Application of game modeling to good tunneling practice

A more extensive use of tunneling and underground facilities is expected in the coming future, especially in urban areas. However, tunneling construction involves inherent risks that are unique and based on unknown and unpredictable underground conditions (no matter the effort to quantify material properties and their behavior). Due to the risk inherent in tunneling, a climate of good "social'' relationships is another feature of success. Owners' decisions, actions, and inactions (mainly in contractual terms) affect not only the response of contractors, but also the liability risk exposure of engineering professionals. Tunneling projects today must not only make use of the most sophisticated knowledge and technology available, but must also meet principles of fair and realistic risk allocation. Therefore, new approaches beyond the limited technical domain are required. The essential scope of the thesis is to propose Game Modeling as an analysis tool to help guide good tunneling practice. The function of game theory is to provide an abstract framework for modeling situations involving interdependence choice. In this thesis, strategic interactions in tunneling are modeled as games in order to throw light on existing and unrecognized problems. Using game modeling, it can be shown that tunneling collapses and disasters are essentially derived from management deficiencies, often of structural rather than personal nature. The approach provides analysis for explanations for success and for no repetition of mistakes. Chapter 1 is an introductory chapter where the overall scope of the thesis is presented. Chapter 2 examines the fundamental issues affecting the tunneling industry. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 present a brief game theory framework: game theory is a branch of mathematics devoted to the logic of decision making in social interactions; and utility theory is a cornerstone of game theory which is used for solving games. Chapter 6 illustrates the potential applications of game modeling to tunneling: two real cases studies are used to illustrate the first level of abstraction in game theory: games in extensive form. Finally, chapter 7 provides the conclusions and recommendations.