Study on Temperature Field Distribution Law and Mechanical Properties of Hydraulic Tunnel-Surrounding Rock under the Action of Large Temperature Differences

Abstract

This study aims to explore the temperature field and mechanical characteristics of hydraulic tunnels during operation in an area with large temperature differences throughout a year. By relying on the measured displacement field change results of a water transmission tunnel in Xinjiang, a finite element calculation model applicable to the hydraulic tunnel-surrounding rock under the action of large temperature differences was established. Then, the FEM model was used to analyze the temperature field distribution and stress field variation of hydraulic tunnel-surrounding rock under the effect of large temperature differences. The results showed that, under the action of large temperature differences, the displacement of the cave top was the largest, followed by the cave bottom, and finally the cave waist. The obtained displacement field data using the calculation model in this study were basically consistent with the on-site measured data, and the displacement field change law was the same, indicating that the established finite element calculation model is reliable. When the ambient temperature was below zero, the freezing front gradually expanded to the depth of the surrounding rock along the tunnel radial direction, while the frozen rock at the intersection of the lining and the surrounding rock melted first when the ambient temperature was above zero. The stress in various parts of the surrounding rock of the hydraulic tunnel increased continuously. To be specific, the growth rate of the tensile stress at the cave bottom, the tensile stress at the cave top, and the compressive stress at the cave waist of the tunnel reached 0.052 MPa/year, 0.053 MPa/year, and 0.096 MPa/year, respectively, in the first year, but the increasing rate subsequently tended to slow down continuously. Therefore, in actual projects, attention should be focused on the effect of large temperature differences on the stress growth of tunnel-surrounding rocks at an early stage, especially the growth of compressive stress at the cave waist. Notably, there are a large number of symmetrical and asymmetric phenomena related to engineering in this study.