Versinterung von Tunneldrainagen

In this paper the effects of removal the scale sintering out of tunnel drainages are shown especially by German Railways. After that maintenance methods and strategies will be discussed, which have developed by German Railways and other tunnel operators over the years with increasing awareness of the effects of sintering on operational reliability, durability and financial effects. For implementation of the maintenance strategies especially for pipe cleaning different methods and equipment is available. The criteria for application of conventional post-sedimentum cleaning methods as well as their influence on the durability of the drainage system are compared. For positive influence of the deposits and to reduce the damage caused by pipe cleaning additional preventive maintenance methods are recently used. The objectives of this so-called hardness stabilization are to reduce both the quantity and the hardness (strength) of the formed deposits. The hardness stabilization with the agent polyaspartic acid is an application of a chemical-physical process used by crustaceans for the growth of their shells.

Within the scope of a research project „Life-cycle orientated maintenance of drainage systems in tunnels of the high-speed railway connections at German Railways-Network“ at the Institute for Construction Engineering and Management of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich a model of costs and decision for maintenance strategies of tunnel-drainage systems will be developed taking into consideration the combination of practices shown in this paper and allowing for operational requirements.