Form Approved
REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE
OMB No. 0704-0188
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1. AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave blank)
2. REPORT DATE
3. REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED
January 1999
4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE
5. FUNDING NUMBERS
The CRREL South Pole Tunneling System
6. AUTHORS
Michael R. Walsh
7. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES)
8. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION
REPORT NUMBER
U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory
CRREL Report 99-1
72 Lyme Road
Hanover, New Hampshire 03755
9. SPONSORING/MONITORING AGENCY NAME(S) AND ADDRESS(ES)
10. SPONSORING/MONITORING
AGENCY REPORT NUMBER
Office of Polar Programs
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, Virginia 22230
11. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES
For conversion of SI units to non-SI units of measurement, consult ASTM Standard E380-93, Standard Practice for Use of the International
System of Units, published by the American Society for Testing and Materials, 100 Barr Harbor Drive, West Conshohocken, Pa. 19428-2959.
12a. DISTRIBUTION/AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Available from NTIS, Springfield, Virginia 22161
13. ABSTRACT (Maximum 200 words)
Facilities operations in a polar ice cap environment present many challenges. Coping with the extreme cold tem-
peratures, associated wind chills, darkness during the long winter months, and blowing and drifting snow all
hamper installation, maintenance, and repair. For over 40 years, the concept of using tunnels for utilities and
personnel has been tried with mixed results. In 1991, the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering
Laboratory initiated a project to design, develop, fabricate, test, build, and deploy a system for the machining of
unlined tunnels at the AmundsenScott South Pole Station. The tunneling system as configured during the Janu-
ary 1996 deployment was capable of operating at a maximum sustained production rate (>4 hr) of 1.5 m/hr for a
2- 3- 116-m tunnel. The maximum operating depth was approximately 16 m from surface to the tunnel floor. The
maximum length tunneled during one shift was 13 m, and the maximum one-day progress was 21.3 m. The system
is described in this report, along with suggestions to improve the current technology.
14. SUBJECT TERMS
15. NUMBER OF PAGES
Antarctica
South Pole
30
Firn
Tunneling
16. PRICE CODE
Snow
Unlined tunnels
17. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
18. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
19. SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
20. LIMITATION OF ABSTRACT
OF REPORT
OF THIS PAGE
OF ABSTRACT
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
UNCLASSIFIED
UL
Standard Form 298 (Rev. 2-89)
NSN 7540-01-280-5500
Prescribed by ANSI Std. Z39-18
298-102
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