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Safe retaining pressures for pressurized tunnel face using nonlinear failure criterion and reliability theory

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Abstract

Based on the active failure mechanism and passive failure mechanism for a pressurized tunnel face, the analytical solutions of the minimum collapse pressure and maximum blowout pressure that could maintain the stability of pressurized tunnel faces were deduced using limit analysis in conjunction with nonlinear failure criterion under the condition of pore water pressure. Due to the objective existence of the parameter randomness of soil, the statistical properties of random variables were determined by the maximum entropy principle, and the Monte Carlo method was employed to calculate the failure probability of a pressurized tunnel. The results show that the randomness of soil parameters exerts great influence on the stability of a pressurized tunnel, which indicates that the research should be done on the topic of determination of statistical distribution for geotechnical parameters and the level of variability. For the failure probability of a pressurized tunnel under multiple failure modes, the corresponding safe retaining pressures and optimal range of safe retaining pressures are calculated by introducing allowable failure probability and minimum allowable failure probability. The results can provide practical use in the pressurized tunnel engineering.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410075, China

    Xiao-li Yang  (杨小礼), Cong Yao  (姚聪) & Jia-hua Zhang  (张佳华)

Authors
  1. Xiao-li Yang  (杨小礼)
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  2. Cong Yao  (姚聪)
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  3. Jia-hua Zhang  (张佳华)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiao-li Yang  (杨小礼).

Additional information

Foundation item: Project(2013CB036004) supported by the National Basic Research Program of China; Project(51378510) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China

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Yang, Xl., Yao, C. & Zhang, Jh. Safe retaining pressures for pressurized tunnel face using nonlinear failure criterion and reliability theory. J. Cent. South Univ. 23, 708–720 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-016-3116-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-016-3116-y

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