Analysis of Seepage and Displacement Field Evolutionary Characteristics in Water Inrush Disaster Process of Karst Tunnel

Water inrush of tunnel is one of the most common geological disasters in the karst strata in China. Aiming at the rock mass with a quasi-masonry structure in the water-resistant strata between karst cavity with high pressure water and tunnel and the shortcomings of theoretical analysis, traditional numerical simulation, and physics model test for describing and reflecting this special structure of rock mass, a Discrete Element Method considering the fluid-solid coupling effect and structural characteristics of rock mass is employed to study the disaster process of water inrush and the evolutionary characteristics of catastrophe information like seepage pressure and displacement under condition of different karst water pressure, tunnel depth, and lateral pressure coefficient. Research results show the following: (1) the seepage pressure and displacement increase with the increase of kart water pressure. The seepage pressure demonstrates a decreasing state from top to bottom in water-resistant strata, and the time of arrival to a stable value for the seepage pressure shows the time effect. (2) The larger the tunnel depth, the greater the coalescence and distribution scope of fracture and the more likely the water inrush to occur in a short time. The stability of water-resistant strata decreases on the whole with the growth of tunnel depth. (3) The increase of lateral pressure coefficient can restrain the fracture development and strengthen stability. The fracture state is significantly influenced by a lateral pressure coefficient. The results of numerical simulation are consistent with those obtained by a model test. Research and analysis based on energy are a promising train of thought for studying the disaster process of water inrush in a karst tunnel.

Ground Surface Settlement Evaluation by Proportional Hazards Model in Tunneling Projects

Nowadays, tunnel excavation plays a major role in development of countries. Due to the complex and challenging ground conditions, a comprehensive study and analysis must be done before, during and also after the excavation of tunnels. Hence, the importance of study and evaluation of ground settlement are dramatically increased, since many tunnel projects are performed in the urban areas where there are plenty of constructions, buildings and facilities. For this reason, the control and prediction of ground settlement is one of the complicated topic in the fields of risk engineering. Therefore, in this paper, proportional hazard model (PHM) is used to analyze and study the ground settlement induced by Tabriz Metro Line 2 (TML2) tunneling. The PHM method is a semi-parametric regression method that can enter environmental conditions or factors affecting settlement probability. These influential factors are used as risk factors in the analysis. After establishing a database for a case study and using proportional hazard model for surface settlement analysis, and then, by evaluating the effect of environmental conditions on the ground surface settlement, it has been found that the risk factors of grouting pressure behind the segment, the ratio of tunnel depth to groundwater level, and drained cohesion strength at a significant level of 5% have a direct effect on the probability of settlement. The results also showed that the effect of grout injection pressure on ground subsidence is more than other parameters, and with increasing injection pressure, the probability of exceeding safe subsidence values decreases. In addition, it has been found that increasing the risk factor for the ratio of tunnel depth to groundwater level reduces the probability of exceeding the safe ground settlement. Finally, increasing the number of risk factors for drained cohesion strength increases the probability of exceeding safe settlement.

Research on Ground Settlement Regularity of Soft Rock Tunnel under Ultrasmall Distance

During the tunnel construction under the road, the shallower the tunnel depth, the greater the effect of the surface settlement. Thus, to analyze the ground settlement caused by tunnel construction under ultrasmall distance, the research is based on a tunnel in Ningqiang County and uses numerical simulation and measurement to analyze the ground settlement and the effect of reinforcement measures. The research draws the following conclusions. For the ultrasmall distance tunnel under road construction, the combination of pipe shed and advanced small pipe grouting reinforcement measures inhibits the surface settlement. After the advanced small pipe is reinforced, the surface settlement value is reduced by about 25%, and the reinforcement effect is more obvious after the increase of the large pipe shed. The surface settlement value is reduced by about 60%. The surface settlement caused by the excavation of the circular soil accounts for about 50%–60% of the total settlement value, which is for the whole construction. The key processes, which involve the combination of reinforcement measures, focused on the suppression of surface settlement caused by the excavation of the circular soil. After the reinforcement measures, the variation of the settlement groove width was not obvious but the curvature and peak value of the settlement groove is reduced significantly.

Study on the Generalized Displacement Boundary and Its Analytical Prediction for Ground Movements Induced by Shield Tunneling

The process of shield tunnel excavation would inevitably cause surrounding ground movement, and excessive displacement in the soil could lead to large deformation and even collapse of the tunnel. The methods estimating convergence deformation around tunnel opening is summarized. Then, a universal pattern of displacement boundary condition around the tunnel cavity is originally introduced, which is solved as the combination of three fundamental deformation modes, namely, uniform convergence, vertical translation, and ovalization. The expression for the above-mentioned displacement boundary condition is derived, by imposing which the analytical solution for ground movements, based on the stress function method, is proposed. The reliability and applicability of this proposed solution are verified by comparing the observed data in terms of surface settlement, underground settlement, and horizontal displacement. Further parametric analyses indicate the following: (1) the maximum settlement increases linearly with the gap parameter and the tunnel radius, while it is negatively related to the tunnel depth; (2) the trough width parameter is independent of the gap parameter and the radius, while it is proportional to the tunnel depth. This study provides a new simple and reliable method for predicting ground movements induced by shield tunneling.

A Novel Experimental Study on the Effects of Soil and Faults’ Properties on Tunnels Induced by Normal and Reverse Faults

Due to the world population increasing considerably, there is a need for efficient public transportation, such as the subway. However, it has become a major concern to geotechnical engineers that the development and construction of subways are held underground where faults exist, as it will be a major risk to any structure if the fault is still active. Several seismic events, such as the earthquakes in Taiwan in 1999, China in 2008, and Malaysia (Sabah) in 2015, caused by fault ruptures, signify the importance of this study. In this paper, a physical model of 1000 mm in height, 3000 mm in length, and 1000 mm in width, which is the largest single gravity (1g) model for simulation faults (normal and reverse) ever built, was fabricated to evaluate the influence of various soil properties, various fault angles, and tunnel depths on tunnels affected by normal and reverse faults. The effects of various soil properties, such as water content, particle size, cohesion, and friction angle, had revealed major changes (approximately by 34%, 39%, 64%, and 39%, respectively) in tunnel displacements. Results also showed that increasing of fault angle could increase the tunnel displacement as much as two times. In addition, when a tunnel is located close to the ground surface, 22% less displacement was found to have occurred to the tunnel. With the results obtained from the physical model, simulation had been made using plane strain and axial symmetry (PLAXIS) software. The comparison made between rock and soft soil showed that soft soil imposed two times more displacements than rock, and an existence of foundation in soft soil and rock can decrease the tunnel displacements by 6% and 4%, respectively. This paper asserts that besides the structural design of a tunnel, the geotechnical design also has a major impact on the safety and robustness of the tunnel, in which aspects such as soil properties, tunnel depth, and fault angle have a strong influence on tunnel damages which were not considered in previous research, despite their importance.

Effect of structures density and tunnel depth on the tunnel-soil-structures dynamical interaction

This paper studies the presence effects of two or more adjacent structures on the tunnel responses and vice versa due to surface and underground traffic loads. The study is numerically carried out by using Finite element Plaxis2D software©. The obtained results demonstrate that the dynamical interaction between the tunnel and the structures is significantly influenced by varying the number and distance between the adjacent structures, the depth of the tunnel and the location of the traffic load. These results can be considered and used in realistic and practical cases and also to help build efficient and more comfortable construction projects.