The importance of the groundwater in underground construction is sometimes underestimated, but is one of the most important aspects to consider in planning, design and construction.  Characterising groundwater behaviour in rock is difficult, because of the variability that is often seen in test results. This variability can be described using simple statistical techniques. The presentation describes the issues that arise from groundwater in underground techniques. One technique that is used to control these issues is pre-grouting; the presentation describes a methodology for predicting some of the key parameters.

Harry Asche  BE(Civil), PhD, MIEAust, CPEng, MICE, CEng, RPEQ
Design Director, Tunnels, Aurecon

Adjunct Professor, School of Civil Engineering, University of Queensland

President, Australian Tunnelling Society

Harry Asche is Aurecon’s Design Director – Tunnels.  He is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Queensland and is the President of the Australian Tunnelling Society.    Harry has worked on tunnels and caverns in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and the UK.  He worked on the South Island Line, Contracts 901 and 904, and carried out the groundwater inflow analysis and the 3D cavern design for both of these projects.  More recently, Harry has been the tunnel discipline leader for the 9km WestConnex 2 project in Sydney and the hydrogeology advisor for the 2km Central Kowloon Route in Hong Kong.  In 2018, Harry was Queensland’s Engineer of the Year and was awarded the Roads Australia Technical Excellence Award in 2018.