Reinforcement of Diaphragm Wall Soft-Eye Section using TYFO^® Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) Rebar

Marina Bay is one of the stations along the Thomson-East Coast Line (TEL) which allows residents in the east and along the North-South to have easy and fast access to the cities in Singapore. During the construction of Marina Bay station, temporary reinforcement was necessary in the soft-eye section of the diaphragm wall to facilitate tunnel excavation and penetration activities.

Various sizes of non-metallic TYFO^® Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) rebars were adopted to replace the steel reinforcement in the soft-eye section. The adoption of GFRP rebar allowed the tunnel boring machine (TBM) to effortlessly penetrate the soft-eye section, thus ensuring efficient operation time.

This choice was made due to the high tensile strength and ease of cutting of GFRP rebar as the TBM penetrates, making it more beneficial than steel reinforcement.