Abstract
The presence of voids behind lining seriously affects the safety of the symmetrical double-arch tunnels during service life. It is essential to find out the impact of voids on tunnel safety due to the increasing demand for the construction and maintenance of symmetrical double-arch tunnels. Model tests and numerical analyses were conducted in this research. The results attained were explored including earth pressure, internal force, and lining failure. Results reveal that the presence of voids has a large influence on the internal force in the lining of symmetrical double-arch tunnels, generally in the form of asymmetrical failure patterns of the lining. The failure patterns of the lining are greatly influenced by the size and location of voids with respect to the symmetrical double-arch tunnel circumference. Significant changes in the lining internal forces were found at the areas in the close vicinity of the void whereas a few changes were found at the bottom of the sidewall, the invert, and the central wall far away from the void. The propagation laws of lining cracks of asymmetrical double-arch tunnels are more complicated than symmetrical tunnels with a void behind the central wall. The location of the initial cracking of symmetrical and asymmetrical double-arch tunnels is the same, while the lining failure of the large-section tunnel is the most complicated.
Highlights
In recent years, the safety of tunnel construction, especially the stability of the tunnel face, has been a research hotspot in the field of tunnel engineering [1,2,3,4]
Lining cracks are more likely to appear at the outer fiber of the double-arch tunnel lining on both sides of the central wall close to the shoulder when voids are located at the vault, shoulder, and haunch
A series of numerical analyses were conducted to examine the effect of voids behind the lining on the failure pattern and internal forces in the lining of symmetrical double-arch tunnels
Summary
The safety of tunnel construction, especially the stability of the tunnel face, has been a research hotspot in the field of tunnel engineering [1,2,3,4]. The problem of the defects during the service life of a tunnel has become increasingly outstanding and aroused attention. The presence of voids behind lining can lead to many kinds of problems, such as cracking and water leakage, which seriously affects the safety of the double-arch tunnel lining during service life [6]. The introduction of voids behind the lining causes the re-distribution of the earth pressure acting on the lining and, changes the internal forces in the lining, which leads to the excessive deformation, even cracking, directly affecting the operation of symmetrical or asymmetrical double-arch tunnels, and resulting in huge economic losses and bad social influence [7]
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