Research on Strata Deformation Induced by EPB Tunneling in Round Gravel Stratum and Its Control Technology

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The reviewed article concerns the measurements of terrain surface deformation and overburden layers above a tunnel bored in loose (soft) rocks using the Earth Balanced Pressure shield (EBP).

Due to the unfavorable properties of the rock, presence of groundwater, and the small depth of tunneling works, the overburden strata are subject of uplifting in first place - as a result of pressurized grou injection, and then subsidence resulted from groundwater and soil grains penetratiion into the working space of the tunelling machine.

As the authors rightly point out, the problem of  the ground surface deformation is in this case very important from the point of view of the safety of surface objects. Subsidence as a result of the formation of underground voids is one of the main negative impacts of underground mining. On the other hand, raising the surface with pressure grouting also poses a threat, both to the surface and to the infrastructure, no. pipelines laid in the ground.

In general, I rate the reviewed article high, I have no objections to the content, except for the aforementioned linguistic remark, and I suggest publishing it with language proofreading,

It is also right to measure the horizontal displacements, which generate horizontal tensile and compressive stresses in the substrate, which even have a greater potential detrimental effect on construction objects than the vertical displacements themselves.

From the scientific point of view, the Authors did not present a new approach to the topic, hence the "average" rating in the context of scientific soundness and original / novelty, while in terms of the importance of the publication and the potential interest of the reader, the article deserves a high rating. Of course, as a case study, A reader should not expect a significant contribution to the development of science in this type of material, but the utilitarian significance is high, very clearly presented and potentially intereseting for reltively wide audience.

The style of the English language is quite coarse, so I would suggest smoothing the text in terms of sentence structure, tenses and phrases used.

 

 

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

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Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

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Reviewer 3 Report

In my opinion, Figure 3 and 4 are the same - please explain if I'm wrong.

Line 191- end the sentence with a dot

Line 245 – separate the figure 7 from the text with a free line

Line 247 name of the figure 7 move under the figure to the passing page

Line 393- 394 please correct this statement: rapidly increases from 15686 kN to 14952 kN when crossing the section,

Line 406, 408  - South - write the beginning of the word with a small letter

Line 479 - It is better to move the subsection title to page 13

Line 481 – Figure 18 not 17

I recommend putting a blank line before the all figures.

The numbering of individual pages in the document is incorrect.

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx