Sustainability Issue #3 June 2010

The total investment by the infrastructure industry in research and development (r&d) amounts to less than one per cent of capital turnover for new investment, operation and maintenance. For infrastructure below ground and in rock, the input of r&d is only a fraction of one per cent. The result is that the costs for infrastructure construction become considerably higher than they need to be, and the consequences in the form of increased environmental impact during the construction period are much more serious. According to estimates, 10-20% more infrastructure can be built for the same money, provided that rock mechanics research and development receives the same resources as r&d for other infrastructure. Research on infrastructure below ground and in rock is badly neglected, and it can be estimated that all new input of funds for research and development yields a hundred times as much to society in the form of  increased growth. Infrastructure below ground and in rock is a a matter of great public importance, and it is necessary that society should assume responsibility for ensuring that the work can be done effectively and with a long term view.

Installations in rock are expensive to build and must have long service lives, more than one hundred years. During that time they must be maintained and their operation secured. Operating and maintenance costs increase steeply and may within a foreseeable period become as high as investments in new installations. R&d has good opportunities to reduce these costs and to provide more infrastructure for the money. Infrastructure in rock and below ground fosters the environment above ground. Emissions, noise, dust and vibrations from traffic can be purified and eliminated.

An investigation by Vinnova shows that research costing about MSEK 100 has contributed over BSEK 5 in public benefit and increased competitiveness.

Innovations

Increased investment in r&d also implies greater innovation and thus new products, companies and export revenue. The construction sector is one of the most neglected industries, and, in the industry, construction below ground is in a special position as regards lack of r&d and innovation. Existing r&d in underground construction is almost completely free from action research, and few innovations are made. The industry is slowly assimilating new knowledge, with stepwise improvements. At conferences and industry meetings we learn that the industry is engaged on the same problems as forty years ago. The underground construction methods are also mainly the same as forty years ago.

Befo (Swedish Rock Mechanics Research Foundation) is soon forty years old, and we may wonder what benefits have been achieved.The message from the industry is that the Foundations's work is highly appreciated and provided the industry with much of the competence and know-how it now uses. The contribution has been useful but has had too little scope. In spite of the small scope of the activity, Sweden has maintained its internationally high position in rock mechanics. As recently as 2009, several Swedish researchers received the finest awards of the industry for their research.

Urban environment

On the threshold of planned and approved infrastructure investments, extensive upgrading of r&d activity is necessary. The country is in need of competent rock mechanics engineers, new and developed knowledge, techniques and products that will ensure that we receive more infrastructure for the money. In its programme for r&d, Befo has defined nine partly overlapping areas. Several of these are of great or critical significance for underground construction in an urban environment. The areas that are particularly important are those to do with the environment during  construction. When construction has been finished, the improvement in the enmvironment is evident, During construction, the aspiration isd to ensure that groundwater levels are affected as little as possible, materials are recycled, noise, dust and vibration from the work and associated transport are limited. It is also the aspiration to plan and carry out the work so as to minimise disturbances by operation and maintenance, minimise impact on the environment and secure a good working environment.

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