The uplifting behavior of shallow tunnels within the liquefiable soils under cyclic loadings

Abstract

The liquefaction of soils under earthquake loadings has always been a main concern for geotechnical engineering practices. As an earthquake causes the ground to liquefy, the effective stress and hence the shear strength of the soil decreases sharply, and large deformations happen in the area. This phenomenon occurs only rarely when the liquefaction occurs at a large depth. However, deformations increase extensively when this layer is located in shallow depths near the ground level. In this case super structures and also underground structures may be severely damaged. The tunnels which are constructed in this layer may be affected by the liquefaction as well. In this condition the liquefaction may cause settlement in the ground, deformation in the tunnel shield, buoyancy in the underground buildings, reduction in bearing capacity and increases in lateral spread and pore pressures. In this paper the FLAC software has been used to model the pore pressure changes during earthquakes that lead to soil liquefaction. The studies thus far have been focused on the impact of the soil liquefaction on the tunnels constructed in this area. According to the studies, the buoyancy and uplifting forces due to liquefaction have major effects on the behavior of underground structures. Increasing the soil parameters such as friction angle and damping ratio causes the liquefaction effects on the tunnel to decrease, and increasing the geometric parameters such as tunnel diameter and location depth causes these effects to increase.