^aAsian Institute of Technology, km. 42 Paholythin Highway, Klong Luang Pathumtani 12120, Thailand

^bUniversity of Illinois, 208 N. Romine, Urbana, IL 61801, USA

Ravelling and squeezing of sheared shale of Stillwater Tunnel caused severe problems in tunneling with a tunnel boring machine (TBM) that led to termination of the contract. The tunnel was finally holed through with two TBM's specially designed for squeezing ground. Although the shale mass in all geological conditions exhibited time-dependent response, significant squeezing was confined to sheared shale with large amounts of clay gouge infill, wherein creep of the clay gouge was the prime mechanism controlling the ground response. However, when the tunnel face was advanced at a slow rate, the observed ground squeezing in the early period was largely induced by the effect of stress change from face advance, not the creep. Ground ravelling was very significant in sheared shale due to the high degree of fissuring and fracturing of this thinly bedded shale. Failure of the first TBM resulted mainly from the incompatibility of the shield design with the sheared shale. The shield was too long and stiff and had variable diameters. Extensive observation and instrumentation programs of the project provided valuable information on rapid mechanized tunneling in heavy ground.