Full face mechanical precutting and ground improvement of the advance core using fibre glass structures are both construction technologies developed by Rocksoil S.p.A. between 1986 and 1988. They have both solved once and for all the problem of tunnelling in ground with a clayey matrix of very poor geomechanical quality susceptible to chemical and physical weathering.
The large number of tunnels which had previously posed serious problems to designers and constructors and that have now been completed with success, demonstrate just how effective these new technologies are. Used together they have resulted in constant and safe tunnelling with excellent advance rates (2.75 m./day full face) even in situations of extreme instability which would otherwise not have allowed any advance.