The Effect of Section Width on Soil Arch in Utility Tunnel

Abstract

The design of the section width of utility tunnel will directly affect the distribution of the internal forces of the structure, it will directly affect the economy and safety of the project. From the aspect of stress field variation, inhomogeneous deformation and the changes of structural stiffness, to obtain the results of the influencing factor (width of the cross-section), we analysed the action mechanism of soil arching pressure. Within a certain range, the narrower the width is, the more obvious the effect is. The changes of the section width results in the changes of the structural stiffness, which is one of the influencing factors of soil arch in utility tunnel. The influence of cross-section width on the arch effect in mollisol has certain guiding significance for the value of vertical load of mollisol tunnel, which can provide the basis for the design of integrated utility tunnel.