TRB Committee AFF60

Tunnels and Underground Structures

2009 Meeting Minutes

Chairman: Brian Zelenko

URS Corp.

DATE: January 12, 2009

TIME: 1:30 PM to 5:30 PM

LOCATION: Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Washington, D.C.

ROOM: Nathan Hale

Action items in bold.

1. After introductions, Brian Zelenko reviewed the official committee scope and Triennial Strategic Plan, as indicated below.

A. Committee Scope (official approved scope): This committee is concerned with all factors pertinent to the design and construction of underground transportation structures and their components, including planning and performance, and with efforts to relate this knowledge to design and construction procedures and criteria.

B. Highlights of Future Goals from Latest Triennial Strategic Plan (TSP) Report (1/31/08):

i. Future Goals: Current and emerging technical concerns of practitioners and researchers which will continue to be addressed by the committee include:

a. Better construction contracting practices (fair contracts with less uncertainty for both Contractor and Owner).

b. Lower cost for underground construction.

c. Safer, faster construction methods.

d. Safety and security in existing and new tunnels.

ii. Short Term Plans:

a. Continue strong focus on transportation tunnel issues.

b. Continue subcommittees focused on construction costs and current construction technologies such as NATM.

c. Continue to strive to create balance on the committee by bringing in more government personnel and more west coast personnel.

d. Continue to study and report on technologies such as tunnel boring machines, instrumentation, cost reduction measures and risk reduction approaches to contracting.

e. Our continued involvement with tunnel safety and security is a cross-cutting area. Other TRB committees and outside entities such as AASHTO Committee T-20 are involved. We will continue to monitor such fields as ventilation, fire protection and life-safety technology.

iii. Long Term Plans:

a. No formal long term plan is in place.

b. Short term goals are also long term goals.

2. Chairman’s Opening Remarks. Brian Zelenko, the new Chairman appointed in June 2008, thanks Al Brand, former Chairman for his service.

3. Approval of Committee Meeting Minutes

A. 2008 AFF60 Meeting Minutes (recorded and prepared by Victor Romero, Jacobs Associates) were approved.

4. General Items - Announcements

A. TRB Staff – Mr. Stephen Maher

i. 2009 TRB had 10,500 participants, 3,400 papers, (56% in sessions), 89 workshops, electronic sessions on the web, on-line meetings (GoTo meetings).

B. Structures Section Chair - Mr. Mark Reno

i. Emphasized research statement was critical to obtaining research funding. Herb Einstein raised issue of research statements in context of stimulus package projects.

ii. 2010 TRB theme is “investing in the transportation future, bold ideas to meet big challenges.

5. Technology Transfer

A. Annual meeting sessions/Sunday workshops being sponsored/cosponsored

i. Sunday Workshops - Jesus Rohena/FHWA.

a. Introduction to FHWA Road Tunnel Design and Construction Manual – Mr. Jeremy Hung/ PB – Workshop 133 – Marriott Balcony B - Sunday Jan. 11th 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM.

b. Tunnel Management Systems Workshop – Mr. Shyan Pan/FHWA – Workshop 110 - Shoreham - Executive – Sunday Jan. 11th 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM.

ii. Monday No-Paper session:

a. The Challenges of Getting Tunnel Cost Estimates Right – Lee Abramson/ Hatch Mott MacDonald – Session 273 – Shoreham – Empire - Monday Jan. 12th 10:15 AM – 12:00 PM – scheduled participants included John Peregoy, Debra Laefer, Lee Abramson, William Roberds, John Reilly, Allen Marr, and John Stolz.

B. Number of papers reviewed – 1 only.

i. “A shell model for pipe roof reinforcement analysis in shallow tunnels” by Junsheng Yang et. al./School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan Province, China

a. Reviewers: Prabir Das/DMJM Harris; Robert Goodfellow/Black & Veatch; Pedrag Jovanovic/Movares Group BV; Klaus Mussger/Geoconsult;

C. Number of papers presented in podium/poster sessions – 0

D. Number of papers published from podium/poster sessions – 1

i. “ Field Measurements and Numerical Analyses of Double –Layer Pipe Roof Reinforcement in Shallow Multiarch Tunnel” by Junsheng Yang et. al. sponsored by our committee is in the just published Transportation Research Record No. 2050 Structures 2008.

E. Circulars/state-of-the-art reports – 0

F. Workshops/conferences sponsored/cosponsored other than at Annual Meeting - 0

G. Committee meeting presentations (10 mins/each except as noted)

i. AASHTO T-20 Activities – Kevin Thompson, CalTrans and T-20 committee members.

a. Focus in 2008 was determining definition of a highway “tunnel” to avoid bridge underpasses.

b. Research: best practices of QA/QC for tunnel inspections, design fires, fire incident detection, fire suppression, human factors, tunnel ventilation, tunnel LRFD specification, tunnel rehabilitation. If joint or complementary research topics can be submitted by T-20 and AFF60, there is much better chance of getting research funding.

c. FHWA Tunnel Manual: reviewed in 2008.

d. Roadway Tunnel Domestic Scan.

ii. Irvine-Corona (CA) Expressway Tunnel - Lloyd Young/Bechtel

a. 11 mile tunnel, 130k cars/day, twin 54 foot diameter tunnels, project is in MIS stage, geotechnical investigations and conceptual engineering underway.

iii. Research project for NAS/TRB as part of SHRP2 – Rapid Renewal, regarding risk management – Bill Roberds/Golder Associates: subject of poster session on January 14.

iv. FHWA Tunnel Activities – Jesus Rohena/FHWA

v. Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project, Vienna, VA – Vojtech Gall – Gall Zeidler Consultants//Dulles Transit Partners: update on Tyson’s Corner. MWAA is project owner, WMATA will be the operator, 2 phases to project. Includes 1,700 feet of NATM. FFGA obtained, construction scheduled to start March 2009.

vi. University Link Light Rail and new ST2 program – Richard Sage/Sound Transit: voter approval obtained for next phase. First segment opens later in 2009. FFGA signed for U-link, construction to start later in 2009. ST2 is Bellevue line on east side of metro Seattle.

vii. LiDAR Update – Debra Laefer/University College Dublin: being tested on the Dublin Metro, tender was in November 2008. Method applicable to dense corridors with too many buildings that would require analysis. Utilizes diagonal LiDAR flight lines.

viii. On Line Course on Design and Construction of Tunnels – Fulvio Tonon/Univ. of Texas at Austin: handout provided. ADECO tunneling approach was briefly discussed.

6. Research Need Statements - Fulvio Tonon/ University of Texas– Austin

A. See discussion above regarding joint topics with ASSHTO T-20.

B. Research Needs Statements (RNS) currently posted on TRB’s RNS Database (Fulvio needs to modify and delete statements).

C. New research needs statements (To be added to RNS Database). Send to Fulvio at .

D. RNS submitted for funding.

i. Road tunnel inspection accepted by SHRP.

E. Synthesis topics.

i. Improved life safety in tunnels/human behavior: focus on this as it overlaps/compliments T-20 research topic.

ii. Underground options for sustainable transportation development.

iii. Tunnel finishes.

7. Other Committee Business

A. Subcommittee reports

i. NATM Subcommittee – Victor Romero/Jacobs Associates: handout provided summarizing current NATM transportation projects in the U.S.

ii. Cost of Tunneling Subcommittee – Lee Abramson/ Hatch Mott MacDonald. Lee solicited suggestions form the committee about where to take this topic next. UCA coordination suggested (NAT 201 workshop?).

iii. Risk Management Subcommittee – Gregg Sherry/ Brierley & Associates. No report.

iv. Communications Subcommittee – Jamal Rostami/Penn State University and CDM.

v. Potential Tunnel Inspection Subcommittee – new subcommittee chair: Nasri Munfah.

B. Activities or accomplishments since last meeting

i. Triennial Self Evaluation (2006 – 2008) – Al Brand/ Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers.

ii. Change in AFF60 Committee Chair on April 15, 2008 - transition from Al Brand to Brian Zelenko.

C. Future plans and assignments

i. Sessions for 2010 Meeting: waterproofing and NATM were discussed as possible sessions.

ii. Committee Rotation – most members up for rotation in April 2009.

iii. Brian Zelenko suggested having mid-year AFF60 meetings after RETC or NAT conferences (say mid July). For AFF60 members that do not attend these conferences, a GoTo (online) meeting could be utilized.

D. Recommendations, motions, requests for Group or Staff action

i. Review/Edit Committee Scope: all AFF60 members should review committee scope and be prepared to provide comments at a mid-year meeting.

E. Conferences, workshops, other activities of interest to members

i. UCA/SME Activities – summarized by Brenda Myers Bohlke. The include Fox seminar in January, participation in RETC conference June 14-17 in Las Vegas, Shaft Short Course in Atlanta on September 10-11 (see handout), and NAT 2010 in Portland.

F. Closure

i. Herbert Einstein reported that DUSEL site had been selected (Homestake Mine in South Dakota), large cavern designs will be upcoming, as well as workshops to develop research topics.

ii. The entire AFF60 committee thanked Al Brand for his past service on AFF60.

iii. Reminder: 7th International Bridge Conference in November 2010.

End of Minutes

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