High pre-tension reinforcing technology and design for ultra-shallow buried large-span urban tunnels

Abstract

Due to the thin overlying formation of ultra-shallow buried large-span urban tunnels, the surrounding rock can be easily loosened and damaged after excavation. High prestressed anchoring support can improve the self-bearing capacity of the surrounding rock. However, traditional bolts often undergo necking fracture after the yield stage and strengthening stage, and the designed pre-tension is low, generally not exceeding 50 % of the yield strength of the bolt. To this end, our research group developed a new NPR bolt. After comparing the mechanical properties of the NPR bolt and the traditional bolt, the high strength, high elongation, and high prestressed properties of the NPR bolt are revealed. Subsequently, the constitutive relationship of the CABLE element in FLAC3D is modified, and the constitutive model of the NPR bolt is established, which can describe the whole process of bolt. Furthermore, a numerical comparison of prestressed control for ultra-shallow large-span tunnels is carried out. Compared with non-prestress, when the prestress of bolt reaches 100 kN, the area of tensile stress zone and plastic zone of surrounding rock are reduced by 79.6 % and 73.7 %, respectively. At the same time, the settlement of surface and roof is reduced by 66.7 % and 64.1 %, respectively. The control mechanism of the prestressed NPR bolt support is explored, and the design method for ultra-shallow large-span tunnels is proposed. The field application and monitoring results show that the surface and roof settlement of the tunnel supported by NPR bolts are 3.2 mm and 6.3 mm, respectively. The safe and effective stability control of the tunnel surrounding rock is achieved.