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Modelling soil stability in wide tunnels using FELA and multivariate adaptive regression splines analysis

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Abstract

Stability evaluations of soil or rock excavation are significantly affected by the shape of the underground cavity. Whilst most of the previous stability research was in circular tunnelling problems, rectangular tunnels are nevertheless seldom studied even though the latter is gaining more popularity in practices, especially in railway engineering. The purpose of the technical note is to bridge the current research gap using the robust lower and upper bound finite element limit analysis to study the undrained stability of wide rectangular tunnels in cohesive soils under both collapse and blowout scenarios in two-dimensional conditions. A dimensionless stability number is presented to define the solution and the associated failure mechanisms are examined with three distinct types of mechanisms. In addition, a machine learning model, namely, multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS), is used to develop design equations for evaluating soil stability. The findings in this study provide a reliable solution to improve the current design standard for the stability of rectangular underground spaces in undrained clays.

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Data availability

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

We acknowledge Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT), VNU-HCM for supporting this study.

Funding

This study was financially supported by Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation under Research Grant for New Scholar (RGNS 64-134); and by the Thailand Research Fund (TRF) under Grant (RTA6280012).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Civil Engineering, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT), 268 Ly Thuong Kiet Street, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Van Qui Lai

  2. Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM), Linh Trung Ward, Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

    Van Qui Lai

  3. School of Engineering, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, QLD, 4350, Australia

    Jim Shiau

  4. Department of Civil Engineering, Thammasat School of Engineering, Thammasat University, Pathumthani, 12120, Thailand

    Thanachon Promwichai, Rungkhun Banyong & Suraparb Keawsawasvong

  5. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla, Thailand

    Suchart Limkatanyu

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  1. Van Qui Lai
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  2. Jim Shiau
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Correspondence to Suraparb Keawsawasvong.

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Lai, V.Q., Shiau, J., Promwichai, T. et al. Modelling soil stability in wide tunnels using FELA and multivariate adaptive regression splines analysis. Model. Earth Syst. Environ. 9, 2993–3008 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40808-022-01595-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40808-022-01595-0

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