Research on seismic ground motion parameters applicable to the safety of rectangular shallow tunnel

The objective of this paper is to optimize the selection of seismic ground motion intensity indexes in the seismic fortification of urban shallow-buried rectangular tunnels. This paper takes a shallow-buried rectangular tunnel in a city as the research object, uses ABAQUS to establish a finite-infinite element coupling model, and selects 70 typical seismic ground motions for dynamic calculation. Using dynamic time history analysis method to study the seismic response of tunnel lining structure in terms of internal force, minimum safety factor and strain energy, and analyze their correlation with 15 seismic ground motion parameters. Selecting the seismic ground motion parameters with strong correlation, good effectiveness, and high credibility for safety evaluation. The research results show that: Peak acceleration (PGA) has a weak correlation with the seismic response of tunnel lining structures, and PGA as an independent seismic ground motion intensity index has greater uncertainty in the seismic fortification of tunnels; Peak displacement (PGD), Root-mean-square velocity (RMSV), Root-mean-square displacement (RMSD), and Specific energy density (SED) can be used as independent seismic ground motion intensity index, The linear regression model is used to evaluate the safety of the lining structure, and finally the evaluation result is verified by the incremental dynamic analysis method (IDA), which shows that the evaluation result is accurate. The research results can provide reference for the preliminary design of seismic fortification of rectangular shallow tunnels.

Stochastic Dynamic Response Analysis of the 3D Slopes of Rockfill Dams Based on the Coupling Randomness of Strength Parameters and Seismic Ground Motion

Because rockfill strength and seismic ground motion are dominant factors affecting the slope stability of rockfill dams, it is very important to accurately characterize the distribution of rockfill strength parameters, develop a stochastic ground motion model suitable for rockfill dam engineering, and effectively couple strength parameters and seismic ground motion to precisely evaluate the dynamic reliability of the three-dimensional (3D) slope stability of rockfill dams. In this study, a joint probability distribution model for rockfill strength based on the copula function and a stochastic ground motion model based on the improved Clough-Penzien spectral model were built; the strength parameters and the seismic ground motion were coupled using the GF-discrepancy method, a method for the analysis of dynamic reliability of the 3D slope stability of rockfill dams was proposed based on the generalized probability density evolution method (GPDEM), and the effectiveness of the proposed method was verified. Moreover, the effect of different joint distribution models on the dynamic reliability of the slope stability of rockfill dams was revealed, the effect of the copula function type on the dynamic reliability of the slope stability was analysed, and the differences in the dynamic reliability of the slope stability under parameter randomness, seismic ground motion randomness, and coupling randomness of parameters and seismic ground motion were systematically determined. The results were as follows: the traditional joint distribution models ignored related nonnormal distribution characteristics of rockfill strength parameters, which led to excessively low calculated failure probabilities and overestimations of the reliability of the slope stability; in practice, we found that the optimal copula function should be selected to build the joint probability distribution model, and seismic ground motion randomness must be addressed in addition to parameter randomness.

Seismic ground response by twin lined tunnels with different cross sections

In this paper, the geometrical effects of shallow twin lined tunnels with different cross sections are investigated to obtain the anti-plane seismic ground motion under vertical/horizontal incident plane SH waves. A model of long two-dimensional lined tunnels is established and embedded in a homogeneous linear elastic half-plane by an applied numerical time-domain boundary element approach. In addition to a brief introduction to the formulation of the method, by considering five tunnel sections including circular, elliptical, horseshoe, square and rectangular, the surface response is sensitized to observe the normalized displacement amplitude/amplification ratio. In this regard, the angle of the incident wave and the frequency of the response are also included in changing the response pattern. To illustrate the results in both time and frequency domains, they are presented as blanket charts, snapshots, and three-/two-dimensional diagrams. The results showed that the seismic response of the surface is extremely affected by the geometric parameters of underground tunnels, which can create different conditions on the ground surface with shifting the direction of the wavefront. Article Highlights Geometrical effect of twin horizontally overlapping lined tunnels. Applying a time-domain half-plane boundary element method. Illustrating the response in time and frequency domains. The effect of depth and distance ratios on the seismic ground motion. Propagating vertical and horizontal incident SH-wave type. Graphic Abstract