Non-linear Behavior of Normal Contact Stiffness of Tunnel Surface and Supporting System of Tunnel Boring Machines

Abstract

The interfacial contact stiffness between the supporting system of tunnel boring machines(TBM) and the tunnel surfaces is closely related to the mechanical behavior of rocks and the morphology of tunnel surfaces. The mathematical model based on the fractal theory is employed to study the relation between the roughness and fractal parameters of three dimensional tunnel surfaces. The coarse surfaces are established by using the projecting method according to the characteristics of tunnel surfaces. Many parameters such as the roughness of the tunnel surfaces, the mechanical behavior of rocks, the number of the supporting boots and composite geologic structures are taken into consideration to obtain the correlation between the normal contact stiffness and the loads. The results show that the increases of the fractal dimension, the elastic modulus, the normal loads and the number of support boots cause the increase of the interfacial contact stiffness. The contact stiffness of the double supporting systems is twice of that of the single one subjected to the same load. The normal stiffness is minimal when the ratios of the soft and hard rocks in the composite geologic structures are approximately identical. The increasing of the ratio of soft rocks in the contacting area causes the increase of the contact stiffness. However, the variation of the contact stiffness is not obvious when the proportions of two kinds of rocks on the contacting area are changed.