tunnels and underground excavations
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- Key People:
- Robert Moses Isambard Kingdom Brunel Sir Marc Isambard Brunel Robert Stephenson Herman Haupt
- Related Topics:
- tunneling shield rock bolt caisson air lock immersed tube
tunnels and underground excavations, horizontal underground passageway produced by excavation or occasionally by nature’s action in dissolving a soluble rock, such as limestone. A vertical opening is usually called a shaft. Tunnels have many uses: for mining ores, for transportation—including road vehicles, trains, subways, and canals—and for conducting water and sewage. Underground chambers, often associated with a complex of connecting tunnels and shafts, increasingly are being used for such things as underground hydroelectric-power plants, ore-processing plants, pumping stations, vehicle parking, storage of oil and water, water-treatment plants, warehouses, and light manufacturing; also command centres and other special military needs. True ...(100 of 17225 words)