ABSTRACT
In the last 5 years more than 20 km of tunnel have been driven in the Dutch grounds using earth pressure balanced shields and slurry shields with large diameters ranging from 9.75 m to 14.87 m. This paper focuses on the theoretical models for confinement pressure calculations and pressure transmission as well as on the analysis of currently running drives. Experiences from these projects confirm that the existing tunnel face stability calculation procedures are also suitable for the Dutch grounds in both operational procedures.
