Published on Nov 30, 2023
The Submerged Floating Tunnel concept was first conceived at the beginning of the century, but no actual project was undertaken until recently. As the needs of society for regional growth and the protection of the environment have assumed increased importance, in this wider context the submerged floating tunnel offers new opportunities.
The submerged floating tunnel is an innovative concept for crossing waterways, utilizing the law of buoyancy to support the structure at a moderate and convenient depth . The Submerged floating Tunnel is a tube like structure made of Steel and Concrete utilizing the law of buoyancy .It supported on columns or held in place by tethers attached to the sea floor or by pontoons floating on the surface. The Submerged floating tunnel utilizes lakes and waterways to carry traffic under water and on to the other side, where it can be conveniently linked to the rural network or to the underground infrastructure of modern cities
SFT is a buoyant structure which moves in water. The relation between buoyancy and self weight is very important, since it controls the static behaviour f the tunnel and to some extend, also the response to dynamic forces. Minimum internal dimension often result in a near optimum design. There are two ways in which SFT can be floated. That is positive and negative buoyancy.
In this the SFT is fixed in position by anchoring either by means of tension legs to the bottom or by means of pontoons on the surface. Here SFT is mainly 30 metres below the water surface.
Here the foundations would be piers or columns to the sea or lake. This method is limited to 100 meters water depth
SFT is subjected to all environmental actions typical in the water environment: wave ,current , vibration of water level, earthquake, corrosion, ice and marine growth. It should be designed to with stand all actions, operational and accidental loads, with enough strength and stiffness. Transverse stiffness is provided by bottom anchoring.
Crossing waterways, whether being from main land to islands in the sea or maybe more important crossing an inland lake, perhaps the one we are at now will in many cases meet protests both from tourist interests and also from the public in general. Lakes of special beauty or perhaps historical value should be preserved for the future, the crossing of such areas and lakes with SFT may make this possible. An illustration of this may be seen in Fig. 3.1
The actual SFT structure is only as long as the distance between the shores. If desired the SFT may be connected directly to tunnels and then be completely out of sight for any desired distance.
Crossings with undersea tunnels or bridges will frequently mean longer structures with consequently higher costs and this may offset the higher cost per meter for an alternative SFT. An SFT crossing may have a very gentle gradient or being nearly horizontal giving considerable savings in energy used by traffic.
As the SFT may continue in tunnels having crossed the waterway, it is possible to arrange parking places or service areas under ground and provide access to the surface by lifts directly into cities or recreational areas as shown in Fig. 3.2. These possibilities may be one of big advantages in future, in fact for all types of tunnels.
As an SFT may be positioned at any depth below the surface arrangements may be made that the SFT surfaces at or very near the shoreline. This may be an advantage for connections to new or existing road systems and gives the planners freedom to locate connections in a very flexible way.
Construction of infrastructure is a major everyday problem in many cities, traffic is piling up, new one way streets daily and generally great frustrations by millions of people. One very interesting feature with SFT is that the actual construction may be done away from the densely or highly populated areas, a feature also for immersed tunnel construction. After the sections of the tunnel are finished they may be towed to the actual site and there joined together and installed at the desired depth. In some instances the whole length of the SFT may be assembled at the construction site and the complete structure towed to the actual site and installed. This would ensure minimum disturbances to the local area and perhaps the whole operation may only take months instead of years.
1. Cost: - Due to lots of material and machinery involved in project, estimated cost is nearly 1.2 Thousand core dollars.
2. Fire: - It is difficult to rescue people if fire will break out in train and also to face the problems due to the smoke of fire.
3. Collision: - If in case of collision of two trains took place, it is very difficult to rescue the people.
4. No Stoppage: - It is very difficult to stop the train travelling on such a high speed.
The submerged floating tunnel will set up new trends in transportation engineering and which shows with the advances in technology that will reduce the time required for travelling. And make the transportation more effective by hiding the traffic under water by which the beauty of landscape is maintained and valuable land is available for other purposes. Benefits can be obtained with respect to less energy consumption, air pollution and reduced noise emission. For wide and deep crossings the submerged floating tunnel may be the only feasible fix link, replacing present days ferries and providing local communities with new opportunities for improved communication and regional development.
| Are you interested in this topic.Then mail to us immediately to get the full report.
email :- contactv2@gmail.com |
