The Engineering Geology of Crossrail

With John Davis,
Chief Engineer’s Group, Geotechnical Engineering Team, Crossrail

The Geological Society of London
Tuesday 10 May, 6pm

Crossrail is currently the biggest construction project in Europe and one of the biggest infrastructure projects ever undertaken in the UK.
This talk will firstly explain what Engineering Geology really is. Then it will briefly describe the project and the ground conditions it encountered. The talk will go on to describe a number of construction related case histories that demonstrate how the variation in the geological materials present under London profoundly influences the engineering behind the construction of the railway. These examples will include; an explanation of the different types of tunnelling machine and why they were adopted; how and where large irregular shaped caverns can be built; settlement mitigation techniques and parallels with fracking; approaches to extreme variations in the lower Eocene strata, and to Quaternary hazards.

Watch:
Crossrail rock samples stored in Cheshire salt mines

Crossrail Geology: soil and rock core samples stored 150 metres below Cheshire