Caulking and Leakage.
Up to August, 1907, the joints between the segments of the cast-iron lining were caulked with iron filings and sal ammoniac, mixed in the proportion of 400 to 1 by weight. With the air pressure balancing the hydrostatic head near the tunnel axis, it was difficult to make the rust-joint caulking tight below the axis against the opposing water pressure; this form of caulking was also injured in many places by water dripping from service pipes attached to the tunnel lining. A few trials of lead wire caulked cold gave such satisfactory results that it was adopted as a substitute. Pneumatic hammers were used successfully on the lead caulking, but were only used to a small extent on the rust borings, which were mostly hand caulked. Immediately before placing the concrete lining, all leaks, whether in the rust borings or lead, were repaired with lead, and the remainder of the groove was filled with 1 to 1 Portland cement mortar, leaving the joints absolutely water-tight at that time. The subsequent development of small seepages through the concrete would seem to indicate that the repair work should have been carried on far enough in advance of the concreting to permit the detection of secondary leaks which might develop slowly. The average labor cost chargeable against the caulking was 12 cents per lin. ft., to which should be added 21.8 cents for "top charges."
Unfortunately, it was necessary to place the greater part of the concrete lining in the river tunnels during the summer months when the temperature at the point of work frequently exceeded 85°; and the temperature of the concrete while setting was much higher. This abnormal heat, due to chemical action in the cement, soon passed away, and, with the approach of winter, the contraction of the concrete resulted in transverse cracks. By the middle of the winter these had developed quite uniformly at the ends of each 30-ft. section of concrete arch as placed, and frequently finer cracks showed at about the center of each 30-ft. section.
While the temperature of the concrete was falling, a like change was taking place in the cast-iron lining, with resulting contraction. The lining had been erected in compressed air, the temperature of which averaged about 70° in winter and higher in summer. Compressed air having been taken off in the summer of 1908, the tunnels then acquired the lower temperature of the surrounding earth, slowly falling until mid-winter. The contraction of the concrete, firmly bedded around the flanges of the iron, and showing cracks at fairly uniform intervals, probably localized the small corresponding movements of the iron near the concrete cracks, and resulted in a loosening of the caulking at these points. With the advent of cold weather, damp spots appeared in numerous places on the concrete, and small seepages showed through quite regularly at the temperature cracks, in some cases developing sufficiently to be called leaks. Only a few, however, were measurable in amount.
Early in January small brass plugs were firmly set on opposite sides of a large number of cracks, and caliper readings and air temperature observations were taken regularly throughout the winter and spring. The widths of the cracks and the amount of leakage at them increased with each drop in temperature and decreased as the temperature rose again, but until spring the width of the cracks did not return to the same point with each return of temperature.
The leakage was similar in all four tunnels, but was largest in amount in Tunnel D, where, at the beginning of February, the ordinary flow was about 0.0097 cu. ft. per sec., equivalent to 0.00000347 cu. ft. per sec. per lin. ft. of tunnel. Of this amount 0.0065 cu. ft. per sec. could be accounted for at eight of the cracks showing measurable leakage, leaving 0.0032 cu. ft. per sec. or 0.00000081 cu. ft. per sec. per lin. ft. of tunnel to be accounted for as general seepage distributed over the whole length.
It was not feasible to stop every leak in the tunnel, most of which were indicated simply by damp spots on the concrete; a rather simple method was devised, however, for stopping the leaks at the eight or ten places in each tunnel where water dripped from the arch or flowed down the face of the concrete. The worst leak in any tunnel flowed about 0.0023 cu. ft. per sec. To stop these leaks, rows of 1-in. holes, at about 4-in. centers, were drilled with jap drills through the concrete to the flange of the iron. These rows were from 3 to 18 ft. long, extending 1 ft. or more beyond the limits of the leak. The bottoms of the holes were directly on the caulking groove and the pounding of the drill usually drove the caulking back, so that the leak became dry or nearly so after the holes were drilled. If left alone the leaks would gradually break out again in a few hours or a few days and flow more water than before. They were allowed to do this, however, in only a few cases as experiments. After the holes were drilled, the bottom 4 in. next the flange was filled with soft neat cement mortar. Immediately on top of this was placed two plugs of neat cement about 2-1/2 in. long, which were 5 or 6 hours old and rather hard. Each was tamped in with a round caulking tool of the size of the hole driven with a sledge hammer. On top of this were driven in the same way two more plugs of neat cement of the same size, which were hard set. These broke up under the blows of the hammer, and caulked the hole tight. When finished, the tamping tool would ring as though it was in solid rock. Great pressure was exerted on the plastic mortar in the bottom of the hole, which resulted in the re-caulking of the joint of the iron. No further measurable leakage developed in the repaired cracks, during a period of four months, and the total leakage has been reduced to about 0.002 cu. ft. per sec. in each tunnel, an average of 0.00000051 cu. ft. per sec. per lin. ft.