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Limit equilibrium models for passive failure of a large-diameter shield tunnel face in reinforced soft clay

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Abstract

For the excavation of a shallow tunnel in soft soil, the controllable range of the support pressure is narrow due to the small area of overburdened earth pressure, and passive failure of the tunnel face can be easily induced; therefore, the soft soil must be reinforced to increase the stability of the tunnel face. In this work, numerical simulation and theoretical analysis were adopted to explore the passive failure mechanism of a tunnel face in soft ground reinforced with a soil–cement wall. First, finite element analyses were conducted to investigate the passive failure mechanism. The impact of L1 (the distance between the tunnel face and soil–cement wall) on the passive failure mode was disclosed. Three types of failure modes—the full-penetration, partial-penetration, and non-penetration modes—were identified based on the shear failure zone and variation in Pp (the limit support pressure of passive failure) with L1. Then, analytical models based on the limit equilibrium method for the three passive failure modes were established, and formulas for predicting Pp were derived. The predictions by the formulas were validated by the numerical results, and their differences were within 10%. Both indicate that Pp achieved a maximum value when L1 = 0.2D (D is the diameter of tunnel); therefore, it is reasonable to choose a distance of 0.2D between cement walls in this engineering project.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Chinese Natural Science Foundation (Nos. 51938008 and 52090081), the Natural Science Foundation of Shenzhen under Grant No. JCYJ20210324094607020, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project No. 52108388), and the science and technology innovation Program of Hunan Province (Project No. 2021RC3015 and 2022JJ40611).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Geotechnics and Tunnelling, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China

    Qilong Song, Dong Su, Wenlong Han & Xiangsheng Chen

  2. Key Laboratory of Coastal Urban Resilient Infrastructures (MOE), Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China

    Qilong Song, Dong Su, Wenlong Han & Xiangsheng Chen

  3. College of Civil and Transportation Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China

    Qilong Song, Dong Su, Qiujing Pan, Wenlong Han & Xiangsheng Chen

  4. Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Green, Efficient and Intelligent Construction of Underground Metro Station, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China

    Dong Su & Xiangsheng Chen

  5. School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China

    Qiujing Pan

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  1. Qilong Song
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Correspondence to Dong Su.

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Song, Q., Su, D., Pan, Q. et al. Limit equilibrium models for passive failure of a large-diameter shield tunnel face in reinforced soft clay. Acta Geotech. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-024-02238-7

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