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Required Supporting Lining Pressure for the Stability of a Rectangular Tunnel in Sloping Ground

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Abstract

The stability analysis of a rectangular tunnel with a horizontal base in sloping ground has been carried out by using lower and upper bound finite element limit analysis (FELA). It is intended to compute the required lining pressure to support the tunnel without causing any shear failure (collapse) in cohesive-frictional soil media. The lining pressure becomes an important parameter while designing the liner element for any tunnel. The required lining pressure becomes a function of ground slope inclination and soil shear strength parameters. All the numerical results are presented in the form of non-dimensional parameters. It is found that the magnitude of the lining compressive pressure increases continuously with increases in the ground inclination (\(\beta\)) as well as the cover (H) to height (D) ratio of the tunnel. The failure mechanisms have also been examined in order to assess the geometry of the plastic zones during the tunnel collapse. It is noted that the lateral spread of the failure zone increases continuously with an increase in the value of H/D. The results will be useful for performing the design of any rectangular tunnel on a sloping ground surface.

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Data Availability

Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Bualuang ASEAN Chair Professor Fund. Also, this study was supported by Thammasat University Research Fund, Contract No. TUFT 19/2566.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Unit in Sciences and Innovative Technologies for Civil Engineering Infrastructures, Department of Civil Engineering, Thammasat School of Engineering, Thammasat University, Pathumthani, 12120, Thailand

    Wittaya Jitchaijaroen & Suraparb Keawsawasvong

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, 560 012, India

    Jyant Kumar

  3. Thammasat School of Engineering, Thammasat University, Pathumthani, 12120, Thailand

    Jyant Kumar

Authors
  1. Wittaya Jitchaijaroen
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  2. Suraparb Keawsawasvong
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  3. Jyant Kumar
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Contributions

Wittaya Jitchaijaroen acquired methodology and software and contributed to investigation, data curation, and writing—original draft.

Suraparb Keawsawasvong acquired conceptualization, methodology and software and contributed to investigation, data curation, and writing—original draft.

Jyant Kumar acquired conceptualization, methodology, supervision, resource, project administration, and writing—reviewing and editing.

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Correspondence to Suraparb Keawsawasvong.

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Jitchaijaroen, W., Keawsawasvong, S. & Kumar, J. Required Supporting Lining Pressure for the Stability of a Rectangular Tunnel in Sloping Ground. Transp. Infrastruct. Geotech. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40515-023-00313-2

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