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Tunnel face stability and ground settlement in pressurized shield tunnelling

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Abstract

An analysis of the stability of large-diameter circular tunnels and ground settlement during tunnelling by a pressurized shield was presented. An innovative three-dimensional translational multi-block failure mechanism was proposed to determine the face support pressure of large-shield tunnelling. Compared with the currently available mechanisms, the proposed mechanism has two unique features: (1) the supporting pressure applied to the tunnel face is assumed to have a non-uniform rather than uniform distribution, and (2) the method takes into account the entire circular excavation face instead of merely an inscribed ellipse. Based on the discrete element method, a numerical simulation of the Shanghai Yangtze River Tunnel was carried out using the Particle Flow Code in two dimensions. The immediate ground movement during excavation, as well as the behaviour of the excavation face, the shield movement, and the excavated area, was considered before modelling the excavation process.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Railway Construction and Management Co., Ltd., Beijing, 100037, China

    Yi Su  (苏艺) & Guo-feng Wang  (汪国锋)

  2. School of Engineering and Technology, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing, 100083, China

    Qing-hong Zhou  (周庆宏)

  3. Haikou Forest Farm, Kunming, 650114, China

    Qing-hong Zhou  (周庆宏)

Authors
  1. Yi Su  (苏艺)
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  2. Guo-feng Wang  (汪国锋)
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  3. Qing-hong Zhou  (周庆宏)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Qing-hong Zhou  (周庆宏).

Additional information

Foundation item: Project(41202220) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China; Project(20120022120003) supported by the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education, China; Project(2652012065) supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China; Project(2013006) supported by the Research Fund for Key Laboratory on Deep GeoDrilling Technology from the Ministry of Land and Resources of China

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Su, Y., Wang, Gf. & Zhou, Qh. Tunnel face stability and ground settlement in pressurized shield tunnelling. J. Cent. South Univ. 21, 1600–1606 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-014-2101-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-014-2101-6

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