Analytical prediction of tunneling-induced ground movements and liner deformation in saturated soils considering influences of shield air pressure

Complex underground constructions in urban areas require strict predictions for ground movements and liner deformation induced by shield-driven tunneling, in which the complex interaction mechanics between ground and liner play a substantial role. Previous studies, however, provided little information on the ground-liner interaction and less attention to the effects of groundwater and compressed air during the shield operation. This paper presents a closed-form analytical solution for predicting long- and short-term ground deformation and liner internal forces induced by tunneling in saturated soils in which shield excavation effects with and without air pressure are both considered. The oval-shaped convergence deformation pattern is incorporated as the boundary condition of displacements around the tunnel section. This paper also investigates the difference between uniform radial and oval-shaped convergence deformation patterns on the ground and tunnel responses. Generally, the predicted ground movements by the oval-shaped deformation pattern aligns well with measured data of actual tunnels with and without considering the shield air pressure. It is comparatively observed that the shield excavation under air pressure obtains larger ground deformation than the non-pressure condition, and the long-term ground settlements induced by tunneling in saturated soils are confidently larger than the short-term. Moreover, the effects of sensitive parameters, including the shield air pressure, the long- and short-term effects on the tunneling-induced ground movements are assessed based on the oval-shaped deformation pattern. Furthermore, parametric analyses are conducted to measure the influences of concerned tunneling coefficients on the liner displacements and internal forces, namely, soil Young's modulus, soil unit weight, coefficient of lateral soil pressure, tunnel radius, tunnel buried depth and gap parameter. In summary, the analytical approach proposed in this research provides an effective insight into the ground-liner interaction mechanics related with the shield air pressure, which can serve as an alternative approach in the preliminary design for conservatively estimating the excavation influences caused by tunneling in saturated soils.     

Scattering of a plane wave by shallow buried cylindrical lining in a poroelastic half-space

The shallow buried tunnel is frequently encountered in underground engineering. The dynamic response of a tunnel under incident wave is of great importance for guiding the safety design in tunnel engineering. In this paper, a model for predicting the dynamic response of a shallow buried tunnel in saturated soil is proposed based on nonlocal Biot theory. The analytical solution is obtained using the wave function expansion method. To consider practical engineering problem, a set of material parameters for saturated soil and tunnel lining are selected for the numerical analysis. The influence of nonlocal parameter, which is introduced in nonlocal Biot theory to consider the pore size effect and pore dynamic effect, on dynamic stress concentrate factor in the lining is investigated in detail. The dynamic responses affected by the other factors, such as incident wave angle, frequency of incident wave and buried depth of the tunnel, have also been implemented. The dynamic stress concentrate factor distributed in the lining is also shown and the position and orientation appearing maximum concentrate factor can be easily determined from the contour plot, which can provide a visual guideline for safety design of a tunnel.     

Modeling a Halfspace with Tunnel using a Coupled Integral Transform Method – Finite Element Method Approach

Vibrations that are excited by moving trains inside a tunnel are regularly transmitted via the tunnel and the surrounding soil and often perceived at the surface. In order to assess the effects of the arising vibrations and to be able to model possible mitigation measures, a suitable model of the system is necessary. In this paper, a coupled approach is presented, where the emission system of an underground tunnel is modeled using the Finite Element Method while the transmission medium of the soil is described by Integral Transform Methods. (© 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

饱和土中球面波的传播

本文采用工程上通用的土力学模型，利用Ｌａｐｌａｃｅ变换求解了饱和土中球面波的传播问题，对一种特殊情形下的均匀受压球形空腔得到了解析解，并与弹性单相介质中均匀受压球形空腔进行了对比，以考察流体对饱和土体动力响应的影响·本文为分析地下结构动力响应提供了一种有效的方法，有重要的工程应用价值     

A three-phase FE-model for the simulation of partially saturated soils

While for many numerical simulations in geotechnics use of a two-phase model is sufficient, separate consideration of all three phases is mandatory for numerical simulations of partially saturated soils subjected to compressed air. This is a common technique frequently applied for temporary ground support in tunnelling. For the numerical simulation of tunnelling using compressed air, a multiphase model for soft soils is developed, in which the individual constituents of the soil – the soil skeleton, the fluid and the gaseous phase – and their interactions are considered. The three phase model is formulated within the framework of the Theory of Porous Media (TPM), based upon balance equations and constitutive relations for the soil constituents and their mixture. Water is modelled as an incompressible and air as a compressible phase. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A model of multiphase flow and transport in porous media applied to gas migration in underground nuclear waste repository

We prove existence of solutions for a new model of two compressible and partially miscible phase flow in porous media, applied to gas migration in an underground nuclear waste repository. This model, modeling fully and partially water saturated situations, consist of a coupled system of quasilinear parabolic partial differential equations. We seek a new set of variables in order to obtain a system which belongs to the class of equations considered by Alt and Luckhaus such that it would be possible to use their existence theorem. A simulation of a numerical test case is performed in order to numerically demonstrate the ability of this model to take in account the appearance of one phase. To cite this article: F. Smaï, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 347 (2009).     

A semi-analytical solution for shallow tunnels with radius-iterative-approach in semi-infinite space

This study presents a semi-analytical elastic-plastic solution for a shallow tunnel subjected to ground loss in the strain-softening surrounding rock. The most important contribution is the radius-iterative-approach in which the initial plastic radius is first determined by the strain continuity boundary condition on the elastic-plastic interface and then corrected to the precise one. The corrected approach follows three steps: (1) Applying the radius increment technique to semi-infinite space (2) Carrying out the plastic radius correction by using iteration method from the elastic-plastic interface to the tunnel wall. (3) If the calculated convergence value is equal to the convergence value on the tunnel wall, the accurate determination of the plastic region, stresses, and displacements, of the whole half plane, can be derived consequently. All the results compare favorably with numerical simulation results. The study completes the theoretical framework for addressing the fundamental problem of shallow tunnels excavated in the semi-infinite space and also provides a useful theoretical tool for potential application on the tunnel and underground engineering problems.     

基于系统识别方法的围岩弹性模量及水平地应力反演分析

利用有限元软件建立隧道开挖正演模型,基于新奥法隧道施工现场实测围岩收敛数据,采用灵敏度分析建立了参数调整算法,利用系统识别方法对隧道围岩弹性模量及水平地应力进行了反演分析,并讨论了初始值的影响.结果表明,系统识别反演分析法具有自适应能力强、反演分析过程收敛计算稳定性好和计算速度快等优点,在隧道及地下工程领域具有广阔的应用前景.     

Vibration of submerged floating tunnels due to moving loads

The concept of submerged floating tunnel (SFT) has become an increasingly attractive idea to cross the straits. The structural solution in this scheme includes buoyancy force on tunnel body plus tension in mooring tethers. This paper investigates the effect of submergence on the dynamic response of SFT due to moving load. The inertial effect of the fluid is accounted for by evaluating the added mass of tunnel using two and three dimensional models. It is found that fluid–structure interaction increases dynamic amplification of the tunnel deflection (in some cases very significantly). The results show that although the 3D model predicts lesser inertial contribution for surrounding fluid, it is not always possible to associate the larger response with the 2D or 3D models. The discrepancy between the results of the two models decreases as the tether stiffness increases. This indicates that the adoption of Morison’s equation for evaluating the fluid loading on the tunnel is a reasonable assumption when the tether stiffness is high. It is also found that by increasing the tether stiffness, it is possible to introduce a major reduction in the dynamic amplification of the response and by this way control the dynamic response of the SFT.     

Coupled FE-Analysis Involving Partially Saturated Soils

A short introduction to the governing equations and the corresponding FE-formulation of a three phase model for partially saturated soils is given and a constitutive law of the soil skeleton and its numerical integration is discussed briefly. Finally, the application of the numerical model is presented. (© 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Vertical impedance of a tapered pile in inhomogeneous saturated soil described by fractional viscoelastic model

Vertical impedance of a tapered pile embedded in the saturated viscoelastic half-space is theoretically investigated with the consideration of construction disturbances in radial direction. The constitutive behaviour of the soil is described by a fractional viscoelastic model. The tapered pile is divided to a series of stepping cylindrical segments to characterize its variable cross-section. An improved complex stiffness transfer model of the saturated soil is developed to determine the vertical reactions of the radially inhomogeneous soil on pile segments. The vertical impedance of the tapered pile is obtained by solving the differential equations for axial vibration of pile segments based on the Rayleigh-Love rod theory and recursive formulas. The validity and accuracy of the analytical solutions are demonstrated through the comparison examples for the cases of both soil compaction and soil softening. Parametric studies are performed to investigate the influences of tapered angle, fluid permeability and fractional order of soil constitutive model on vertical impedance of the tapered pile. The results indicate that the soil medium with high permeability, such as sandy and gravelly saturated foundation, has noticeable influence on the vertical impedance of tapered pile. In addition, it is suggested that the constitutive model of the soil should accurately describe the stress-strain experimental data to ensure the accuracy of the vertical impedance, especially for those tapered piles under excitations with high frequency.     

Transient wave propagation in a one dimensional partially saturated poroelastic column

Based on the theory of mixtures, a dynamic three phase model for partially saturated poroelasticity is established. This model is applied to a one-dimensional unsaturated poroelastic column and an analytical solution in the Laplace domain is deduced. By using the Convolution Quadrature Method, the solution in the time domain is obtained. Using some widely distributed porous materials as rock, soil and sediment, the wave propagation behavior in terms of displacement and pore pressure is examined. By neglecting the viscosity of the fluid, assuming very large fluid permeabilities, the second and third compressional waves are identified. (© 2010 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Linear Elastic Wave Propagation in Unsaturated,Unconsolidated Soils

By means of a macroscopic linear model for a poroelastic medium with three deformable components the acoustic behavior of four unconsolidated soil types, filled by water and air, is studied. Necessary material parameters are mainly gathered from the German standard DIN 4220. It provides some useful parameters, as for example, van Genuchten parameters, for thirty-one different soil types including sands, silts and clays. There appear four body waves: three longitudinal waves and one shear wave. The slowest compressional wave does only exist if at least two pore fluids appear and is driven by the capillary pressure between the pore fluids. The wave analysis yields the dependence of velocities and attenuations of these waves on the saturation and on the frequency. This is compared to the so far most frequently studied case of partially saturated sandstones. (© 2009 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

上覆单相弹性层的饱和地基上刚性基础竖向振动的轴对称混合边值问题

运用作者提出的饱和土弹性波动方程,从理论上研究了上覆单相弹性土层的饱和地基上刚性基础的竖向振动轴对称问题,即采用Hankel积分变换技术并按混合边值条件建立了部分饱和地基上刚性基础竖向振动的对偶积分方程,并将其蜕化为完全饱和地基的情形;该对偶积分方程可化为易于数值计算的第二类Fredholm积分方程。文末的算例给出了地基表面动力柔度系数C_v随无量纲频率a₀的变化曲线。     

Extended Finite Element Method for hygro-mechanical analysis of crack propagation in porous materials

In computational structural analyses, strong discontinuities, such as propagating cracks in concrete structures, joints in rocks or shear bands in soft soils, the highly accelerated moisture transport in the opening discontinuities has to be taken into account. The paper is concerned with an Extended Finite Element model for the numerical representation of crack propagation in partially saturated porous materials. Based on an extended variational formulation for the simulation of moisture transport in cracks, enhanced approximations of the displacement field and the moisture flux across the discontinuity are adopted. (© 2011 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Quantifying fate and transport of nitrate in saturated soil systems using fractional derivative model

Natural soil systems usually exhibit complex properties such as fractal geometry, resulting in complex dynamics for the movement of solutes and colloids in soils, such as the well-documented non-Fickian or anomalous diffusion for contaminant transport in saturated soils. The development of robust mathematical models to simulate anomalous diffusion for reactive contaminants at all relevant scales presents a contemporary problem in computational hydrology. This study aims to develop and validate a novel fractional derivative, advection-dispersion-reaction equation (fADRE) with first order decay to quantify nitrate contaminants transport in various soil systems. As an essential nutrient for crop growth, nitrogen in various forms (i.e., fertilizers) is typically applied to agricultural plots but a certain fraction or excess that is converted to nitrate or nitrite will serve as a critical pollutant to surface-water and groundwater. Applications show that the fADRE model can consider both hydrological and biogeochemical processes describing the fate and transport of nitrate in saturated soil. Here “fate” is a commonly used terminology in hydrology to describe the transformation and destination of pollutants in surface and subsurface water systems. The model is tested and validated using the results from three independent studies including: (1) nitrate transport in natural soil columns collected from the North China Plain agricultural pollution zone, (2) nitrate leaching from aridisols and entisols soil columns, and (3) two bacteria (Escherichia coli and Klebsiella sp.) transport through saturated soil columns. The qualitative relationship between model parameters and the target system properties (including soil physical properties, experimental conditions, and nitrate/bacteria physical and chemical properties) is also explored in detail, as well as the impact of chemical reactions on nitrate transport and fate dynamics. Results show that the fADRE can be a reliable mathematical model to quantify non-Fickian and reactive transport of chemicals in various soil systems, and it can also be used to describe other biological degradation and decay processes in soil. Hence, the mathematical model proposed by this study may help provide valuable insight on the quantification of various biogeochemical dynamics in complex soil systems, but needs to be tested in real-world applications in the future.