Author 1:

Name & Surname: Kulikov Yu. N.
Company: Mining Institute of National University of Science and Technology MISiS (Moscow, Russia)
Work Position: Professor
Scientific Degree: Candidate of Engineering Sciences

Author 2:

Name & Surname: Ivanov I. A.
Company: ALROSA (Moscow, Russia)
Work Position: Academic Secretary, ALROSA President’s Council of Experts
Scientific Degree: Candidate of Engineering Sciences
Contacts: e-mail: i85@yandex.ru

An essential term of construction of underground distribution lines is their reliability and endurance. The article describes the research of a new method of constructing utility systems in urban conditions—microtunneling. In view of the insufficient statistics on operation of microtunnels, the authors propose the microtunnel reliability and endurance forecasting procedure based on the analysis of physicochemical interaction between the steel/ reinforced concrete pipes (housing) the external and internal environment in order to determine the character and origin time of hazardous defects. The failure criteria and forecast operation periods of microtunnels are calculated as functions of grades of steel and concrete. The research findings yield the following conclusions important for practical microtunneling:
— microtunneling with reinforced concrete pipe cannot use concrete grade lower than B40;
— steel housings are to be made of steel with the corrosion depth index under 0.07 mm/yr and corrosion rate not higher than 0.063 g/(m²·year).

1. Kulikov Yu. N., Kulikova E. Yu. Puti povysheniya nadezhnosti obdelok gorodskikh kommunalnykh tonneley (Ways of increasing of municipal tunnels lining reliability). Nauchno-uchebnyy tsentr fundamentalnykh i prikladnykh issledovaniy v oblasti gornogo dela Rossiyskoy Akademii Nauk-Moskovskogo Gosudarstvennogo Gornogo Universiteta. Nedelya gornyaka 97 : materialy «kruglogo stola» (State-educational center of fundamental and applied researches in the area of mining of Russian Academy of Sciences-Moscow State Mining University. Miner's week 97 : materials of the “round table”). Moscow : Moscow State Mining University, 1997.
2. Kulikov Yu. N., Voronina T. V. Veroyatnost otkazov gorodskikh kommunikatsiy, sooruzhaemykh sposobom mikrotonnelirovaniya (Probability of failures of municipal communications, built by microtunneling). Materialy nauchno-tekhnicheskogo kongressa «Bezopasnost — osnova ustoychivogo razvitiya regionov i megapolisov» (Materials of scientific-technical congress «Safety is the basis of stable development of regions and megalopolises»). 2004. pp. 164–167.