Planning the handling of tunnel excavation material – A process of decision making under uncertainty

Success in tunneling nowadays also depends on a sustainable tunnel design, which considers social, environmental, and economic issues. Planning the handling of excavated materials for a tunnel construction project will possibly avoid waste deposits, save mineral resources as well as energy, and reduce some of the project costs. Hence, planning the handling of excavation materials contributes to a sustainable tunnel design. However, this planning process is affected by many uncertainties and, thus, is a challenge. This paper introduces an approach, which uses the Decision Aids for Tunneling (DAT), a computer based tool, to assess uncertainties affecting tunnel excavation material handling (TEMH). In this approach the emphasis is placed on representing the individual steps in the material handling process starting with excavation and ending with the reuse or final depositing of the material. An application to a tunnel construction project, namely a part of contract section Wolf of the Brenner Base Tunnel, concludes this paper. The results obtained in such simulations can be used for decision making and can optimize the design of a tunnel construction project.

► Excavation material handling has to be considered in a sustainable tunnel design.
► Planning the handling of tunnel excavation material is subject to uncertainties.
► An approach to simulate the excavation material handling process is introduced.
► In the simulation approach uncertainties affecting tunneling are considered.
► The simulation approach has been applied to a tunneling case.