Underground. The Way to the Future

Underground – the way to the future was the motto of the World Tunnel Congress 2013 in Geneva, Switzerland. The use of underground space has gained importance during the last years due to the tremendous global urbanization, the high demand on transportation capacities and energy production. All this result in a wider range of use of underground space: besides the traditional road, railway, metro and utility tunnels, more and more other functionalities of modern life are placed under ground in order to free the surface for other uses. The 300 papers of the present book cover important aspects of modern underground infrastructures: Development and use of underground space; project planning and implementation (construction management, risk control, cost estimation and scheduling, contracting practices); design and analysis methods and considerations; construction technology developments; tunnel operation (safety, maintenance, rehabilitation and repair); case histories (learning from failures, long deep tunnels, underground construction for hydropower).

Underground – the way to the future will be invaluable to specialists, contractors and design engineers in underground planning, construction and tunnelling worldwide, and to academics interested in underground and geotechnical engineering.