Ground movements induced by tunnel boring in Naples

Major underground works have been carried out in the city of Naples (Italy) in the last two decades to enhance the public transport system and they are still in progress. Very densely urbanized areas of the city were interested, including historical and monumental buildings. Therefore, prediction and control of ground movements have been issues of great concern for designers and contractors. The paper refers about the ground movements measured during the excavation of tunnels of stretches belonging to Line 1 and Line 6 of the underground railway system. The collected data confirmed that the use of tunnel boring machines has no-wadays largely reduced the level of ground loss during excavation and, consequently, the concern for possible interaction with the existing buildings.