With 22.1 km length, the Shengli tunnel crossing
Tianshan mountain ("Shengli tunnel" in short) on Urumqi-Yuli
highway under construction is the longest highway tunnel in the world. The
tunnel crosses Tianshan mountain from the south to the north. The construction
of the tunnel is faced with complex engineering geological conditions and
hydrogeological conditions, very cold and high-altitude
environment, high seismic intensity and strict environmental protection
requirements. So far, there is no completed highway tunnel with up to 20 km
length in China and abroad. The tunnel is faced with many technical challenges
in terms of the structural safety and the operation safety. Critical aspects of
the tunnel, such as exploration by means of the long-distance
horizontal directional drilling, determination of the overall tunnel pattern,
design of dual-mode TBMs with injected concrete lining
function, aseismic design of the tunnel sections in active fracture zones,
disaster prevention and rescue, and health monitoring, operation and
maintenance, are studied on basis of the features, construction environment and
hydrogeological conditions of the tunnel. In terms of the prospecting and
surveying for the tunnel, 3D UAV laser scanning surveying technology, high-precision remote sensing technology and longdistance horizontal directional drilling exploration technology are
used to quickly and accurately obtain the geological parameters and to shorten
the prospecting and surveying period; in terms of the design of the tunnel, the
overall pattern of "twin main tunnel tubes + one service tunnel tube"
and the design of dual-mode TBMs with injected concrete
lining function are adopted to improve the safety during the construction and
operation of the tunnel and to shorten the construction period, and the
aseismic design of the tunnel sections in the active fracture zones and the
design of the underground high-position fire-fighting water tanks are adopted to improve the toughness of the
tunnel structure; in terms of the operation and maintenance of the tunnel,
intelligent disaster prevention and rescue, intelligent tunnel health
monitoring, intelligent tunnel operation, intelligent tunnel maintenance, and
illumination scenery in the tunnel are adopted to improve the safety and
quality of the tunnel operation, realizing alarming within seconds, responding
immediately and the emergency on-duty persons′ arriving at the accident position within five minutes so as to
perform timely rescue.
PENG Wenbo
,
GAO Xiang
,
LIU Jiguo
,
ZHENG Cong
,
JIAN Yilin
. Key Technologies for Super-Long
Highway Tunnels in Very Cold and High-Altitude Regions: A Case Study on Shengli Tunnel
Crossing Tianshan Mountain in Xinjiang, China[J]. Tunnel Construction, 2025
, 45(5)
: 1027
-1040
.
DOI: 10.3973/j.issn.2096-4498.2025.05.018
