Tunnel excavation material handling using decision analysis

Stefan Ritter

Research output: ThesisMaster's Thesis

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Abstract

Success in tunneling also depends on a sustainable tunnel design, which jointly considers social, environmental, and economic issues. Planning the handling of excavated materials of a tunnel construction project will possibly avoid waste deposits, save mineral resources as well as energy, and reduce some of the project costs. Hence, planning the handling of excavated materials contributes to a sustainable tunnel design. However, this planning process is affected by many uncertainties and, thus, a challenge. This research describes how decision analysis can be used to deal with the uncertainties of tunnel excavation material handling (TEMH). Therefore, a brief review of the basic aspects of decision analysis under uncertainty is followed by an overview over TEMH and a determination of the main uncertainties of materials management in tunneling. In particular, this thesis presents a simulation model, which uses the Decision Aids for Tunneling (DAT) and their resource module, to describe and evaluate uncertainties affecting TEMH. The emphasis in this simulation model is placed on representing the individual steps in the material handling process starting with excavation and ending with the reuse or final depositing of the material. An application to a part of a real tunnel construction project, namely a part of contract section Wolf of the Brenner Base Tunnel (BBT) demonstrates the efficiency of the decision analysis. The results obtained in these materials management simulations can optimize the design of a tunnel construction project.
Translated title of the contributionMaterialbewirtschaftung im Tunnelbau – Einsatz von Entscheidungsanalysen
Original languageEnglish
QualificationDipl.-Ing.
Awarding Institution
  • Montanuniversität
Supervisors/Advisors
  • Galler, Robert, Supervisor (internal)
Award date1 Jul 2011
Publication statusPublished - 2011

Bibliographical note

embargoed until null

Keywords

  • tunnel excavation material
  • materials management
  • Decision Aids for Tunneling
  • uncertainty
  • simulation
  • Brenner Base Tunnel

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