Analysis of Tunneling-Induced Ground Movements Using Transparent Soil Models
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 137, Issue 5
Abstract
Ground movements induced by shallow tunnels affect the safety of nearby underground and aboveground structures. Therefore, the reliable prediction of these movements is important. A transparent soil model is used to investigate not only the surface settlement profile induced by shield tunneling, but also the distribution of soil deformation within the soil mass near the tunnel. The observed surface settlements are consistent with the normal probability curve commonly used for predicting settlement, with only the inflection points or trough width parameters somewhat different. The measured data are consistent with field measurements in that the trough width parameter is independent of the volume loss and linearly proportional to the tunnel depth. An analysis of the displacement field inside the transparent soil models indicates that the subsurface settlement trough at different depths can be approximated by a normal probability curve; and the horizontal displacement can be expressed by the trough width parameter and the volume loss, at the point at which maximum horizontal displacement occurs at the point of inflection. Additionally, the measurements indicate that subsurface ground movements can be in excess of the observed surface settlement, which can adversely affect underground utilities.
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Acknowledgments
Transparent soils were originally developed with NSF Support under Grant No. NSFCMS 9733064: “CAREER: Modeling 3D Flow and Soil Structure Interaction Using Optical Tomography.” Continued NSF support under Grants Nos. NSFDGE 0337668 and NSFDGE 0741714 is gratefully acknowledged. Research using transparent soils is presently funded by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Grant No: UNSPECIFIEDHDTRA1-10-1-0049.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 137 • Issue 5 • May 2011
Pages: 525 - 535
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 8, 2010
Accepted: Sep 30, 2010
Published online: Oct 2, 2010
Published in print: May 1, 2011
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