Leading Frames.
—As already stated, leading frames are the patterns, or molds, used in building the side walls of the lining. Like the ground mold they are usually built of plank; one side being cut to the curve of the profile, and the other being made parallel to the vertical axis of the tunnel section. The vertical side usually has some arrangement by which a plumb bob can be attached, as shown by [Fig. 40], to guide the workmen in erecting the frame. The combined leading frame and ground mold shown in [Fig. 39] has already been described. The use of this frame is possible only where the masonry is begun at the invert and carried up on each side at the same time. This mode of construction is peculiar to the English method of tunneling; in all other methods the form of separate ground frame shown by [Fig. 40] is employed. The ground frames are lined in and leveled up by transit and level; and, as in setting the ground frames, care must be taken to secure accuracy in both direction and elevation.
Arch Centers.
—The template or form upon which the roof arch is built is called a center. Unlike the ground molds and leading frames, the arch centers have to support the weight of the masonry and the roof pressures during the construction of the lining, and they, therefore, require to be made strong. Owing to the fact that the pressures are indeterminate, it is impossible to design a rational center, and resort is had to those constructions which past experience has shown to work satisfactorily under similar conditions. In a general way it can always be assumed that the construction should be as simple as possible, that the center should be so designed that it can be set up and removed with the least possible labor, and that the different pieces of the framework and lagging should be as short as possible, for convenience in handling.
Tunnel centers are usually composed of two parts,—a mold or curved surface upon which the masonry rests, and a framework which supports the mold. The curved surface or mold consists of a lagging of narrow boards running parallel to the tunnel axis, which rests upon the arched top members of two or more consecutive supporting frames. The supporting frame is built in the form of a truss, and must be made strong enough to withstand the heavy superimposed loads, consisting of the arch masonry during construction, and of the roof pressures which are transferred to the center when the strutting is removed to allow the masonry to be placed. The framework of the center is supported either by posts resting upon the floor of the excavation, or upon the invert masonry when this is built first, as in the English and Austrian methods, or it may be supported directly upon the ground where the arch masonry is built first, as in the Belgian method of tunneling.
In describing the various methods of tunneling in succeeding chapters, the center construction and method of supporting the center peculiar to each will be fully explained, and only a few general remarks are necessary here. Centers may be classified according to their construction and composition into plank centers, truss centers, and iron centers.
Fig. 41.—Plank Center for Constructing the Roof Arch.
One of the most common forms of plank centers is shown by [Fig. 41]. It consists of two half-polygons whose sides consist of 15 in. × 4 ft. planks having radial end-joints. These two half-polygons are laid one upon the other so that they break joints, as shown by the figure, and the extrados of the frame is cut to the true curve of the roof arch. The planks commonly used for making these centers are 4 ins. thick, making the total thickness of the center 8 ins. Plank centers of the construction described are suitable only for work where the pressures to be resisted are small, as in tunnels through a fairly firm rock, although there have been instances of their successful use in soft-ground tunnels.
Where heavy loads have to be carried, trussed centers are generally employed, the trusses being composed of heavy square beams with scarfed and tenoned joints, reinforced by iron plates. Different forms of trusses are employed in each of the different methods of tunneling, and each of these is described in succeeding chapters; but they are generally either of the king-post or queen-post type, or some modification of them. The king-post truss may be used alone, with or without the tie-beam, as shown by [Fig. 42]; but generally a queen-post truss is made to form the base of support for a smaller king-post truss mounted on its top. This arrangement gives a trapezoidal form to the center, which approaches closely to the arch profile. Owing to the character of the pressures transmitted to the center, the usual tension members can be made very light.