A study and evaluation on SMART Project, Malaysia

A tunnel is a passage way that carries people or vehicles to cross a destination that have\nobstruction or to shorten the travelling time. Tunnels in the olden days are used for mainly\nmining works. In the recent years as technology evolve with time, tunnels construction had\nbecome more commonly used transport routes in places that alternative solution such as\nroads or bridges impossible to be built or the costing is higher since there are obstruction to\nbe accounted for in order to built the necessary routes. Tunnels are also used as rails links,\nvehicles and also as canals for water diversion. Most tunnels are built through a hill or\nmountain and underground below cities, roads, ocean or rivers. The constructions of\ntunnels are very complex because it involves precise and accurate planning. Tunnel\nconstruction depends mainly on geological study of the sub-surface before determining the\ntype of construction method and costing involves. This is because the type of soil\nformation will determine the structural needs, types of machineries, suitability for that\nparticular location to construct the tunnel and also the environmental impact on the society\nand the natural surrounding especially the sub-surface of the soils (e.g. underground\nstreams and the stability of the soil).\nTunnels are constructed all around in the world as the method of construction is\ngetting more advances and this allows the tunnels that are impossible to build are now\ndone. This thesis is mainly a study on the SMART Tunnel Project that is under\nconstruction in Malaysia. This tunnel is very unique because this is one of a kind tunnel in\nthe world that combines the wet and dry system. The tunnel is used as a pathway to\ntransport vehicle and also a channel for stormwater diversion from the city of Kuala\nLumpur. The system is very unique as the tunnel is built using two Slurry Shield TBM\nmachines that allows the drilling and tunnel lining work to be done continuously without\nsetbacks. The machine also eliminates the hazard of tunnel stability during construction\nand also the ground water drawdown that cause sink holes. The entire thesis is about the\ntunnel construction method, technology used, tunnel design, purpose and efficiency of the\ntunnel.