Estimating the Maximum Support Pressure When Shallow Tunnelling in Soft Soils in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City

The growing economy and increasing urban population create a high demand for transportation infrastructure. When surface space becomes limited and costly, underground space becomes a crucial solution to create new infrastructure. The increasing number of tunneling projects in soft soil conditions poses challenges regarding the risks of instability during the tunneling process. The research paper presents a novel compact blowout model developed by Vu and Broere (Tunn Undergr Space Technol 138, 2023) and evaluates the maximum support pressure for two specific cases: Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) Metro Line No.1 and Hanoi Metro Line No.3. Assessing the support pressures applied at the HCMC Metro Line No.1 site, combined with field observations on stability, results in recommendations for similar projects in Hanoi and HCMC.