Abstract

This paper focuses on the face stability analysis of Double-O-Tube shield tunnel. This kind of analysis is significant to ensure the safety of workers and reduce the influence on the surrounding environment. The key point of the stability analysis is to determine the supporting pressure applied to the face by the shield. A collapse failure will occur when the supporting pressure is not sufficient to prevent the movement of the soil mass towards the tunnel. A three-dimensional collapse failure mechanism was presented in this paper. Based on the mechanism of a single circular shield tunnel, the mechanism of Double-O-Tube shield tunnel was established by using the fact that both of the mechanisms are symmetrical. Then by means of the kinematic theorem of limit analysis, the numerical results were obtained, and a design chart was provided. The finite difference software FLAC3D was applied to investigate the face failure mechanism of DOT shield tunnel established in this paper; the critical supporting pressures of the collapse failure mechanism in different strata (sand and silt) were calculated. Through comparative analysis, the theoretical values were very close to the numerical values. This shows that the face failure mechanism of DOT shield tunnel is reasonable, and it can be applied to the sand and silt strata.

Highlights

  • Compared with the single circular shield tunnel, the DoubleO-Tube (DOT) shield tunnel has many advantages, for example, (i) optimizing, use of the underground space, (ii) saving construction cost and time, and (iii) reducing the impact on nearby structures

  • This paper focuses on the face stability analysis of DOT tunnels

  • Limit analysis was first presented in terms of the theorems by Drucker et al to estimate the critical height of slope; it can be used to evaluate bounds on the limit load inducing or resisting failure in structures built of perfectly plastic materials [14, 15]

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Summary

Introduction

Compared with the single circular shield tunnel, the DoubleO-Tube (DOT) shield tunnel has many advantages, for example, (i) optimizing, use of the underground space, (ii) saving construction cost and time, and (iii) reducing the impact on nearby structures. Yang and Li proposed a three-dimensional collapse failure mechanism, and investigated the ground surface settlements and failure mechanism above large-diameter shield tunnels under different supporting pressures [9]. In order to observe the contour of failure surface, Takano et al used X-ray computed tomography scanner; it was suggested that the contour of the failure surface can be simulated with two log-spirals in the vertical cross-sections and elliptical contour in the horizontal cross-sections These experiments are beneficial to establish the more optimized analytical mechanisms [12]. The face stability analysis requires the determination of the supporting pressure that is applied to the tunnel face by the shield to ensure the stability of tunnel face and limit environmental impact. The finite difference software FLAC3D was applied to investigate the face failure mechanism of DOT shield tunnel established in this paper, and the results were presented

Limit Analysis in Tunnel Face Stability
The 3D Collapse Failure Mechanism
Numerical Results
Numerical Analysis for Failure Mechanism of DOT Shield Tunnel Face
Conclusions
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