The Chunnel Research Engineering Research Paper Essay

Chunnel Research
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Chunnel Research
The Chunnel, also known as the Channel Tunnel, is an underneath route under the English Channel that connects France and England. It stretches a span of 50.45 kilometers or about 32miles and contains a railway that allows the passengers to travel from one side to the other of the channel in approximately 25 minutes (Veditz, 1993). The Chunnel is 75 meters deep below the seabed and around 115 meters below the sea level. Only the Seikan Tunnel in Japan is longer than the Chunnel at 53.85 kilometers and 240 meters below the sea level. Before the construction of the Chunnel, the ferry journey used to take about 45 minutes, and this prompted the building of the underneath route. The Eurostar Train has been offering transportation services to the passengers since the completion of the underwater route in 1994 (Rosenberg, 2017). The company mainly transports travelers from various locations in the United Kingdom to countries such as the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and France using high-speed trains. In addition to the Eurostar train, the Eurotunnel Le Shuttle train allows individuals to travel beneath the English Channel while in their vehicles (Noulton, 2001). Therefore, the train offers ferry-like services more than the commuter services whereby travelers drive their cars, trucks, and vans directly into the train for a journey of approximately 35 minutes. While traveling, passengers may decide to stay in their cars or get out and stretch their legs in the air-conditioned motorcycle.
Geology of the Chunnel Site
To construct the tunnel successfully, it required engineers to possess a comprehensive knowledge on the geology and topology of the area to help them select the best rock strata that would not collapse during and after digging and construction (Harris et al., 1996). Generally, the geology of the area consisted of Cretaceous strata found on the northeastern part of the Wealden-Boulonnais dome. The Cretaceous strata had the following characteristics:
Had a continuous chalk layer that contained no major faulting and fissures. On the English side, there were few and small faults of about 2 meters, whereas on the French side faults were many and much wider (15 meters) as a result of the Quenocs anticlinal folding (Harris et al., 1996). The faults on both sides were filled with pyrite calcite and remodeled clay.
Had four geological layers of rocks which include marine sediments formed about 100 million years ago; porous upper and middle chalk layers that are above fairly permeable lower chalk layer; impervious Gault Clay; and a sandy layer referred to as the glauconitic marl between Gault clay and chalk marl.
Had stratum of chalk marl of approximately 25-30 meters that provided the easiest digging medium. The chalk marl contains about 35% clay that is impermeable to groundwater, but rather easy to dig through. With this information, engineers resorted to digging the chalk marl in the bottom of 15 meters, which minimized inflow of water through joints and fractures (Harris et al., 1996). Boring at the bott...