Concrete Construction Part 31

This is the total cost, exclusive of lumber, tools, interest, profits, etc., and it is practically 40 cts. per lin. ft.

In 100 lin. ft. of curb and gutter there were 4.6 cu. yds. of concrete and mortar facing, 4 cu. yds. of which were concrete; hence the 9 men in the concrete gang laid 14 cu. yds. of concrete per day, whereas the 4 men mixing and placing the mortar finishing laid only 2 cu. yds. of mortar per day, a.s.suming that the mortar finishing averaged just 1 in.

thick. Since these 4 men (2 mixers and 2 finishers) received $10.50 a day, it cost more than $4 per cu. yd. to mix and place the 1-2 mortar, as compared with $1.41 per cu. yd. for mixing and placing the concrete.

The concrete was built in alternate sections 7 ft. long. The 3 men placing forms averaged 400 lin. ft. a day, so that the cost of placing the forms was $1 per cu. yd. of concrete. The 2 men placing and tamping cinders averaged 16 cu. yds. of cinders per day, or 8 cu. yds. per man.

This curb and gutter was built by contract at 45 cts. per lin. ft.

For several jobs, in which a curb and gutter essentially the same as shown in Fig. 125 was built, our records show a general correspondence with the above given data of Mr. Apple. Our work was done with smaller gangs, 1 mason and 2 laborers being the ordinary gang. Such a gang would lay 80 to 100 lin. ft. of curb and gutter per 10-hr. day, at the following cost:

1 mason at $2.50 $2.50 2 laborers at $1.50 3.00 ----- Total $5.50

This made a cost of 5 to 7 cts. per lin. ft. for labor, and it did not include the cost of digging a trench to receive the curb and gutter.

CHAPTER XVI.

METHODS AND COST OF LINING TUNNELS AND SUBWAYS.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 126.--Section Showing Lining for Capitol Hill Tunnel. Washington, D. C.]

Tunnel lining work is of two distinct cla.s.ses: Lining work, done during original construction and relining of tunnels in service. The methods of work to be adopted and the cost of work will be different in the two cases. In relining work the costs are increased by the necessity of providing for the movement of trains and by the delays due to these movements and also by the labor of removing the old lining and, often, of enlarging the excavation. Comparatively few published figures are available on the cost of concrete tunnel lining, and such as exist are commonly incomplete. The common practice is to record the cost as so much per lineal foot of tunnel. This should be done, but the record should also show the cost per cubic yard of concrete in the lining. The notions of engineers vary as to the proper thickness of lining to use and this dimension also varies with the character of the ground. One tunnel lining may easily contain twice as many cubic yards of concrete per lineal foot of lining as another tunnel contains.

The two problems in form construction for tunnel work are: First, to construct the form work so that it does not interfere with train movements, and, second, to construct it so that it can be taken down, transported and re-erected and thus used over and over. The examples of practice given in the succeeding sections are the best instructions that can be laid before the reader in regard to possible ways of solving these problems and, also, the problem of handling the concrete and other materials to the work.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 127.--Traveling Derrick for Constructing Side and Center Walls, Capitol Hill Tunnel.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 128.--Steel Forms for Side Walls for Capitol Hill Tunnel.]

~METHOD OF LINING CAPITOL HILL TUNNEL, PENNSYLVANIA R. R., WASHINGTON, D.

C.~--The tunnel through Capitol Hill for the Pennsylvania R. R. approach to its new Union Station at Washington, D. C, is a two-track, double tube tunnel 4,000 ft. long through earth. Figure 126 shows the lining construction; it consists of stone masonry center wall, ma.s.s concrete inverts and side walls and a brick roof arch backed with concrete. For building the center and side walls the traveling derrick shown by Fig.

127 was employed. This traveler moved ahead with the work on a 14-ft.

gage track and it handled the stone and concrete buckets from the material cars to the workmen on the walls. In connection with the derrick in the concrete side wall construction use was made of steel plate forms for the inside faces of the walls. These forms were made of 410 ft. sections of steel plate, constructed as shown by Fig. 128, and connected together by bolting through the f.l.a.n.g.es. The steel forms were erected by hand in advance of the derrick, 20 ft. of form on each side at a time. The concrete buckets were brought into the tunnel on cars hauled by electric motors from the mixing plant at the portal, and the buckets were lifted by the derricks and emptied into the forms. The side walls were concreted to the springing line and then the five-ring brick roof arches were constructed on traveling centers and in 20-ft.

sections. The remainder of the concrete was then placed over the arches by means of the special back-filling machine, shown by Fig. 129. This machine also handled the earth used to fill behind the masonry. It consisted of a platform mounted on wheels and of the same general construction as the derrick platform. On the forward end of this platform a stationary hoist was mounted and behind this a belt conveyor platform.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 129.--Device for Placing Concrete Back Filling for Roof Arch, Capitol Hill Tunnel.]

The latter structure was pivoted near the forward end so that it could swing right and left on a circular track under its rear end. It carried a 30-cu. ft. hopper on its forward end, from under which a belt conveyor ascended an incline toward the rear and was carried back into the s.p.a.ce behind the roof arch on a cantilever arm. In operating the back-filling machine the material bucket was lifted from the car below, carried back on the trolley beam until over the hopper and then dumped by hand into the hopper. From the hopper the material dropped onto the conveyor belt and was carried back over the arch and dumped in place ready for tamping. The trolley beam of the hoist was so arranged that the hoisting movement was vertical until the bucket hit the trolley and was then up and backward until the stop at the end of the trolley beam was reached.

This point was directly over the hopper. Hoisting was done by a Lambert engine, driven by a 15 H.P. electric motor. The conveyor belt was 20 ins. wide and was operated at a speed of 180 ft. per minute by a 7 H.P.

electric motor. The machine required two men to operate and was considered to save the labor of twelve shovelers.

~METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING SIDE WALLS IN RELINING THE MULLAN TUNNEL.~--The Mullan Tunnel, 3,850 ft. long, on the Northern Pacific Ry., about 20 miles west of Helena, Mont., had its original timber lining replaced in 1894 with a lining consisting of concrete side walls and a brick roof arch. The construction of the old and new linings is shown by Fig. 130.

The method of constructing the side walls was as follows:

The original timbering consisted of sets of 1212-in. posts carrying five segment arches of 1212-in. timbers joined by -in. dowels. For a portion of the lining the posts carried plates on which the arches set; elsewhere the arches rested directly on the post tops. The arches and posts carried 4-in. lagging filled behind with cordwood. The timber lining was removed to make place for the new work in the manner shown by Fig. 130. When there were no plates a 7-ft. section AB was first prepared by removing one post and supporting the undermined arch ribs by struts SS. The timbering in this section was cut out and excavation made for the wall footing. Two temporary posts FF were then set up, fastened by hook bolts L and lagged behind to make the wall form.

Several of these 7-ft. sections were cut out at once, each two being separated by a 5-ft. section of timbering. The mortar car shown in Fig.

130 was then run alongside the sections in order and enough 1-3 mortar was run by chute into each to make an 8-in. layer. As the car moved ahead to succeeding sections enough broken stone was shoveled into the last preceding section to take up the mortar. The walls were thus built in 8-in. layers and became hard enough to support the arches in from 10 to 14 days. The arches were then allowed to take footing on the wall, and the posts of the remaining 5-ft. sections were removed and the concrete wall built up as for the 7-ft. sections. Where the posts carried wall plates the struts SS were not needed, the wall plate supporting the undermined post as a beam. English Portland cement was used and the concrete mixture was about 4 parts mortar to 5 parts broken stone--a very rich mixture. The average progress was about 30 ft., or 45 cu. yds. of side wall per working day; the average cost of the walls, including everything, was $8 per cu. yd. of concrete. The brick arch cost $17 per cu. yd. Mr. H. C. Relf is authority for these figures.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 130.--Sketches Showing Method of Lining Mullan Tunnel.]

~METHOD AND COST OF LINING A SHORT TUNNEL, PEEKSKILL, N. Y.~--The following methods and costs of lining a double track railway tunnel 275 ft. long near Peekskill, N.Y., are given by Mr. Geo. W. Lee. In presenting these data it is important to note that while some of the methods described are applicable to so short a tunnel they could not be used on a long tunnel. Figure 131 is a cross-section of the tunnel showing the lining. The tunnel was through rock, which stood up without timbering, and the rock section was excavated from 6 ins. to 3 ft.

outside the lining. A 1-2-4 concrete using crusher run stone below 1 in.

in size was used for the lining and portal head wall coping and a 1-3-6 concrete for the portal head walls proper. The cost of the portal head walls is included in the costs given further on.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 131.--Cross-Section of Peekskill Tunnel, Showing Lining.]

The side wall foundation trenches were first excavated from 1 to 3 ft.

deep and footing concreted and leveled up, the back of the footing being carried up against the rock and the front lined to forms giving a 12-in.

offset to the side wall. The footings contained 200 cu. yds. of concrete. Platforms 25 ft. square and level with the springing lines were then erected at each end of the tunnel. A derrick was placed at each platform to handle skips between it and the material tracks which ran underneath and through the tunnel with a turnout at each end for switching back empty cars. A 60 H.P. portable boiler supplied steam for the derrick engines and a pump. The wall forms were built and erected in panels 12 ft. long; these panels had 46-in. plates and sills, 44-in.

studs 3 ft. on centers and 2-in. dressed and matched spruce sheeting.

Four panels were set up, two on each side, midway of the tunnel and braced to the tunnel track. Wheelbarrow runways carried on bents were built from the platforms to the forms, one from one platform to one side, another from the other platform to the opposite side. Temporary bulkheads were erected to close the ends of the forms and they were filled. Meanwhile carpenters were setting other panels at each end of the two first erected on each side. After 24 hours the panels first set were taken down and moved ahead and the processes described continued until the full length of side wall was completed. The side walls were not concreted back to the rock; back forms of 1-in. hemlock were used and the s.p.a.ce remaining was filled with spalls. The side walls contained 692 cu. yds. of concrete.

Arch forms were erected for 96 ft. at the center of the tunnel, using 12-ft. lagging, so that sections of this length could be taken down and moved ahead, nine at each end. The lagging was first laid to a height of 3 ft. above the springing line on each side and the concrete dumped directly in place from runways laid on the lower chords of the arch ribs, which were placed 4 ft. apart. When the concrete reached a height too great for direct discharge into the forms it was dumped on the runway and pa.s.sed over with shovels. On the upper portion of the ring the concrete was first shoveled to a platform erected on the center posts of the ribs about 2 ft. below the crown and then pa.s.sed in on the lagging which was laid in 4-ft. instead of 12-ft. lengths at this stage of the work. As soon as each section of arch ring was completed it was waterproofed with six layers of tar paper laid in hot tar and then packed behind with spalls. The arch centers were struck in a comparatively short time; in one instance they were struck 90 hours after the last concrete was placed and no settlement was apparent. The arch forms stuck so fast to the concrete, however, that they had to be jacked down by chiseling out the lagging so as to get a bearing on the arch concrete and by nailing thrust blocks to the rib posts. The section was then hauled ahead by pa.s.sing the main fall of the derrick through a s.n.a.t.c.h block on the first rib. When hauled clear of the lining all but the first 3-ft. of lagging on each side was removed; they were then jacked into position. The arch ring contained 932 cu. yds. of concrete.

Including the portal head walls 1,948 cu. yds. of concrete were laid at the following costs for labor and materials:

Item. Total. Per cu. yd.

Cement at $1.63 per bbl. $ 5,755.50 $2.951 Sand at $0.75 per cu. yd. 662.94 0.339 Stone at $0.80 per cu. yd. 1,303.20 0.668

Lumber-- Mixing platforms and runways 336.89 0.174 Ribs, including hand sawing 234.10 0.120 Backing boards 134.44 0.069 Lagging 341.04 0.176 Sheathing 268.49 0.137 Plates, sills, studs, braces 182.75 0.093 Coal 118.73 0.061 Oil 16.12 0.008 Hardware, nails, spikes, etc. 224.39 0.118 Tools 181.10 0.093 Freight on stone, cement, etc. 3,089.86 1.584 Labor of all kinds 8,036.31 4.121 ---------- ------- Total $20,885.86 $10.712

~METHOD OF LINING CASCADE TUNNEL, GREAT NORTHERN RY.~--The Cascade Tunnel, 13,813 ft. long, built in 1897-1900, was lined throughout with concrete from 24 ins. to 3 ft. thick, mixed and placed in the following manner: It was necessary to place the lining without interfering with the transportation of materials and excavated material to and from the work ahead. The arrangement adopted to secure this end is shown by Fig. 132.

A platform 500 ft. long was constructed at the elevation of the wall plates; the rear end of this platform was reached by an incline, up which the cars loaded with concrete were hauled by an air hoist and cable and delivered to any point on this platform. While each 500 ft. of tunnel was being concreted, the next 500 ft. of platform in advance was being built, with its approach incline, so that there was no delay in the work.

Complete concrete plants were installed at each portal, advantage being taken of the side hills of the approach into the mountain to handle as much material as possible by gravity. Each plant was equipped with a No.

6 Gates crusher, 40-in.8-ft. rock screens, and 16-in.16-ft. screw concrete mixers. Large storage bins for the cement, sand and stone were built adjacent to the mixer plant. A 1-3-5 concrete was used. The stone was crushed from the best rock obtained in the tunnel excavation. This rock was loaded into the regular muck cars, taken to the portal by electric motors, and then dumped into other cars below the level of the muck cars. These cars were hauled by hoisting engine and cable to the crusher floor and then dumped and sorted to avoid danger from pieces of unexploded dynamite. It was then run through the crushers, washers and screens to the stone bin and thence to the mixers. The mixed concrete was discharged into cars on the level of the muck car tracks and these cars were taken by motor into the tunnel to the incline, up which they were hauled by cable and dumped on the platform. From the platform the concrete was shoveled into the wall forms or onto the centers as desired.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 132.--Traveling Platform Used in Lining Cascade Tunnel.]

The walls were concreted in alternate 12-ft. sections, the weight on the timber arch thus being gradually transferred from the plumb posts to the walls. The roof arch was also built in 12-ft. sections, the centers being in sections of corresponding length which were moved forward on dollies and jacked up as the work advanced. Ten sections of centering were used at each end. An average of 7 bbls. of cement were used per lineal foot of lining. The average monthly progress of lining was about 600 ft. at each end. The concrete lining cost $44 per lin. ft. of tunnel, done by company forces.

~METHOD OF RELINING HODGES Pa.s.s TUNNEL, OREGON SHORT LINE RY.~--The centers and side wall forms and the methods of work adopted in relining the Hodges Pa.s.s tunnel on the Oregon Short Line Ry. are explained in the accompanying ill.u.s.trations. This tunnel is 1,425.8 ft. long and when constructed in 1882 was lined with timber. The new lining consists of concrete side walls carrying a brick roof arch. Both the old and the new linings are shown in the drawings. The tunnel is through a variety of rock and clay strata, and through the soft strata an invert was required. Altogether about one-third of the length of the tunnel was provided with an invert. It will be noted also that the new lining occupies materially more s.p.a.ce than the old; this made necessary considerable excavation in enlarging the section.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 133.--Method of Placing Invert Concrete, Hodges'

Pa.s.s Tunnel.]

The work of relining consisted of three operations, viz., the invert construction, the construction of the side walls and the arch construction.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 134.--Method of Constructing Concrete Side Walls, Hodges' Pa.s.s Tunnel.]

The form of the invert is shown in Fig. 136. It, of course, had to be constructed without entailing a break in the track, and the method adopted was as follows: The ties and ballast were removed from a section of track about 12 ft. long and in their place was subst.i.tuted the timber frame shown in Fig. 133. Under the middle portion of this frame a trench reaching clear across the tunnel and having a width of 6 to 7 ft. in the direction of the track was excavated to sub-grade of the invert. The concrete was filled into this trench, formed to shape on top, and allowed to harden. The bridging frame was then taken out and the ties and ballast were replaced. Another section of track was then bridged, trenched and concreted and so on until the length of invert required was constructed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 135.--Side Wall Forms for Plans A and B, Fig. 134.]

The side wall construction was a more complex operation. It comprised first the removal of the old lining, the enlarging excavation and the form erection and concreting. Two methods of performing this task were employed. Both are ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 134. By the first method, designated as Plan A, the concreting was done continuously in sections of considerable length. The forms used are shown in detail by Fig. 135.

By the second method, the concreting was done in alternate short panels.

This method is designated Plan B on the drawings, Fig. 134. The forms used are shown in detail by Fig. 135. The only difference in the form construction for the two plans is in the connection of the posts at the top.