Productivity of Microtunneling Projects: Estimating Models for the Microtunneling Process for Water and Wastewater Pipelines

The need for utility service line replacement or repairs with minimum disruption to the surface has increased the demand for trenchless excavation methods like microtunneling. Microtunneling is a trenchless technique that is used in installation of new pipelines. Microtunneling can be applied in gravity and pressure lines, permanent ducts for cables, and crossings under rails or roads. When bidding a microtunneling project, the main concern of contractors is predicting the underground behavior of the machine. Contractors do not have enough resources for predicting the productivity of microtunneling machines. The book provides contractors with models to estimate microtunneling productivity to reduce their bidding risks and increase profit. It uses statistical modeling techniques. Penetration time, delay time, and preparation time for the microtunneling process were modeled. Penetration time was predicted for different soil conditions using deterministic techniques, while preparation and delay time used probabilistic techniques.