Mechanized tunneling induced ground movement and its dependency on the tunnel volume loss and soil properties

Abstract

SummaryThis study investigates the ground movements due to mechanized tunnel excavation by applying two‐dimensional finite element analyses. To assess the contribution of the compressibility and plasticity of the soil on the ground movements, different constitutive models are employed to describe the soil behavior. The influence of volume loss around the tunnel on the surface volume loss is investigated, and a quadratic correlation between them is proposed. Consequently, the empirical Gaussian distribution curve, which is generally used to determine the tunneling induced settlement trough, is improved by applying the proposed quadratic correlation between surface volume loss and tunnel volume loss. Furthermore, the settlement trough width parameter has been derived by a linear function of tunnel volume loss as well. The proposed equations are validated via a case study of centrifuge tests from the literature. The results show that the proposed modification enhances the empirical solution by having better knowledge on the model parameters. Additionally, tunnel overburden and coefficient of lateral earth pressure at rest (K0) are taken into account to study their influence on the tunneling induced surface settlements. Finally, global sensitivity analysis is applied to evaluate the relative importance of corresponding model parameters in terms of their influence on the ground movements.