Displacement Characteristics of an Urban Tunnel in Silty Soil by the Shallow Tunnelling Method

The urban shallow tunnelling process in silty soil is easy to cause large displacement of surface and tunnel. Obviously, if the strata and the tunnel face are not treated by reasonable reinforcement method, instability and collapse phenomenon will be encountered during the tunnel excavation. There are a series of studies on construction methods of shallow tunnels, but these methods have limitations in silty soil. In this study, a comprehensive construction plan of the urban shallow tunnel in silty soil was proposed and applied to a case study in Fuzhou, Fujian Province in South China. The in situ monitoring tests and numerical simulation were employed to address displacement characteristics of surface and tunnel. Results indicated that the urban shallow tunnelling process could achieve good effect by dewatering of silty soil, reinforcing surface by vertical jet grouting piles, and advanced small pipes and circumferential grouting in the tunnel face; surface settlement during dewatering process accounted for about 30% of total surface settlement in silty soil; the excavation of the top heading, the middle, and lower benches had great effect on displacement of surface and tunnel for three-bench seven-step excavation method in silty soil; surface settlement troughs in silty soil were deeper and wider; lock-feet bolts had good effect on restricting horizontal convergence; and ratio of total crown settlement and total horizontal convergence was in range of 1.43∼1.59 whenb/hwas 0.88 in silty soil. The construction plan proposed in this paper is helpful for further study of shallow tunnel tunnelling process in silty soil.

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