Key technologies for construction of Jinping traffic tunnel with an extremely deep overburden and a high water pressure

Jinping traffic tunnel is one of the deepest traffic tunnels in the world with a maximum overburden of 2 375 m and the overburden over 73% of its total length is larger than 1 500 m. The tunnel is 17.5 km long and designed to provide a shortcut road between two hydropower stations: Jinping I and Jinping II of the Jinping Hydropower Project, located on Yalong River, Liangshan State, Sichuan Province, China. The tunnel is so deep that building any shafts is impossible. The construction starts from both ends (east and west ends), and the construction length from the west end is 10 km with a blind heading. This paper deals with an overview of this project and analysis of the engineering features, as well as key technologies developed and applied during the construction, including geological prediction, rock burst prevention under a super high in-situ stress, sealing of groundwater with a high pressure and big flow rate, ventilation for a blind heading of 10 km, wet spraying of shotcrete at zones of rock burst and rich water, etc. The application of the new technologies to the construction achieved a high quality tunnel within the contract period.