Large-scale inflatable structures for tunnel protection: a review of the Resilient Tunnel Plug project

Journal of Infrastructure Preservation and Resilience

Table 3 Summary of the number of tests per phase and scale of testing

Membrane Design		Single Layer		Three Layer			Totals
Testing Category		Phase 1	Phase 2	Phase 2b	Phase 2b-ET	Phase 3	Totals
Material Testing	Tensile testing	32	90	9	9	21	426
	Friction Testing	60	120	60		15
	Shear Testing		3	5
	Flammability Testing		1			1
Reduced-Scale Testing	Low-pressure air inflations (1:5.7)	6					202
	Low-pressure air inflations (1:4)		5	3	3
	Full Pressure/Flooding Simulation (1:4)		50	35	100
Full-Scale Testing	Low pressure air inflations ^b	10^a	12	11	19		109
	Low pressure air inflations ^c	1^a	3	10	6	22
	Full Pressure/Flooding Simulation ^c		3^d	3	2	7

Notes: ^a Preparation tests in the lab plus demonstration test in the tail tunnel with the same prototype; ^b Surrogate plug; ^c Final testing prototype; ^d Plug pressurization only, no tunnel flooding. Results compiled from results reported in Molina (2008) [70]; Martinez et al. (2012) [42]; Barbero et al., (2013) [43, 44], Sill et al. (2013) [84]; Peil et al. (2014) [90]; Sosa et al. (2014, 2017) [69, 88, 89];