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Design Challenges of the San Bernardino Mountains Tunnels along the Inland Feeder

1996

Jim Gallanes
Metropolitan Water District of Southern California,
Los Angeles, CA, USA

Peter Lukins
Jacobs Associates, San Francisco, CA, USA

Victor Romero
Jacobs Associates, Los Angeles, CA, USA

 




The design of two water supply tunnels through the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California involved several unusual design considerations. Construction of these tunnels will involve tunneling through active faults, a portal excavation located in a geothermal field, pre-excavation grouting to minimize the effects of tunnel excavation on the groundwater regime, and pressure tunnel design for low in situ stress - and high rock mass permeability conditions.