Prediction of Ground Subsidence Associated with Construction of Greater Cairo Metro – Line 3

Abstract

Substantial length of Greater Cairo Metro – Line 3 will be excavated through the Nile alluviums under a high groundwater head. The planned route passes in close proximity to many structurally sensitive buildings especially in the downtown area. Controlling ground subsidence associated with tunneling in these problematic conditions, is especially consequential when inquiring the success of the new line. This paper predicts the settlement trough associated with tunneling between Attaba Station and Bab El-Sharia Station. The analysis is based on two different analytical approaches. The first approach is a nonlinear three-dimensional finite element analysis based on the Gap Parameter method. The second approach is a novel method based on the Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) technology. The ANN was trained and verified using the observed settlements for many tunnels in Egypt and abroad. The results show that these approaches compatibly predict the settlement associated with tunneling although they are based on different modeling techniques.