An underground excavation in Barcelona and its interaction with existing structures

Abstract

The construction process for the enlargement of an underground railway station in Barcelona required an additional tunnel excavation below existing structures. The paper presents the case study, describing the details of the excavation method and the support systems used both to guarantee the stability of the tunnel excavation and to limit the effects of the underground constructions activities on the buildings above the alignment. The movements observed in the buildings, once the excavation was completed, are compared with some class A predictions. The construction works had a favourable outcome and no building damage was reported because of the excavation.