Section performance of submerged floating tunnel using steel composite hollow RC structure

Abstract

Submerged floating tunnel (SFT) has been considered as an interesting structure to connect the banks separated by a narrow and deep sea. Reinforced concrete (RC) tunnels have been suggested as SFT structures. Because the governing load of a SFT is bending moment, a structure with enhanced stiffness and ductility will be useful for a SFT. Therefore, new-type structures which have superior stiffness and ductility were proposed for the SFT using steel composite Hollow RC member. In this study, the application of steel composite RC structure for SFT was investigated by analysis method. To evaluate the section performance of new type SFT, bending analyses were carried out by using an exclusive program with the considerations of material nonlinearity and confining effect of concrete. Furthermore, module connection for new type SFT was proposed, its performance was evaluated by analysis method.