Composite lining-ground interaction behavior in a cold-region circular tunnel under isotropic frost heave action

Abstract

This paper presents a refined closed-form solution for evaluating the mechanical behavior of the composite lining-ground interaction in cold-region tunnels subjected to the coupling effects of isotropic frost heave and far-field stress. The composite lining is treated as a homogeneous equivalent circular section of mechanical properties consisting of an inner thin-walled shell and an outer thick-walled cylinder embedded in the homogenous infinite isotropic ground. Solutions for moment, thrust, radial displacement, and contact stress based on the unified strength theory have been derived for cases involving full-slip and no-slip at the lining-lining interface and lining-ground interface subjected to isotropic frost heave action. When using the theory of shell to derive the equations that conform to the proposed methodology, the mechanical behaviors of the composite lining-ground interaction under different influencing factors are discussed and analyzed. The equations for the lining-ground interaction behavior are studied to illustrate the usefulness of this method in tackling ground-structure interaction problems in cold regions.