the experience from Nordic sub sea tunnel benchmark projects, with emphasis on sub sea road tunnels excavated in hard rock conditions. More than 35 such tunnels have been built in the Nordic countries with the majority of the projects located in Norway. However, a total of 4 such projects have been initiated in the Faroe Islands,...

The paper describes a well considered subsea road tunnel in Åland, Finland which will hopefully start in the very near future. The paper describes partly the socio-economics and public benefits of such a project in Åland and partly some technical aspects of designing and constructing road tunnels under the sea to connect land masses. The tunnel is...

This paper presents work being carried out in Work Package 3 of TIGHT (True Improvement in Grouting High pressure Technology for tunnelling) project. The objective is to investigate flow and mechanical properties of three cements (A, B and C) at actual tunnel- and room –temperatures using various laboratory methods. The cements were first character...

Pre-excavation rock mass grouting is a common procedure for reducing water ingress into tunnels during construction in Norwegian tunnelling. The level of grouting pressure is a disputed subject and the knowledge of how the rock mass responds to the high pressure and how this inflicts on the grouting results is sparse and little investigated. For th...

The Faroe Islands north of Scotland has a disproportionally large number of road tunnels. In addition to 44 km of existing tunnels, two further undersea tunnels totalling 22 km will be completed by 2023. A further 30 km undersea crossing is planned, providing nearly 2 m of tunnel for each of the 50 000 inhabitants. This paper describes the country’...

In Norwegian tunneling pre-excavation grouting for water control has been developed through several decades of practical experience. Grouting criteria in contracts are largely based on experience from similar projects, and the main feature in the criteria is to reach a pre-determined pressure and maintain this pressure for a given time. This study...

Experiments were conducted using Ground-Penetrating Radar (GPR). The performance of six GPR systems was assessed in terms of: (1) remotely mapping cavities behind concrete linings, (2) detecting rockfall from the tunnel roof onto an inner lining comprising, for example, precast concrete segments. Studies conducted in Norway and the United States de...

The current paper first analyzed the degradation mechanisms of the worn disc cutter made of forged H13 chromium alloy for hard rock tunneling applications. The paper investigated subsequently the mechanical properties of H13 to have a better understanding of the degradation mechanisms. Hardness tests were carried out on different positions on a cut...

After the CO2 has been captured at the source of emission, the CO2 would have to be transported to the storage site using different technologies. In some countries (i.e. USA) real possibilities exist so that available and new oil and water pipe lines could be used for such operations. In practice it means that transportation could be carried out wi...

TunIn the tunnelling industry, the prediction of TBM performance and costs is an important issue for planning and risk management at the design stages. The NTNU prediction model is an objective tool that has been used by several parties in the tunnelling industry. The model can be used for estimating the excavation rate and costs, as well as planni...

Prediction of construction time and cost is important to make a reliable choice of excavation method; to avoid schedule delays, budget overruns and to control the risk management for tunnelling projects. For hard rock Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) projects, penetration rate is a key factor for estimating advance rates, cutter life and excavation cost...

There are some distinct differences between the practices of rock mass grouting in Sweden and Norway. The Swedish approach is to a large extent theoretically based, whereas, the Norwegian approach is to a large extent empirical based. The Norwegian approach was developed during extensive tunneling for hydroelectric power development in a context wh...

The use of underground space for various needs has seen a significant growth in recent year. This possibility is also reflected in the concept of construction underground nuclear facilities. Based on previous experience , success in the future might be bound to such as smaller nuclear facilities by some named as Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). Suita...

The oil industry suffered a severe set-back as result of the accident in the Gulf of Mexico in 2009, which showed clearly the public awareness and environmental aspects related to such accidents. A concept based on subsea tunnels and caverns has been developed for an offshore oil field in Northern Norway as alternative to traditional development st...

The use of underground space for various needs has seen a significant growth in recent years; several mega cities are considering the potential of going underground. This possibility is also reflected in the concept of construction nuclear facilities and power stations underground. Based on previous experience, success in the future might be bound...

Rock mass grouting has become an important aspect in tunneling and under-ground excavation, particularly whilst executing such work in urban areas with a highly developed surface infrastructure and also in areas which due to various reasons are sensitive to fluctuations in ground water levels. The public focus on tunneling work has increased during...

Sprayed concrete in civil tunnelling has been acknowledged world-wide as a legitimate rock sup port measure. The advantages of the wide range of properties that can be achieved and high application rates allow tunnelling to proceed with minimum delay. In parallel with this, the technology associated with shotcrete is rapidly developing to allow usa...

Through a formal cooperation between two institutes at NTNU and one department of SINTEF, the Gemini center on Underground Technology has prepared a report on the possibility of developing 20000 MW of hydroelectric power production in Norway during a period of 15 years. This report is a part of the CEDREN project. The power supply is planned to be...

The demand for representative rock property parameters related to planning of underground excavations is increasing, as these parameters constitute fundamental input for obtaining the most reliable cost and time estimates. The Brittleness Value (S20), Sievers’ J-Value (SJ), Abrasion Value (AV) and Abrasion Value Cutter Steel (AVS) have been used ex...

A feasibility study has been done for comparing a concept based on subsea tunnels and caverns with traditional development strategies for offshore oil fields. A realistic oil field off the shore of northern Norway has been studied. The concept includes 2 or 3 tunnels descending from the terminal facility on land to a base station at the low point....

Six caverns have been constructed in the world's longest double tube road tunnel, the Qinling Zhongnanshan tunnel, for special lighting and driving safety purpose. The tunnel is excavated through the Qinling Mountain Range of Shaanxi province, China, where the maximum rock overburden is about 1800 m. In-situ rock stress was measured by overcoring i...

The NTNU/SINTEF drillability test method has gained international recognition as a tool for describing the characteristics of rock and soil materials regarding cutter wear and penetration rates as well as for reliable time and cost estimates. A main strength of the NTNU/SINTEF drillability tests is that the test results may be put into prediction m...

Norway is a remotely populated country with a coastline of some 57, 000km, which, including islands and fjords, is greater than the circumference of the earth at the equator. The Norwegian government has made a commitment to the connection of these remote islands to facilitate the development of business. The host rock in Scandinavia generally vari...

Six caverns are designed in the world's longest twin-tube road tunnel, the Qinling Zhongnanshan tunnel, for the special lighting and driving safety purpose. The tunnel is excavated through the Qinling Mountain Range of Shaanxi Province, China, where the maximum rock overburden is about 1800 m. In-situ rock stress was measured by overcoring method i...

The paper reviews the experiences from Nordic subsea tunnel benchmark projects, with emphasis on subsea road tunnels excavated in bedrock. More than 25 such tunnels have been built in the Nordic countries, representing a total length of more than 100 km, and with the majority of the projects located in Norway. The completed projects include tunnels...

The Sievers’ J-miniature drill test (SJ) has been used extensively at NTNU/SINTEF since the 1960s in connection with drillability testing of rock samples. Nearly 3000 samples have been tested, and the method is at present internationally recognised as a reliable method for determination of surface hardness of rock samples. A new test method for est...

Subsea tunnels are located deeply under sea. Therefore, they are more difficult in geological investigation, design, construction and operation than land tunnels. In the last 30 years rich experiences have been gained in Norway from constructing 40 subsea tunnels and the 'Norwegian subsea tunnelling concept' has formed. In the planning and design s...

The paper reviews the experience from Nordic sub sea tunnel benchmark projects, with main emphasis on sub sea road tunnels exca-vated in bedrock. More than 25 such tunnels have been built in the Nordic countries, representing a total length of more than 100 km, and with the majority of the projects located in Norway. The completed projects include...

In Norway about 40 subsea tunnels in rock have been constructed over the last 25 years with the use of unit price or unit rate type of contracts, with only one exception. The standard unit price contract used in Norway is based on risk sharing between the owner and the contractor. The owner retains the risk for the geological conditions while the c...

The TBM tunnelling technique initially focused on the soft rock environment. As the technique developed towards stronger machines, more powerful motors and larger cutters, hard rock TBM tunnelling became a routine task. Today, there are few ground conditions where the TBM technique is not feasible. A certain and in some cases serious limitation is,...

A number of different Water and Frost Protection Systems, or so-called inner linings, have during the years been introduced and tested in Norwegian road tunnels. At present a limited number of such systems have been approved by the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA). These systems will all be described in brief. A system based on pre-cast...