Abstract
Yangtze River tunnel in Nanjing, China, was constructed by slurry shield tunnelling method. Along the 3020m tunnel, one of the construction difficulties is to pass through a gravelly sand stratum. As this stratum is highly permeable subjected to an elevated water pressure, one of the key issues is the formation of filter cake for a stable cutting face during tunnel excavation. To solve this specific engineering problem, a series of permeability tests were carried out on samples taken from the gravelly sand stratum and slurry materials used in the Yangtze River tunnel project. A new apparatus was developed to simulate the filter cake formation on the surface of the gravelly sand under elevated pressure, through which the quantities of the discharged water were measured. The effects of clay content of the slurry on the thickness and permeability of filter cake were studied. The test results indicated that the clay content of the slurry played an important role in the filter cake formation. The amount of seepage through the gravelly sand and the thickness of the filter cake decreased with the increasing of the clay content in slurry.
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