Seismic response of lined tunnels in the half-plane with surface topography

Abstract

In this work, we examine the seismic response of multiple tunnels reinforced with liners and buried within the elastic homogeneous half-plane in the presence of surface relief. The seismic waves are upward propagating, time-harmonic, horizontally polarized shear (SH) waves. More specifically, we examine: (a) the scattered wave fields along the free surface and inside the half-plane with the embedded tunnels; (b) the dynamic stress concentration factors that develop at the soil-liner interfaces; (c) the stresses and displacements that develop inside the tunnel liners. We use a sub-structuring technique that is based on the direct boundary element method to model each constituent part of the problem separately. Then, assembly of the full problem is accomplished through the imposition of compatibility and equilibrium conditions at all interfaces. Next, a detailed verification study is carried out based on comparisons against available analytical and/or numerical results for a series of test examples. Subsequently, detailed numerical simulations are conducted and the results of these parametric studies reveal the influence of the following key parameters on the soil-tunnel system response: (a) the shape of the free-surface relief; (b) the depth of placement of the tunnels and their separation distance; (c) the SH-wavelength to tunnel diameter ratio; (d) the elastic properties of the tunnel lining rings and (e) the dynamic interaction effects between the free-surface relief and the tunnels.