SYNOPSIS:

Activities associated with underground construction will inevitably cause ground movements that may affect buildings within their zone of influence. One of the biggest issues for underground construction in a densely built-up urban environment, is the potentially adverse impact on buildings due to underground construction. The seminar discusses about key considerations with regards to the response of buildings to excavation-induced movements which includes the following topics:

Evaluating the impact of underground construction on buildings
• Evaluating the influence of urban tunnels on existing structures and determining whether impact is acceptable or whether additional mitigation and protective measures need to be implemented: How is the risk of damage evaluated using a three-staged impact assessment approach.
• Incorporating existing condition of buildings into the impact assessment framework, through a guidance on objectively classifying the existing condition of buildings and a risk-based approach to incorporate the existing condition, structural sensitivity and heritage significance into the framework.

Analysis of ground movements – Simplified approaches for difficult situations
• Principles of available approaches of analysing ground movement in underground construction will be discussed. Focus will be laid on input assumptions and on how the respective results should be treated. The simplified analysis approaches are presented and explained in more details.
• Practical examples of application are provided.

Influence of building stiffness and case studies of building response to underground construction
• The influence of building stiffness illustrated using case studies, and how this may be incorporated into the impact assessment approach.
• Case summaries of tunnelling directly below buildings in the recently completed Downtown Line project in Singapore.

Analysis and assessment of impact of underground construction on existing rail infrastructure
• Principles with respect to the assessment approach of existing rail infrastructure, when subjected to ground movements due to adjacent underground developments will be discussed.
• Available state-of-the-art approaches are explained in detail. Examples of practical application on real projects are provided.

BIODATA OF SPEAKERS

Er. Dr. Oskar Sigl graduated as Diploma Engineer (MSc) 1985 from Technical University of Graz (Austria), in Civil Engineering specialising in geotechnics and soil mechanics. In 1991, after working for five years as Teaching Assistant at the Institute for Geomechanics and Tunnelling, he achieved with distinction the PhD in mining engineering at the Mining University of Leoben (Austria). In addition to the registration as an ordinary Professional Engineer (PE-Civil), Er. Dr. Sigl is also registered with the Professional Engineer Board of Singapore as specialised Professional Engineer (PE-Geo) and specialised Accredited Checker (AC-Geo).

Er. Dr. Sigl was involved in the design of major underground structures in a great number of projects, and more than 30 years of experience, these projects cover a large variety such as subways, railways, roads, power transmission cables, sewerage mains, underground storage schemes and caverns.

Since 1998, Er. Dr. Sigl is the Managing Director of GEOCONSULT Asia Singapore. In Singapore, Er. Dr. Sigl has been involved in the detailed design of almost all major infra structure projects including the North East Line, Circle Line and Downtown Line MRTs, the SPPA high voltage transmission cable tunnel project, the Kallang Paya Lebar and Marine Costal Expressways, the DTSS Project, and many more. Outside of Singapore, Er. Dr. Sigl was involved in a leading role in the design of underground subway systems in Dubai, Perth, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur as well as the design of underground oil and fuel storage cavern schemes in Saudi Arabia and India.


Er. Dr Goh Kok Hun obtained his Bachelor of Engineering and Masters of Engineering from the National University of Singapore, and received his doctorate from the University of Cambridge, UK. He has more than 15 years of geotechnical engineering experience, and has been involved in the design aspects of several road and rail infrastructure projects in Singapore, including the Fort Canning and the Woodsville road tunnels and more recently the Downtown Line and Thomson-East Coast Line rail projects.

He is currently a deputy director looking after the Geotechnical & Tunnels Division in the Land Transport Authority of Singapore. He is registered as a Professional Engineer in Civil Engineering as well as a Specialist Professional Engineer in Geotechnical Engineering in Singapore, and a Chartered Professional Engineer. His doctoral study was on the “Response of ground and buildings to deep excavations and tunnelling” and he has also conducted specific studies in other aspects of geotechnical engineering design.