Elastoplastic solutions for deep-buried twin tunnels with arbitrary shapes and various arrangements under biaxial in-situ stress field based on Mohr-Coulomb and generalized Hoek-Brown criteria

Abstract

Theoretical solutions for elastoplastic analysis of deep-buried twin tunnels with arbitrary shapes and various arrangements are developed under biaxial in-situ stress field based on Mohr-coulomb (M–C) and generalized Hoek-Brown (G-H-B) criteria. The boundary stress transformation formulas adapted for arbitrary stress conditions on non-circular tunnel wall are provided in terms of conformal transformations. Regarding the plastic analysis, analytical expressions for stress characteristic relationships along slip lines under generalized Hoek-Brown criterion are derived. Subsequently, the semi-analytical solutions for plastic stresses of rock surrounding arbitrary-shaped tunnels are constructed based on Mohr-Coulomb and generalized Hoek-Brown criteria applying conformal mapping technique, slip-line method and finite difference-numerical iterative approach. On the basis of the discrete plastic stresses, interpolation functions are generated according to three-dimensional linear interpolation technique. And then, solutions for elastic stress function and plastic radius of twin tunnels with various arrangements are developed with improved mapping functions and newly defined fitness functions through differential evolution method. The accuracy of the semi-analytical solutions is verified by the numerical simulation. Meanwhile, the proposed solutions have the advantages of meshless characteristic, better convergence and higher computing efficiency comparing with the numerical simulation. From the point of engineering, the developed elastoplastic solutions can provide theoretical supports for the stress analysis, plastic radius estimation, safety clearances optimizations of deep-buried twin tunnels.