The influence of tunnelling on the behaviour of pre-existing piled foundations in weathered soil

Abstract

A series of three-dimensional (3D) parametric finite element analyses have been performed to study the influence of the relative locations of pile tips with regards to the tunnel position on the behaviour of single piles and pile groups to adjacent tunnelling in weathered soil. When the pile tips are inside the influence zone, which considers the relative pile tip location with respect to the tunnel position, tunnelling-induced pile head settlements are larger than those computed from the Greenfield condition. However, when the pile tips are outside the influence zone, a reverse trend is obtained. When the pile tips are inside the influence zone, the tunnelling-induced tensile pile forces mobilised, but when the pile tips are outside the influence zone, compressive pile forces are induced because of tunnelling, depending on the shear stress transfer mechanism at the pile-soil interface. For piles connected to a cap, tensile and compressive forces are mobilised at the top of the centre and side piles, respectively. It has been shown that the increases in the tunnelling-induced pile head settlements have resulted in reductions of the apparent factor of safety up to approximately 43% when the pile tips are inside the influence zone, therefore severely affecting the serviceability of the piles. The pile behaviour, when considering the location of the pile tips with regards to the tunnel, has been analysed in great detail by taking the tunnelling-induced pile head settlements, axial pile forces, apparent factor of safety of the piles and shear transfer mechanism into account.