Cracks in the building because of CMRL work- Residents scared
Posted on: 21/Nov/2013 10:09:27 AM
Chennaites are sacred because of the cracks that occur during the work of the CMRL. As the tunneling work of Chennai Metro Rail paces ahead, several buildings have suffered cracks as result of this work. The giant tunnel boring machine (TBM), as it drilled underneath at least 700 buildings in the Broadway area, caused cracks in about 20 of them including heritage structures.
Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) may have taken care of the repair work on the affected buildings, but the owners say that they were unaware that a tunnel boring machine (TBM) would go underneath their building.
The CMRL is required to inform the residents of areas in which boring is to take place of the date on which the activity will begin, according to experts in IIT-Madras.
Cracks usually occur when the soil is weak and overburdened in the tunneling location. Plus, the strength of the foundation of the building also plays an important role, he added.
Before tunneling, CMRL has been surveying the area to see if any old and vulnerable buildings need protection. But, incidents of crack are largely unavoidable in such large scale constructions particularly in congested area where known methods of strengthening cannot be carried out, said S. R. Gandhi, faculty, and the Head of the Department of Civil engineering in IIT- Madras.
CMRL looks into the nature of the structures before beginning to tunnel in a stretch, said officials. “If we suspect that the building may collapse, we evacuate the building. I’m told that few structures had to be dismantled because they were too weak to stand the tunnelling process,” said the official of CMRL.
When asked if such cracks would continue to occur when the Chennai Metro Rail trains are up and running, the official denied any such possibility. “The vibrations of trains certainly will not have such an effect on our buildings,” he added
