Relevant risk factors associated with the construction of excavated tunnel cross-passages in soft soils

This paper reports on an investigation of risk factors associated with the construction of excavated tunnel cross-passages in soft soils. The investigation focused on excavations where freezing technologies are used to provide temporary support. The relevant risk factors and their associated probabilistic data were gathered from elicitation of experts. A ranking of the most important factors was obtained for an on-going project: Sluiskil tunnel in the Netherlands. This was made possible by modelling the risk factors using Bayesian Belief Networks. Based on the modelling results the project has increased its awareness of the relevant risk factors in the construction of cross- passages and further optimized the associated mitigation measures