Face Stability Analysis for a Shield-Driven Tunnel in Anisotropic and Nonhomogeneous Soils by the Kinematical Approach
Publication: International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 16, Issue 3
Abstract
The stability on a tunnel face is of great practical significance for safe construction in tunnel engineering. In this work, an advanced three-dimensional (3D) failure mechanism is extended to the face stability analysis of a tunnel driven in anisotropic and nonhomogeneous soils using the kinematic approach of limit analysis. The results obtained from the presented approach are in good agreement with the existing ones, showing that this method can be further applied to the proposed situation in this paper. Two common examples of cohesion variation, a linear variation with depth and a layered soil, are then analyzed. The numerical results show that both anisotropy and nonhomogeneity have a significant impact on the critical face pressure, especially when the cohesion is relatively large or when there is a weaker layer. Therefore, these two factors should be taken into account in tunnel design.
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Acknowledgments
The first author thanks the China Scholarship Council for providing him with a Ph.D. Scholarship for his research work. The support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 51408180) is also greatly appreciated.
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Published In
International Journal of Geomechanics
Volume 16 • Issue 3 • June 2016
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jan 24, 2015
Accepted: Jun 24, 2015
Published online: Dec 7, 2015
Discussion open until: May 7, 2016
Published in print: Jun 1, 2016
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