Example engineering dissertation topic 10:

Tunnel construction within civil engineering: The Hindhead tunnel – A case study

Situated within south-west Surrey, the Hindhead tunnel was designed to alleviate the bottleneck of traffic on the A3 from London to Portsmouth. In addition, the tunnel is the longest non-estuarial road tunnel in the United Kingdom and runs through a Site of Special Scientific Interest.  A project that was beset with problems both prior to and during construction, the tunnel has taken over 25 years to come to fruition. This dissertation firstly reviews the engineering processes that were involved in the project for, despite its popularity within the industry, a tunnel boring machine was not used in its construction and as a consequence, the tunnels are horseshoe-shaped rather than the usual circular. In addition to reviewing the engineering and geo-physical problems encountered in the construction project this dissertation also evaluates the benefits that the long-awaited tunnel has brought to the wider area.

Suggested initial topic reading:

• Ireland, T. (2007) ‘Design of the UK’s Hindhead tunnel’, Converting Today. Available at: http://www.convertingtoday.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=50845 [accessed 26 May 2012].
• Ireland, T. and MacDonald, M. (2007) ‘Planning and design of the Hindhead tunnel’, Tunnels and Tunnelling International, Vol. 6, pp. 23-27.
• Kitching, R. (2008) ‘Cutting beneath the bowl’, New Civil Engineer, Vol. 9(4), pp.  20-22.