Catastrophe analysis of deep tunnel above water-filled caves

Abstract

To explore the influence of karst cavity pressure on the failure mechanisms of rock layers above water-filled caves, novel blow-out and collapse mechanisms are put forward in this study. The proposed method uses the nonlinear optimization to obtain the failure profiles of surrounding layered rock with water-filled cave at the bottom of the tunnel. By referring to the functional catastrophe theory, stability analysis with different properties in different rock layers is implemented with considering the incorporation of seepage forces since the groundwater cannot be ignored in the catastrophe analysis of deep tunnel bottom. Also the parametric analysis is implemented to discuss the influences of different rock strength factors on the failure profiles. In order to offer a good guide of design for the excavation of deep tunnels above the water-filled caves, the proposed method is applied to design of the minimum effective height for rock layer. The results obtained by this work agree well with the existing published ones.