1. BG Ingénieurs Conseils My project My career path
Michele
Janutolo Barlet
BG Ingénieurs Conseils
My project
My career path
Born in 1984 in Italy (Italian and French citizenship)
2006 : Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering at Politecnico di Torino (Italy)
: Second year of master at INSA Lyon (France)
2008 : Internship for Lyon Turin Ferroviaire in France
2008 : Master Degree in Civil Engineering
2010: Visiting student at Queen’s University (Canada)
2012 : PhD Degree in Rock Mechanics at Politecnico di Torino
2012 – now : BG Ingénieurs Conseils in France, Design Engineer then Project Manager
Mont-Cenis Base Tunnel along the new Lyon-Turin railway line (owner: Tunnel Euralpin Lyon-Turin, TELT)
Most challenging activity during this project : design of a mixed shield slurry TBM in the Italian side of the tunnel.
The TBM has been designed according to geology:
Lithology and rock quality varying significantly
Faults with squeezing rocks and high water inflow
Excavation under a glacial valley with sand and gravel deposits with an overburden of 55 m (closed mode)
Potential asbestos-bearing rocks (special procedure)
Why underground
An anecdote…
My career path :
I was born in 1984 in the North of Italy, with Italian and French citizenship (my mother is French)
In 2006, I obtained my bachelor degree in civil engineering at Politecnico di Torino.
In , I spent my second year of master at INSA de Lyon. In this framework I carried out an internship for Lyon-Turin Ferroviaire.
In 2008 I obtained my Master’s degree, again in Civil Engineering.
I continued my studies with a PhD in Rock Mechanics, again at Politecnico di Torino. In this framework, in 2010 I was a visiting student at Queen’s University in Canada.
In 2012 I obtained the PhD degree.
In the same year I started working for BG Ingénieurs Conseils in France, bofore as a Design Engineer and then as a Project Manager.
My project :
The main project during my career has been the Mont-Cenis Base Tunnel along the new Lyon-Turin railway line – the owner of this project is Tunnel Euralpin Lyon-Turin –TELT-, and the most challenging activity during this project has been the design of a mixed shield slurry TBM in the italian side of the tunnel.
The TBM characteristics have been designed according to the geological context, facing the following issues:
• Lithology and rock quality vary significantly along the tunnel (micaschists, gneiss, cargneules, calcschists, etc…), with a overburden until 1200 m;
The TBM will cross faults in which squeezing rocks and high water inflows are expected.
• The TBM will excavate under a glacial valley, with sand and gravel deposits with an overburden of 55 m. It will work in closed mode here;
• The TBM will excavate in potential asbestos-bearing rocks for a short length. A special procedure has been defined to deal with these rocks.
The variability of geology, rock mass parameters and behaviours during excavation makes tunnelling a challenging and interesting activity.
This is by sure the case of the Mont-Cenis Base Tunnel, in which all the main rock mass conditions and the major geological hazards have been encountered or are expected.
Tunnel design is not a repetitive task, for this reason I find it really attractive, in contrast to structural engineering for example.
When visiting the ongoing excavation in the French side of the Base Tunnel at the foot of the St. Martin La Porte access tunnel, the driver reversed, in order to go out. But the car broke down really when it was perpendicular to the tunnel, blocking traffic and tunnel logistics! The workers tried to repair it, but without success. Finally the car was towed up to the surface.
The Base Tunnel excavation was stopped 1 hour due to this problem! We say it was a weapon of the opponents..