The reinforcement of the core-face: history and state of the art of the Italian technology that has revolutionized the world of tunnelling. Some reflections

Abstract: Systematic reinforcement of the core-face of a tunnel using glass-fiber elements as a structural component to stabilize it in the long and short term is a practice developed in ltaly that has been used for over twenty-five years. During this period significant developments for core-face reinforcement technique have occurred in design approach, construction technologies and materials. This paper illustrates these developments and goes deeply in the very origin and reason of core-face reinforcement using fiber glass elements. What has in fact to point out, after decades of studies and application, is that this practice is not to be intended just as a simple stabilization tool, as often considered starting from limit equilibrium models, but above all as an instrument to control deformation and induced settlements.