Experimental Investigation on Element Immersing Process of Immersed Tube Tunnel

Bridges and tunnels are good solutions to transportation problems in large cities separated by large rivers. In bridge construction great success has been achieved in China, but large-sized immersed tube tunnel construction is still new. Element immersing is an important process of immersed tube tunnel construction. The accuracy of tunnel element positioning directly determines the quality of tunnel construction. In order to study the behavior of elements during its lowering to the sea bed, the experiments carried out in the State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering of Shanghai Jiaotong University. In consideration of the construction experience abroad and by reference to published papers on the Oresund tunnel in Norway-Sweden and Tokyo Bay tunnel in Japan, an element model to an appropriate scale is developed. A concise description of the model experiment wave environments is carried out, and the feasibility of two immersing strategies is studied.