Abstract
The safe thickness of concrete retaining walls for curtain grouting on tunnel faces is an essential factor related to tunnel safety and grouting effects. In this research, the concrete retaining wall was simplified into a standard rectangular slab structure. The Rankine active earth pressure theory and the plastic hinge theory were used to analyze the lateral force of the concrete retaining wall. By deriving the safety-thickness equation of the concrete retaining wall, a quantitative criterion that can display the mechanism of the concrete retaining wall was obtained. The traditional empirical formula and Kalmykov formula had a particular connection with the method in this paper in determining the safe thickness of the concrete retaining wall. This was negatively related to the compressive (tensile) strength of the concrete and the groundwater level and positively associated with the buried depth of the tunnel. The conversion relationship between the traditional empirical formula and the theoretical formula was established, and the exact solution formula for the value of safety coefficient K0 was given. Finally, the rationality of the theoretical formula was verified by a field test, in novel work that provides a reference for similar projects.
Highlights
A concrete retaining wall [1,2,3,4,5,6,7] is a preconstructed concrete structure in the roadway or tunnel, which can withstand the maximum grouting pressure, protect the stability of the face, and prevent slurry leakage from running into the roadway or tunnel
The rationality of the safe thickness of the concrete retaining wall obtained by the theoretical formula was indirectly verified
(1) Based on the Rankine active earth pressure theory, plastic mechanics, and plate structure theory, this paper offers a novel method for determining a safe thickness for a concrete retaining wall
Summary
A concrete retaining wall [1,2,3,4,5,6,7] is a preconstructed concrete structure in the roadway or tunnel, which can withstand the maximum grouting pressure, protect the stability of the face, and prevent slurry leakage from running into the roadway or tunnel. This paper studied the ultimate bearing capacity and safe thickness of concrete walls, to provide theoretical guidance for the design of concrete retaining walls. Though the theory of plastic hinges has important theoretical significance for guiding engineering practice, there is no relevant application for calculating the safe thickness of concrete retaining walls. To obtain the theoretical criterion of the safe thickness of the concrete retaining wall, this paper first uses the Rankine active earth pressure theory to analyze the lateral force of the concrete retaining wall. It applies plastic mechanics and the plastic hinge theory of the plate structure to study the concrete retaining wall’s safe thickness, revealing its stress mechanism. The theoretical formula for the safe thickness of the concrete retaining wall can be obtained as follows:
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