Applications of jet - grouting technology in the Metroline No.1 project at Ho Chi Minh City

The rapid development of economy and the booming urban population in large cities in Vietnam such as Hanoi and Hochiminh city lead to many urban problems of traffic jams and environmental pollutions such as dust and noise contaminations. These issuses effect directly on the health and the living of urban civilians in these cities. In order to solve these urgent transportation and social problems, some metroline projects recently have been carried out in Hanoi and Hochiminh city to meet the high urban transportation demands and to solve congestion problems. Since some Metro line projects in Hanoi and Hochiminh city have been carried out in soft soil conditions, ground improvement methods become a necessary requirement in these projects for ensuring the success of metroline projects and avoiding any potential damage occurred in the tunnelling process. A state - of - the - art soil improvement method with the jet - grouting technology has been applied in Hochiminh Metroline No.1 project with purposes of stabilizing the tunnelling process and protecting nearby existing buildings. This paper presents some applications of the jet - grouting technology when tunnelling by an earth pressure balance tunnel boring machine in the Hochiminh Metroline No. 1 project at the starting and arriving shaft areas for stabilizing the tunnelling process as well as at the Saigon Municipal Opera House area in Hochiminh city with a role of protecting method for the important historical building. By collecting design and site data combining with the analysis of the experimental and observed data obtained from the Hochiminh Metroline No.1 project, the stdy results show the effectiveness of the jet - grouting technology when applying in tunnelling projects with soft soil conditions in Vietnam. The results are also a designing reference for near future metroline project in Hanoi and Hochiminh city.