Rock Injection at Maneri Bhali 

The first major breakthrough for UGC in injection technology has now come at the Maneri Bhali Site in Uttaranchal. An order was placed by the client for Micro fine Cement, Colloidal Silica and Polyurethane to help them construct a by pass tunnel in extremely difficult ground conditions.  The placement of the order came from the continued efforts of the UGC North team to identify a critical area in the client's construction programme.

Karl Gunnar directing operation at the face  

The client's problem was how to cross an extremely faulted zone of rock, with low rock cover and highly saturated river borne material overlying the rock strata.  In previous attempts in the main tunnel, collapses occurred with resulting substantial delays in the construction progamme.  Consequently, a by-pass tunnel was constructed to avoid the poor and very wet ground conditions in the main tunnel as a result of the collapse.  However, the critical problem of how to cross the faulted zone in the by-pass tunnel still remained.  The client therefore turned to our worldwide UGC expertise.  The UGC North team proposed injection techniques in which specialized products are injected into the soil and rock mass to allow stabilization and waterproofing of the rock strata prior to excavation of the tunnel.  The aim was to improve the rock mass to create substantially dry and stable conditions, thereby allowing excavation of the tunnel to proceed without the danger of collapse.  

Proof of the Pudding:

The specification of correct materials is not however the end of the story.  The UGC team is now actively involved in the day to day management of the site, in close coordination with the contractor and the client to ensure correct injection and application of the system.  Furthermore, the UGC team was required to recommend the correct type of equipment necessary to ensure that injection was properly executed.  Extensive records are also maintained to ensure that decision making processes are adhered to and correct decisions are made by the contractor on how to grout, what to grout, where to grout and how much to grout!  

The Ivy League (for injection systems):

This is the first example in India of this kind of construction technique and is definitely a breakthrough for not only the UGC team in India but also for UGC worldwide. This is in fact the first job of this kind conducted outside Norway and Hong Kong. The achievement will also ensure that India will now become one of the top three UGC Injection countries in the world which now puts India at par with any of our European counterparts and probably more advanced.  The efforts of Rajeev Tyagi, Yogesh Kulkarni and Karl Gunnar Holter deserve special mention as the job cannot be a success without their teamwork and active participation.