The lining of a railway tunnel excavated using the Norwegian Tunnel Construction Method – a case study

Unlike the New Austrian Tunneling Method (NATM), which is widely used in Poland and in which the final reinforced concrete lining is constructed after the tunnel face has advanced, in the Norwegian Method (NMT), the function of the final lining is generally performed by an anchor-concrete lining, erected on an ongoing basis as excavation progresses. This requires a particularly responsible approach to the design and construction of the lining, ensuring the stability of the structure throughout its entire service life.
The railway tunnel discussed in this paper will be excavated mainly in blocky rock mass, consisting of high-strength metamorphic rocks. The design of the support was based on limit equilibrium methods (block theory) and numerical modeling, treating the rock mass as a pseudo-discontinuous medium. In zones with low-quality rock mass, however, the rock mass was modeled as an equivalent continuous model, and the lining was reinforced with reinforced shotcrete ribs (RRS).

A graduate of Wrocław University of Technology and the AGH University of Science and Technology. Since 2020, he has been with the Silesian Shaft Construction Company, where he was responsible for the implementation of underground mining construction projects. Since 2025, he has been employed as a rock mechanics engineer at COWI Polska, where he handles the design and numerical analysis of underground structures in infrastructure projects carried out in the Scandinavian, British, and American markets.